The essential guide to Frieze, Felix Art Fair, the L.A. Art Show and more
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Art fair season has arrived in Los Angeles. Every February the city is packed with festivals, new exhibitions, performances and other events. This year’s celebration comes with an unexpected backdrop: the aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires, which destroyed thousands of homes, including those of artists who also lost their work and their workspaces. Organizers at Frieze, the L.A. Art Show and the Other Art Fair updated their programming and are creating space for the community to heal and support one another.
Here’s a rundown of some of the week’s biggest events:
Frieze Los Angeles
Feb. 20-23
Santa Monica Airport, 3233 Donald Douglas Loop S., Santa Monica
$10-$202
frieze.com
Frieze Los Angeles is the marquee event of art week, bringing to the Santa Monica Airport the work of artists from across the globe. This year’s fair has more than 95 galleries from 20-plus countries, a tighter group compared with the over 120 galleries in 2023. About 40% of the presenting galleries have a Los Angeles presence, said Christine Messineo, director of Americas at Frieze.
South L.A. artist Lauren Halsey will do a pop-up with the community center Summaeverythang. Chris Burden, the late artist behind L.A.’s beloved street-lamp sculpture at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, will showcase a large-scale installation with Gagosian that invites spectators into a world of plush pillows, braided ropes and jewel-toned glass. L.A.’s Betye Saar, known for her assemblage work, will show a site-specific piece with Roberts Projects.
Victoria Miro Gallery will make space in its booth for donated art, and some proceeds will go toward the Los Angeles County Relief Fund. Meanwhile, Art Made Between Opposite Sides, which runs a ceramics program for refugees and asylum seekers, will give some of its proceeds to domestic workers affected by the fires.
Some of Frieze’s core programming — the Focus section for emerging galleries and the Impact Prize — aims to highlight fresh talent. Focus curator Essence Harden, who also is the co-curator of the Hammer Museum’s Made in L.A. biennial this year, compiled a series of solo presentations from 12 galleries including Bel Ami, Nonaka-Hill and Make Room. And the Frieze Impact Prize goes to … Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez, the first street artist to win the award. Quiñonez is expanding his practice and showcasing a new sculptural series at Frieze.
L.A. Art Show
Feb. 19-23
Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., downtown
$35-$250
laartshow.com
Kassandra Voyagis, the producer and director of the L.A. Art Show, is organizing this year’s event to celebrate the resilience of Los Angeles. The fair will open its 30th edition with L.A. artist Robert Vargas creating a live mural titled “Heroes” on opening night as a tribute to first responders. He’ll be painting the 24-by-30-foot work throughout the run of the fair with the intention of auctioning the work or gifting pieces of it to firehouses. The show is providing free admission to firefighters and their families, and a newly added space will present art that survived the fires.
The fair will continue with its usual programming, including DIVERSEartLA, which highlights new artists, and an opening-night celebration hosted by actor Jenna Dewan.
Felix Art Fair
Feb. 19-23
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles
$35-$250
felixfair.com
Felix returns to L.A. for its seventh year. Whereas most of the week’s major festivals are set up in spaces that feel like a convention center, Felix’s displays are at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where art is shown in hotel rooms and around the outdoor pool.
“Felix has always been and was created to be local,” co-founder Dean Valentine said. “The galleries all have rooms with windows that look out over Hollywood and all of Los Angeles, so the air of Los Angeles filters through everything we do.”
L.A. participants include Babst Gallery, Fernberger Gallery and Timothy Hawkinson Gallery. According to Valentine, about 30% of the galleries are new to the fair each year. He and co-founder Mills Morán are looking forward to Megan Mulrooney Gallery’s presentation of Nick Taggart’s works on paper chronicling the Hollywood scene of the 1970s and 1980s.
The Other Art Fair
Feb. 20-23
2800 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles
$17.02-$36.47
theotherartfair.com/la/
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The 13th iteration of the Other Art Fair, presented by Saatchi Art, has left Barker Hangar this year and will inhabit a new spot in Atwater Village. One highlight is a new 10-by-22-foot mural by Judy Baca created as part of the L.A. artist’s collaborative project, “The Great Wall of Los Angeles.”
Other highlights include a booth where Anna Marie Tendler will take photo portraits that capture patrons’ astrological first house, a new section called “MFA’s of LA” that highlights new work by emerging artists from the city’s top graduate programs, and Friday Late tickets that will benefit the L.A. Arts Community Fire Relief Fund.
The Other Art Fair will showcase about 140 independent artists, including those originally scheduled in the halted Spring/Break Art Show as well as artists affected by the wildfires.
“Our highest commitment is to support artists, and many of the situations in the aftermath of the fires have left some artists without a place to showcase their work, so we’re happy to welcome them into the fair,” said Nicole Garton, global fair director of the Other Art Fair.
‘Helmut Lang: What Remains Behind’
Feb. 19-May 4
MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood
$7-$10
makcenter.org
Helmut Lang will open his first solo institutional exhibition in the L.A. area during art week. Lang’s human-size freestanding sculptures will spread across Rudolph Schindler’s landmark house in West Hollywood, complementing the minimalist architecture.
“I think he [Lang] has a real sensitivity to that space and its history, and also the history of the inhabitants there, that I think this work will very intentionally be in dialogue with,” MAK Center director Beth Stryker said.
Lang’s work plays with the canvas created by Schindler, whose design stands as an important experiment in communal living. Into this space, curator Neville Wakefield welcomes sculptures filled with tension, sexuality, humor and corporeal spirit.
Hauser & Wirth
Feb. 18-June 1
Hauser & Wirth DTLA, 901-909 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles
Free
hauserwirth.com
In conjunction with art week, Hauser & Wirth in downtown L.A. presents two new exhibitions: George Rouy’s “The Bleed, Part II” and David Hammons’ “Concerto in Black and Blue.” Hammons’ presentation is a restaging of a groundbreaking work from more than 20 years ago: Audience members traverse the pitch-black space with blue lights, and in the process, they create the light sculpture filling the exhibition space. Rouy’s exhibition continues his series, “The Bleed,” by infusing the subjects of his paintings with more tension but also pairing the art with dance by choreographer Sharon Eyal. The exhibition opens with performances of “Bodysuit,” which brings paintings to life with bodies moving over a mirrored surface.
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