LOS ANGELES – While crowds fell yesterday, February 20, at the airport of Santa Monica, before the opening of Frieze Los Angeles, casual bystanders can forget that it was not a month ago whether the International Art Fair would even return to La This month. Forest fires had just swept through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, which deeply influenced the artistic communities of the city. Despite some worries about whether it was ‘too early’, organizers decided to continue as planned in addition to four other LA fairs that took place simultaneously, with the idea that they were an opportunity for those affected to benefit financially – And for collectors and customers to show them support. In an open recognition of these tensions, Frieze added the subtitle “a celebration of creative resilience and the rebuilding of the community” in press material.
Yet the ghost of the fires was impossible to ignore. It was immediately clear when I walked to the tent, where I came across Dominique Moody’s “Nomad” (2015-2025), a hand-built trailer made of wood, steel and rising parts, one of the eight public artworks consisting of the Frisian projects X Art Production Fund Initiative. Moody built the trailer on Zorthian Ranch, most of which were burned down in the Eaton fire, and were visiting the Late Assemblage artist John Outterbridge the day before their homes were destroyed. After the blaze of Altadena, she decided to devote the work to those who have lost everything “and emphasize the” impact on the larger art community, in particular the black art community that is so powerful there. “
In the neighborhood, a group of artists had set up an installation that was not affiliated with Fries and compiled from a picnic blanket on which burned and charred furniture were. Kikesa Cosio, one of the artists, told me that ‘Here was a house“It would be the place of performances throughout the weekend to increase the consciousness of the destruction of the Altadena community, which her family had called at home since the 1920s.
Even within the tent, works that were not related to the recent tragedy at new levels of meaning were given. Chris Burden’s “Nomadic Folly” (2001), originally made for the 2001 Istanbul Biennial and presented by the Gagosian Gallery, the structure made of carpets, pillows and curtains resembles a common desertoase, which emphasizes the basic need for accommodation. The decision to show the piece in the current context can be read as well thought out or exploited, depending on your perspective.
And while Frieze has taken steps to acknowledge the disaster and support the affected – with 10% of ticket sales donated to the La Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, a Black Trustee Alliance stand focused on Altadena’s black community and a “galleries together “Fundraising initiative for international galleries that want to help – it was easy to overlook these overtures and to be wiped out in it Vast maze of nearly 100 exhibitors from the fair.
“It feels like the status quo,” said a curator who asked not to be identified by name. “Everything benefits victims of the forest fires, as it should be, but it can be hard to say.”
Although it may be strange to see the usual Blue chip art (Anish Kapoor Curved Mirrors, Alex Katz portraits) against the background of all the loss and destruction, “Business as usual” was a bit the point. After all, the success of the stock market is seen as a reflection of the resilience and the adaptability of La’s art world after the fires. For fear of a low sale, some exhibitors would rather have postponed the event with a handful of waste. Most, however, have improved, in the hope that collectors from the US and abroad would not be afraid of news images that created the impression of many non-Angelsos that the whole of LA was flooded in flames.
On the opening day, however, there was a tangible buzz and festive atmosphere at both exhibitors and customers.
“People heard the call to come and support,” said Hammer Museum curator in Christovale. “This feels positive in the aftermath of the fires. What local artists need is money in their pockets. “
La art dealer Sebastian Gladstone said he had sold seven of nine wood and bronze sculptures by Emmanuel Louisnord Desir, each priced between $ 10,000 and $ 40,000. In a shared position with Stars Gallery, one of the strongest presentations on the fair, Desir’s sculptures that mix Afro-futurism with a dark, gothic aesthetics combined with visionary paintings by the late Maden Madsen.
Despite the early success, Gladstone noted that he had not yet seen members of the top echelons of collectors. Hollywood made a show – I saw Balthazar Getty, James Franco and Justine Bateman penetrate and Schmoozen, and Kid Cudi fascinated by a glowing James Turrell piece on Pace Gallery’s booth.
Sam Parker van Parker Gallery noted that his early skepticism had disappeared over the turnout. The previous evening the gallery opened its new location in Hollywood with Solo shows by Joe Minter and Daisy Sheff, hundreds of visitors. “It was crazy,” he exclaimed. “The energy is great.”
The maximalistic presentation of Tomokazu Matsuyama at Almine Rech contained nine paintings, dazzling pomo pastiches that melt Western and Japanese styles and motifs, as a result of his own hybrid identity by moving to the US from Japan as a child. “Resilience is something that is known in a Japanese context,” he told me, referring to the disasters, of course and made by man who have affected the island nation. The historical and cultural multiplicity that was inherent in the works seemed to resonate, because almost all works, priced from $ 100,000 to $ 600,000, had sold four, four to institutional collections, the gallery said in an e -mail.
“It has been a great morning – everyone talks about the energy, the feeling of lightness. It is a confirmation that we should do this, we must all be together, “said Treven McGowan of Southern Guild and debuted this year in Frieze La. The gallery expanded from their base in Cape Town, South Africa to Los Angeles last February. “I have not been able to stand up since we opened.”
The presentation of the stand contained 5 female artists, four from South Africa and one from LA: Photographic Works by Zanele Muholi and Alex Hedison, Textiles by Bonolo Kavula, Torenhooge Ceramic and bronze sculptures by Zizipho Poswa, and painting by Masilo, Die die Also has a show on the LA room.
Although the space in the tent can be far removed from the loaded world outside, McGowan recognized the platform that the stock market offered. “I have made it clear since the elections: everything we do must be done with goal, according to equality and diversity. It can’t just be intrinsic, it must be at the forefront of every decision we make. “
The rapid rise of xenophobia, intolerance and nationalism, preventing expressions of solidarity and resistance, could be seen elsewhere in the stock market, in particular in various Frisian projects, including Jackie Amezquitas “Trazos de Energía Enterre Trayectorias Fugaces (regions between Imperente Traces)” ” 2025). Maïsmasa seized a large part of the football field, the center of which was a meso -American pyramid. meetings and packaged again.
‘Are these of the houseIAsh?! “A woman in a sharp suit cried excited and grabbed a small statue of one of the loved Chicano/Latino characters.
Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez, whose Ice (2025) Series neon-tinted resin Paletas, Whether Ice Pops, the immigration and customs enforcement agency such as’ American inhumane and cruelty, slows down, took home the Impact Prize of 2025.
As part of her Ambos (Art Made between opposite sides) project, Tanya Aguiñiga designed a fruit cart where she and her sister Karla Aguiñiga show a ceramic installation of erotic fruit sculptures, Frutas Coquetas (Sexy Fruit) (2025)“ Made by artists in a program for refugees and asylum seekers. Despite their prominent location in the tent for the first time, and the crowds around the cart, Aguiñiga noted that the separation between the typical audience of the fair and its community -based artificial practice.
“I think it’s good not to be for everyone,” said Aguiñiga sober, stood in front of her representation of suggestive pears, Fallic bananas and other fruity of fruit. “People are afraid to take positions about things that do not relate to their own lives, when it all relates to all of us.”
