At Frieze, L.A. Celebrates Resilience, Rebirth and the Artists Shaping the City
When Frieze Los Angeles opened its doors to VIPs on Thursday morning, the mood at the art fair was undeniably optimistic — yet emotional — in the wake of the recent L.A. fires.
“The energy is so good right now,” said artist Alex Prager, known for her carefully constructed images and films that challenge the boundary between artifice and reality. “Five weeks ago, we had no idea if [Frieze] was going to happen, with the fires.”
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Living in Rustic Canyon, a residential neighborhood within the Pacific Palisades, she and her family were displaced. “The fire got two blocks away from us,” she continued. “We decided to leave for now, because we have a 7-year-old and we weren’t sure what the air was like, the toxins in the soil, and the mudslides. And his school burned down, the Westside Waldorf. Right now, we’re living in Baldwin Vista.”
She was exhibiting her work in the Lehmann Maupin booth, where she presented “Santa Monica Airport (Departure),” a 48- by 64-inch archival pigment print.
“I don’t know if anyone is picking up on the name,” she said, noting it alludes to the location of Frieze L.A. but also symbolizes the evacuation. “’Departure’ — we moved out. For me, it’s a really personal work. We’re kind of displaced now, in a way,” she paused, getting teary-eyed.
“I don’t know why I’m getting so emotional,” she went on. “L.A. is a city that’s always in transition. Every time you fall in love with something, it disappears. But it’s also a city that’s full of constant creation. The artists are so important to the city to rebuilding it. We’re in the middle of that rebuild right now.”
Her piece, shot on a sound stage, depicts a crowd moving through an airport (wearing looks by Zara, who put funds toward the image). Prager is particular about her use of colors working in harmony with one another, creating a play on light and shadow that’s important to the emotional undertone and feeling of the characters, she said: “That’s what drives the city, the people. Because it’s ever-changing, the foundation of the city is the people.”
While artists have always worked and lived in L.A. and its outskirts, drawn to the space and light (and at one point, affordability), it’s in the last 20 years that the art world has turned its eyes to the city, said Lehmann Maupin cofounder David Maupin.
“The real secret and success of the market in Los Angeles is because of the great artists and the great art schools,” said Maupin. The L.A. native, based in New York, first opened the gallery in SoHo with Rachel Lehmann in 1996 before expanding to London, Hong Kong and Seoul.
“And that is a legacy that has become clearer and clearer,” he went on. “The museums have really grown and risen to this heightened celebration of the artist. And so, the collectors are also buying L.A. artists.”
Alongside Prager, Lehmann Maupin showcased works by Catherine Opie, Liza Lou, Lari Pittman and Todd Gray, all based in L.A. and Southern California.
“Because of the fires, there’s been a real call to the arts community — the vibe has been really good,” Maupin said of opening day. “When something happens, we all seem together in a nice way, and have traditionally through the years. And we’ve had lots of sales so far, I’d say more than last year.”
Lehmann Maupin took part in “Galleries Together” by Victoria Miro, which invited exhibitors and artists to contribute works in a group presentation with proceeds of sales directly benefiting the L.A. Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, offering Liza Lou’s work on paper “Listen” for $25,000.
Top sales from the four-day fair were an Elizabeth Peyton painting for $2.8 million, a Noah Davis work for $2.5 million, an Alice Neel painting for $1.8 million and a Lisa Yuskavage painting for $1.6 million, all sold by David Zwirner. Gladstone Gallery was another gallery to see success, selling a Keith Haring painting on glass for $2 million. Meanwhile Xavier Hufkens placed a painting by Tracey Emin for approximately 1.2 million GBP; Thaddeus Ropac sold a painting by Georg Baselitz for 1 million Euros; Michael Rosenfeld Gallery sold a Ruth Asawa painting for approximately $1 million, and Johyun Gallery reported opening day sales totaling seven figures from its dual presentation of Lee Bae and Kishio Suga.
There were 97 galleries from 20 countries gathered at Santa Monica Airport, including local and international exhibitors, drawing about 30,000 visitors over four days. Roaming the booths were a mix of collectors and institutional leaders: Hans Ulrich Obrist of the Serpentine Galleries, Michael Govan of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Heidi Zuckerman of the Orange County Museum of Art, Joanne Heyler of The Broad, Ali Gass of the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco and Thelma Golden of Harlem’s The Studio Museum.
Familiar faces from the world of entertainment, tech and beyond included Apple’s Tim Cook, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gunna, Julia Fox, Jesse Williams, Julie Bowen, Michael Chow, Kid Cudi, Mark Hoppus, Katie Couric, Lisa Edelstein, Brit Marling, Dan Reynolds, Minka Kelly, Russell Tovey, Oliver Stone and Rosetta and Balthazar Getty.
Among the artists who attended were Opie, Takashi Murakami, Doug Aitken, Jonas Wood, Alex Israel, Tanya Aguiñiga, Claire Chambless, Jackie Amézquita, Xin Liu, Charles Gaines, Greg Ito, Kelly Akashi, Lita Albuquerque, Mary Weatherford, Christina Quarles, Alison Saar, Betye Saar, Analia Saban, Titus Kaphar, Sadie Barnette, Lauren Halsey and Madeline Hollander.
“The people that I’ve talked to who are natives and have seen this fair come up have all said it’s been an uplifting fair,” said artist Awol Erizku of his experience, echoing the sentiment around. “And I feel that. Everything is vibrant in the booths. It seems positive, which is necessary at this time.”
“It’s been really busy,” said L.A. gallerist Anat Ebgi. “It’s a really incredible show of support that people are here.”
She, too, focused on showcasing local artists, like Jaime Muñoz, Anabel Juárez, Cosmo Whyte and Alec Egan. Among the works on display was Egan’s “Guard Rail,” an oil painting of a burning car on a coastal highway and slender palm tree against a smoky blue sky fading into night. It’s a reaction to the Palisades fire, which destroyed his home, back studio and more than 20 paintings he’d been working on for nearly two years in preparation for three exhibitions, including his first major museum show in Asia in Tokyo.
“Right after it burned down, he was feeling this anxiety,” Ebgi said of supporting fellow artist Egan. “He didn’t have a place to live, he didn’t have a place to work, so we gave him the gallery, the second floor, to use as a studio and the first thing he did was this painting. He had to get it out of his system.”
Among the newcomers this year at Frieze was Southern Guild, based in Cape Town, South Africa, with a second location in L.A.’s buzzy Melrose Hill. Standing out in its booth was mixed-media artist and painter Manyaku Mashilo.
“It’s my first time in L.A.,” said Mashilo, whose work often reflects African spirituality and identity. “It’s just been really amazing to see how people are responding to my work. And also realizing that our stories are not so far apart. We’re on different sides of the world, but we have so much in common. It’s been really great to connect.”
Her painting, “We have always known to look to the center,” came from a body of work made last year. “A lot of personal family things happened,” she explained, echoing the fair’s undercurrents of loss and community. “I lost a lot of matriarchs in my life. I’m a mom myself, and I was also thinking about the things that they left me. Feeling really disconnected, feeling there’s so much knowledge that is left and I haven’t had any way of preserving it. So I tried to use my own language to create mythologies that can hold those knowledge systems that my mothers left me.”
Launch Gallery: Frieze Los Angeles Art Fair 2025
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