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The fifth version of Frieze Los Angeles has scaled down from the earlier 12 months, with 95 exhibitors beneath a single white tent arrange on the grounds of Santa Monica Airport. Studies of seven-figure gross sales from the primary, VIP-preview day additionally appeared to be down from final 12 months, though many sellers mentioned they have been optimistic concerning the honest’s improved centralised format.
The most costly sale reported throughout Thursday’s VIP preview was by Gladstone Gallery, which positioned a large-scale drawing by Richard Serra for $2m. Thaddaeus Ropac reported promoting Robert Longo’s Untitled (Julien) (2016) for $1.6m, however the work on paper had been purchased throughout an advance preview and was by no means really displayed on the honest, a gallery consultant mentioned. Ropac additionally offered Anselm Kiefer’s portray Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind (2012-22) for €1.3m.
At Hauser & Wirth’s stand, an untitled 2010 portray by Ed Clark offered for $950,000, and Fishes, Needs in Summertime Blue (2016) by Frank Bowling fetched $800,000. David Zwirner offered three work by Joe Bradley for between $300,000 and $450,000; two John McCracken sculptures for between $450,000 and $500,000; a Steven Shearer portray for $480,000; and a Huma Bhabha sculpture for $650,000. Perrotin offered a large-scale portray by Cristina BanBan within the vary of $100,000 to $125,000.
All collectively now
Vielmetter offered Veduta (Vuillard Jardins Publics) (2023-24), a nine-canvas piece by the Los Angeles-based artist Whitney Bedford, for $300,000 to a collector primarily based in Hong Kong who’s opening a personal establishment. Gagosian offered Lauren Halsey’s sculpture watts taking place (2024) to a number one museum in Los Angeles for an undisclosed value. Evening Gallery offered Cynthia Daignault’s God Bless You (2024)—a grid of 24 work of Ingrid Bergman within the ultimate scene of Casablanca—for $120,000.
Final 12 months, Frieze Los Angeles hosted 124 galleries, with most housed in a tent whereas a smaller choice arrange store within the close by Barker Hangar. The 2 separate areas and the roughly ten-minute stroll between them have been the topic of criticism on the time, with some galleries within the hangar saying that they felt remoted from the remainder of the honest. Christine Messineo, Frieze’s director for the Americas, says that the brand new format is a response to the suggestions final 12 months.
“This feels very manageable. I used to be simply speaking to somebody as we have been strolling by way of the honest, and so they have been like, ‘It’s an excellent dimension to spend time with the galleries, seize a fast chew after which come again in,’” Messineo says. Whereas the variety of exhibitors has been scaled down by round 20% from 2023, the honest has “a very sturdy native contingency, and we’ve really seen progress by way of galleries which are current”, Messineo says. Round 40% of galleries participating have an area within the higher Los Angeles space, in response to the organisers.
Los Angeles mainstay Anat Ebgi made the step up from the Focus part to the primary a part of the honest this 12 months. The gallery made a number of gross sales within the honest’s opening hours, together with the Los Angeles-based painter and sculptor Meeson Pae’s portray Seep (2024) for $38,000. Stefano di Paola, a companion and senior director on the gallery, mentioned that this 12 months’s extra centralised format has benefited each rising and established galleries.
“It’s very nice to have the ability to contemplate all of the galleries in a single house,” Di Paola says. “It doesn’t create this arbitrary hierarchy which may occur between a predominant versus the secondary house. It cements that every one galleries are right here collectively and we’re all a group underneath the Frieze banner.”
California galleries participating in Frieze Los Angeles for the primary time embrace Nazarian Curcio, which renamed itself simply two weeks earlier than the honest to replicate the rising partnership between the founder Shulamit Nazarian and co-owner Seth Curcio. The gallery is staging a solo stand devoted to Widline Cadet, a Los Angeles-based Haitian artist whose work ranges from $3,000 to $45,000. The stand marks Cadet’s first solo presentation in Los Angeles, Curcio says.
Indigenous emergence
The Los Angeles-based Babst Gallery’s stand is devoted to Harry Fonseca’s figurative work and drawings. The gallery opened this previous summer time with a present presenting the late California-born artist’s work. An enrolled citizen of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Fonseca’s vibrant work draw on the normal ceremonies of his tribe and different Indigenous teams.
“We’re so excited to point out Harry’s work in a contemporary-art context,” says Helen Babst, a companion on the gallery. Costs on the stand vary from $125,000 to $250,000, and the gallery made a number of gross sales within the first few hours of the VIP preview, she says.
Vielmetter, based in Los Angeles in 2000, has taken half in each Frieze Los Angeles for the reason that honest launched in 2019. Senior director Michael Smoler says that the native artwork market advantages from sturdy establishments and an abundance of artists dwelling regionally.
“Los Angeles is the Nice West. It’s the place something can occur,” Smoler says. “Hollywood is right here, and individuals who come out are inventive. Most individuals are attempting to pursue their goals, whether or not that’s in appearing or music or artwork, and even being an influencer.”
