After a year-long postponement due to the pandemic, the third edition of Frieze LA returns to Los Angeles from Thursday, Feb. 17 to Sunday, Feb. 20. The four-day fair is organized by Christine Messineo, director of Frieze Los Angeles and Frieze New York, and will be held at a new expanded location at 9900 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, adjacent to The Beverly Hilton.
The contemporary art fair features an array of solo, dual, and thematic presentations by artists representing leading local and international art galleries. Among the highlighted artists is CalArts’ 1995 honorary degree recipient Betye Saar, represented by Roberts Projects, who will present a new iteration of her monumental Los Angeles public mural L.A. Energy (1983).
This year’s Frieze Projects features large multidisciplinary works by international artists, including Beatriz Cortez (Art MFA 15). Commonwealth and Council presents one of Cortez’s recent works, Ilopango, Stela B, 536-2022 (2022), which depicts a Mayan stela—or an ancient Mesoamerican carved stone—bearing the “marks of a labor intensive process carried out by immigrants from El Salvador in the city of Los Angeles.”
Cortez’s work was also featured in the inaugural Frieze LA in 2019, presenting a tribute to The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling titled G.L.O.W. (Greeting Land Outflowing Wormholes), which she created with artist Rafa Esparza.
Alongside Frieze’s main galleries is Focus LA, a feature section dedicated to providing a platform for emerging Los Angeles art spaces that have been open for 15 years or fewer. Multimedia artist Amia Yokoyama (Film/Video MFA 17) will present ceramic figures alongside stained-glass works by Timo Fahler.
Among the galleries in attendance at the 2022 edition are David Kordansky Gallery, founded by CalArts alum David Kordansky (Art MFA 2002), and Hauser & Wirth, of which CalArts trustee Iwan Wirth is the gallery’s co-founder and president. On Saturday, Feb. 19, the latter gallery will present a conversation with writer and curator Helen Molesworth and School of Art faculty Harry Dodge and Cauleen Smith about Hauser & Wirth Publishers’ new release Marcel Duchamp. The event begins with a live reading of Duchamp’s “The Creative Act” by filmmaker and writer Miranda July.
Messineo shared her hopes for Frieze LA to be a celebration of the city in the official press release:
Frieze Los Angeles promises to be a site for ambitious artistic presentations and important collaborations that show the expansive and varied nature of the city. Having missed out on a fair in 2021, this year gives us so much to celebrate – not only our new location at the iconic Beverly Hilton but also the renewed opportunities for arts discovery and patronage. I am thrilled for the return of Frieze Los Angeles and look forward to welcoming everyone to the fair.
Please see the Frieze LA website for more information about COVID-19 safety and entry requirements.
