Artists, galleries, and art enthusiasts descended upon Los Angeles last month for more than a week of talks, gallery visits, receptions, dinners, and art fairs—including the Felix Art Fair at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and Frieze Los Angeles at the Santa Monica Airport. CalArtians were well-represented throughout Los Angeles during “Frieze week.” Check out a few of the highlights with from the various events.
Precious Moments: Sayre Gomez (Art MFA 08)
Things kicked off on Feb. 19 with a gallery walkthrough of Precious Moments by alum Sayre Gomez (Art MFA 08) at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles. (David Kordansky is also an Art MFA 02 alum.) Sponsored by the Office of Alumni Relations, the walkthrough with current students and alums featured Gomez talking about his solo show’s works, detailing how he captures urban American life through painting, sculpture and a bit of whimsy. The alumni tour culminated in a gathering around Gomez’s Oceanwide Plaza (2025–2026), a scale re-creation of the unfinished mixed-use development that’s become one of LA’s most visible landmarks—or eyesores—(depending on the viewer). The work embodies “failures of global capitalism, municipal governance, and speculative real estate.”
Destiny Is a Rose: The Eileen Harris Norton Collection
On Feb. 23, CalArtians gathered to celebrate the opening of Destiny Is a Rose: The Eileen Harris Norton Collection (through Aug. 16) at Hauser & Wirth in downtown Los Angeles. The noted Los Angeles philanthropist—who honored Faculty Emeritus Charles Gaines with a gift to create the Charles Gaines Faculty Chair—has forged a legacy by building an inspiring art collection over 50 years that focuses on the work of women artists, artists of color, and native Californian artists. The exhibition features works by several CalArtians, including Mark Bradford (Art BFA 95, MFA 97), former faculty Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Hammons (Chouinard 68), Catherine Opie (Art MFA 88), and Carrie Mae Weems (Art MFA 81). The opening was followed by the Charles Gaines Fellows dinner at the gallery with current fellows and MFA students Angie Joseph, Niema Lightseed, Jo Fobbs, Alex Escobedo; as well as alumni Kiko Thomas (Art MFA 24), Jeffrey Martin (Film/Video, Art MFA 24), School of Art Dean Steve Lam and guests.
My Frankenstein: David Salle (Art BFA 73, MFA 75)
Coinciding with Frieze Art Fair was the opening of David Salle: My Frankenstein (through April 18) at Sprüth Magers in Los Angeles. The artist’s first solo exhibition since 1997, the paintings in My Frankenstein continue Salle’s “investigation into how machine learning can integrate with traditional painterly techniques.” The day after the opening at the gallery, Salle headed to nearby LACMA for a special CHANEL Connects Live conversation with Yana Peel, president of Arts, Culture & Heritage at CHANEL, about his journey, his time at CalArts, and training his AI to work with him to create art.
Felix Art Fair
The 8th edition of Felix Art Fair took over the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel from Feb. 25 to March 1, showcasing galleries and exhibitors from around the world, including Tokyo, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Milan, Seoul, Miami, London, Dallas, New York, and LA. With an emphasis on emerging galleries, the Felix Fair included LA’s Cevera Yoon Gallery, established in 2024 by CalArts alums Kyle Slevira (Art MFA 24) and Green Yoon (Art MFA 24). Another gallery, Alta Works, included art by Experimental Animation alum Amia Yokoyama (Film/Video MFA 17).
Frieze Los Angeles
The seventh edition of Frieze Los Angeles brought nearly 100 galleries to the Santa Monica Airport from around the world, drawing in more than 32,000 visitors from Feb. 26 to March 1. Primarily focusing on contemporary art and the dynamic culture of Los Angeles and its global contributions to the visual arts, works by CalArts faculty and alumni were found in nearly 10% of the galleries at Frieze.
Just a few of the highlights included: Christina Fernandez’s (Art MFA 96) solo showing at Gallery Luisotti; Kelly Wall’s (Art MFA 19) outdoor installation Everything Must Go; Lauren Halsey’s (Art BFA 12) works at David Kordansky Gallery and Gagosian; Robert Russell (Art MFA 06) and Faith Wilding (Art MFA 73) at Anat Ebgi; Todd Gray (Art BFA 79, MFA 89) at Perrotin; and Gala Porras-Kim (Art MFA 09), Kaari Upson (Art BFA 04, MFA 07), John Baldessari (founding CalArts Art faculty), and David Salle (Art BFA 73, MFA 75) at Sprüth Magers.
Anti-Frieze
For their contribution to LA’s art week programming, recent CalArts’ graduates also mounted the second edition of Anti-Frieze+ at the Reef in downtown LA. Taking over 10 rooms on the 12th floor, the show offered art, performances, and happenings by emerging, local artists working across modalities in collaboration with the CalArts REEF Residency. Anti-Frieze+ featured the work of CalArts Reef residents and associates: A’JaeCea Carlie (Art MFA 25), Alec Anderson-Carrasco (Theater MFA 24), Alex Taylor (Music MFA 25), Dar San Agustin (Art MFA 25), Dionne Robinson (Theater MFA 24), Erika Keck (Art MFA 25), Genevieve Fowler (Theater MFA 21), Gigi Ramsland (Music MFA 25), Hu Di (Art MFA 24), Kensaku Shinohara (Dance MFA 22), Kiko Thomas (Art MFA 25), Siyona Ravi (Art MFA 25), Siqi Fan (Art MFA 25), Sining Zhu (Art MFA 25), and Valeria Costa (Art MFA 25).
For additional photos from the week, check out CalArts’ Instagram.
