Flashback Friday: The highly-anticipated 2nd edition of Frieze Los Angeles happened February 14th-16th at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. I attended the VIP preview and went back on Saturday before it closed. It was my first time attending Frieze twice in one weekend and I was shocked to see that several galleries rotated their works (honestly don’t know what I thought… some of the booths are tiny and this just makes sense).
The stage was set on the iconic New York Backlot, where site installation were mixed with faux brownstones, cafe facades, and even a mock subway entrance. The outdoor space buzzed with an electric energy unlike the more stuffy, high-end main tent where *I’m not kidding when I say this* attendees will stare at you with unyielding eye contact, not even breaking away when you catch them (this is definitely an LA thing and it creeps me the f*ck out).
There were more than 70 galleries, the weather was perfect, and the celebs were out. Some of the galleries sold out within an hour of the VIP preview. This edition, and growing fair popularity, has really helped to put LA on the map in the art world after several other fairs have failed to deliver. Here are some of my favorite pieces from the fair – it was hard to pick just 25!
1) Barbara Kasten – Frieze Projects
Intervention, a site-specific installation, was displayed within one of the NYC building facades on the backlot. This piece was given a new life as it was originally commissioned for a festival in Chicago. Kasten draws inspiration from artists like László Moholy-Nagy, but reinterprets the images into a sculptural, multi-disciplinary medium.
2) Bunny Rogers – Société Berlin
First of all, I’m obsessed with Bunny Roger’s 90s inspired website which is a work of art in itself. In this series, Roger’s shows herself as a clone of Joan of Arc – inspired by a TV show where historical figures are depcited as teenage superheroes.
3) Alicja Kwade – Konig Galerie
Alicja Kwade‘s use of mixed media and reflective surfaces manipulates the viewer’s relation to space. This was definitely an instagrammable moment as attendees circled the piece trying to comprehend the infinity mirror effect with the sculptural elements inbetween.
4) Cory Arcangel – Greene Naftani
Workut, Worut,Wor, 2020 and Lcycle, 2020.
Cory Arcangel‘s “Risks in Business” is honestly one of the first digital artworks that has impressed me. The performance was inspired by Marcel Duchamp and his love of chess. Two screens were set up displaying a series of Instagram comments on prominent feeds like Kim Kardashian, Amazon, and NASCAR – the artist created two AI stealth bots (named after Duchamp’s birth and death dates) that played a virtual game of chess by commenting their moves @ each other on the selected accounts images. The entire game takes about 40 minutes to watch and Duchamp’s birthdate wins the match – sealing it with a kiss emoji.
5) Georg Baselitz – Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
Georg Baselitz is known for his German, figurative neo-expressionist paintings, often shown upside down. His distinctive brushwork is forceful yet intentional, giving the figures a sense of falling from some unknown height in a mysterious void.
6) Cindy Sherman – Sprüth Magers
If you aren’t following Cindy Sherman on Instagram, do yourself a favor. This selfie queen has been creating memorable works for decades and is flourishing in the age of social media.
7) George Condo – Sprüth Magers
8) Nick Cave – Jack Shainman Gallery
Nick Cave, Arm Piece, 2018.
9) Harland Miller – White Cube
I love Harland Miller’s work – both as an artist and a writer. He explores the relationship between imagery, semantics, and text. His paintings set up the potential for narrative interpretation but only give the viewer a taste of what could be.
10) Xu Zhen – Perrotin
Xu Zhen’s paintings, from a distance, look like a gorgeous flower or color field. They literally draw you in for closer inspection – the details are impeccable as each layer of paint was diligently piped onto the canvas with a pastry bag. Their visual texture leaves the viewer craving a decadent sweet treat. It was also very hard not to touch this one… it probably took a year to fully dry.
11) Barkley L. Hendricks – Jack Shainman Gallery
Barkley Hendricks recently passed away in 2017 and his iconic basketball paintings are rarely on display. His work is characterized by a realist, almost graphic designed approach to post-modern oil painting. He chronicled the the lives of Black Americans in the ’60s and ’70s, mostly living in urban areas.
13) Lee Bae – Perrotin
I was captivated by Lee Bae’s monochromatic but exceedingly detailed work. His compositions are made with raw or charred charcoal to create minimal, immersive landscapes.
14) Dave Muller – Blum & Poe
15) David Salle – Skarstedt
David Salle, Self Expression, 2015.
16) Scott Lyall – Miguel Abreu Gallery
Lyall’s Talent series was created from a set of modulated mirrors made of glass, printing ink, and a hand-mixed paint composition of varnish and gold nanoparticles. In Latin, “talent” refers to the amount of metal in a coin. The gold particles reduce the reflective quality of the mirror and give it more of a coin-like appearance as its namesake suggests.
17) Liu Wei – Lehmann Maupin
18) Latifa Echakhch – Metro Pictures
Latifa Echakhch, Dérives 47, 2015.
19) Morgan Fisher – Maureen Paley
Morgan Fisher is an American artist and filmmaker, known for his minimalistic works referencing film and the filmmaking process. Adox is a film company that has been in business for over 150 years.
20) Lari Pittman – Regen Projects
21) Jonas Wood – David Kordansky Gallery
22) Nate Lowman – David Zwirner
Jonas Wood, Still life with Cat and Fruit, 2020.
Nate Lowman, Interior Heart Painting (Matisse), 2015.
23) Duggie Fields – The Modern Institute
24) Eva Rothschild – Modern Art
25) Tom Sachs – Acquavella
Eva Rothschild, Triplet, 2020.
Tom Sachs, Supercharged, 2019.
Overall, the fair was definitely worth two trips – if only for the authentic New York style pizza served from one of the several food trucks on the back lot. Here’s to hoping 2021 Frieze can happen in person because I’m already over the ‘viewing rooms’.
