This was the weekend. Art fair weekend. We took in five art fairs this Presidents Day weekend, each with its own flavor.
At Frieze Los Angeles on Friday, we took in an astonishing collection of works in the gallery tent. From Alison Saar to James Turrell and Anish Kapour, name the starry art luminaries and they were represented here. Attendees sipped champagne taking in a massive Cindy Sherman towering over NYC-based Metro Pictures booth, while Ugo Rondinone’s ten mountains + one sun evoked the artist’s large scale Nevada installation Seven Magic Mountains. The art hits kept coming inside. Outside, installations on the backlot included terrific textile art from Channing Hansen inside a false-front brownstone; in a larger indoor space was Barbara Kasten’s massive colored plexiglass and steel-frame sculpture “Intervention.” A small shopping arcade of artisan goods and a collection of local dining options was also available on the lot; fresh turmeric juice from Sqirl fueled our foray past massive sculptures and video art.
Saturday started with stARTtup at the Kinney in Venice. This collection of motel room exhibition space housed both artists and galleries, such as Launch, LAAA and the Los Angeles Center for Photography. The Museum of Art and History in Lancaster was also on hand with a stellar collection of works from Stevie Love, Annie Seaton, Dani Dodge, Lynne McDaniel, and Lilian Abel. Lili Bernard’s passionate works literally and metaphorically glittered; Cathy Breslaw’s lush mixed media works, and the compelling room installation of Snezana Saraswati Petrovic heightening awareness of ecology and climate change in playful style were among the many standouts. In the motel courtyard, guests sipped cocktails, and lingered in conversation between room visits.
Downtown in the Row, a cavernous, unfinished industrial/office space was the perfect setting for the weekend’s most inventive fair, the SPRING/BREAK Art Show. A big wow to the riveting installations created by artists, galleries, and collectives. The Kama Shooter booth used cardboard target practice boards to construct a home for wildly inventive sculptural works from Marina Heintze. Durden and Ray offered a surreal child-like world of pleasures, while Intra-Being: Ecological Civilization curated by Khang Nguyen included unique mixed media and dimensional paintings from artists such as Kio Griffith, Chenhung Chen, Virginia Katz, and Ann Phong, among others. Jonathan Rosen’s More’s Law booth was shining in gold, while mirrored text images, timed to the speed of an iPhone’s shutter click created memorably fun interactive work for the viewer.
On Sunday, Art Los Angeles Contemporary shone in its new Hollywood Athletic Club digs. The airy, sun-filled upstairs galleries were especially enjoyable; noshes from Sawyer’s restaurant made a pleasurable break. A mix of international and U.S. galleries, including LA locals such as Luis de Jesus and Odd Ark offered a terrific mix of contemporary and modern art. Gisela Colon’s “Super Ellipsoid (Palladium)” of blow-molded acrylic was among the satisfying viewing from Peter Blake Gallery in Laguna Beach. LACE served up large scale textile fabric art in vivid magenta and orange.
The opposite of airy, Felix occupied another historic venue – the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Small cabana rooms along with slightly larger suites and rooms on two upper floors were occupied by galleries such as Nicodem in LA and Klemm’s in Berlin. There was an exhausting span of work, from limited edition Felix-the-cat clocks to a stunning large scale portrait by Vincent Valdez. The narrow halls and elevator lines to ascend to upper floors created something of a challenge, but intrepid art lovers could relax after negotiating the maze-like cabana area at the pool bar.
See you at the fair next year – or all of them.
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