Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California Photo via Wikimedia
After sitting out 2021 due to Covid-19, Frieze Los Angeles will return 17-20 February 2022 in new location on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, in a tent erected next to the Beverly Hilton hotel, with more exhibitors than the 2020 edition and a new monumental public art initiative.
Los Angeles galleries will be strongly represented with Blum & Poe, The Box, Château Shatto and Jeffrey Deitch among the exhibitors. The fair will include a number of first-time participants such as Bortolami, Carlos/Ishikawa, Pilar Corrias, Emalin and Stephen Friedman Gallery. Fair staples Gagosian, Marian Goodman, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery and Nara Roesler will also be on hand with stands.
The newly appointed director of both Frieze LA and Frieze New York Christine Messineo will be at the helm for the first time, and Amanda Hunt, the director of public programs and creative practice at Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, will oversee Focus LA, the section of the fair dedicated to young, Los Angeles-based galleries including Garden, Baert Gallery, Gattopardo and In Lieu.
While live art fairs have made a return in 2021, the global pandemic’s persistence and adaptability still raises questions. Although Art Basel Miami Beach was deemed a success by most exhibitors and attendees, the new covid-19 variant, Omicron, put a damper on the plans for some Southern African exhibitors and the forthcoming edition of the Brussels art and antiques fair, BRAFA, which was meant to be held from 23 to 30 January, has been cancelled in light of the country’s sharp increase in Covid-19 cases.
