The seventh edition of Frieze LA came to a close last week, after a packed opening that brought over 30,000 people to the fair over the course of four days. The high attendance was matched by a strong sales record that infused a much-needed sense of optimism into an art market rocked by turbulence and uncertainty in 2025. Optimism prevailed not only from sales, but from the widespread presence and celebration of artists working from or inspired by California – their participation in the wake of the 2025 wildfires that devastated Los Angeles was a testament to the endurance of a prodigious artistic community that remains as strong, supportive, and varied as ever.
Frieze’s LA edition is regularly characterized by a large number of West Coast artists on its roster – a presence that seemed especially palpable this year, spearheaded by various artist and community-led endeavours both at the fair and throughout Los Angeles. A bankrupted 99 cent store on Wilshire Boulevard was transformed by native Californian artist Barry McGee (in collaboration with The Hole and Jeffrey Deitch) into a monumental showcase of over 4,000 works by over 100 West Coast artists. LA-native Patrick Martinez’s signature neon signs were placed at the entrance to Frieze, in a series titled ‘If I Love You’ that critically responded to the ICE raids that have hit Los Angeles harder than most. Seeing an artist-led exhibition on such a large scale, along with a politically minded protest piece at the forefront of the fair reaffirmed LA’s commitment to the communities of people that, artists or not, are so integral to its culture and function.
Within the fair itself, West Coast artistry was preeminent. Michelle Stuart’s Wild Woodland Garden at Marc Selwyn Fine Art’s booth, part of her ‘Archaeology of Place’ series from the late 1980s, was one of the stand-out works of the entire fair. Collected plants, pigments, and other natural specimens are layered with beeswax and riots of color in a grid-like pattern on a large canvas – the final product manages to be both subtle and showstopping, an homage to the nature that the West Coast is so well known for. Gemini G.E.L., the famed print workshop based out of Los Angeles known for their work with Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg, had an impressive and varied display of works that included the aforementioned pop-art titans, as well as a Richard Serra etching, a set of Tacita Dean screenprints, and various other selections by a diverse roster of artists that included Julie Mehretu, David Hockney, and Ellsworth Kelly.
Both Pace and Gagosian’s rosters were full of California-based artists, with Pace’s James Turrell installation drawing the expected crowds, and Gagosian showing a vibrant new Mary Weatherford alongside various other Californians like Frank Gehry and Jennifer Guidi. Garth Greenan Gallery displayed an eye-catching piece by Native American Luiseño artist Fritz Scholder, who combined the influences of abstract expressionism and pop art to arrive at an artistic product that was well matched by the works of Emmi Whitehorse and Nicholas Krushenick displayed alongside it.
Other standout booths included that of Southern Guild, based out of South Africa (and opening a new outpost in New York City this spring), with a beautifully curated selection of works that dealt with questions of mixed identity, history, and belonging – themes that are particularly apt when situated in LA’s current social and artistic climate. Cardi’s booth saw Frank Stella’s colorful geometries wonderfully juxtaposed with the aluminum slat collages of Vincenzo de Cotiis and the enamelled canvasses of Christopher Wool, in an ode to two kinds of minimalism – one playful and colorful, the others almost brutalist in their metallic attentions. The works displayed at Lomex’s booth embodied a successful interplay of figurative exploration, historic craftmanship, and modern cultural commentary: a poignant sculpture by Kye Christensen-Knowles of two embracing figures was well placed in the foreground of a luminous and masterfully crafted work of gold leaf by Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano and a photograph by Heji Shin of the SpaceX rocket launch.
Last, but certainly not least, was Élise Peroi’s solo presentation of works for Carvalho gallery at their Frieze LA debut, which regularly elicited wide-eyed looks of delight from attendees. Her largest work, a standalone grid of six tiered works of shredded gouache-on-silk paintings that are then rewoven on a tapestry loom, filtered the famous California light through their strands and waved gently in the breeze created by thronging passerby (and air conditioning). The result was ethereal, deeply peaceful, and almost spiritual in effect – out of almost all the booths at Frieze, Carvalho’s was one where people stayed the longest.
Light, color, playfulness – all are themes outsiders typically associate with the West Coast, and Los Angeles more specifically. And while all were certainly present at the fair, this edition of Frieze brought something deeper to attendees’ experience of the city – an undercurrent of activism, inclusion, and strength in the face of adversity that is a hallmark of LA’s artistic and cultural community.
by Cristian Miller
Images by C. Miller, except where otherwise noted