Frieze Los Angeles brought together more than 95 galleries from around the world for five days of presentations, installations, and conversations that continue to evolve beyond a marketplace into something closer to a cultural institution.
The M Magazine team attended to cover the fair's standout moments — from museum-quality works by established masters to the emerging voices and textile-based practices that are reshaping how we think about contemporary art.
The blue-chip corridor was commanding as always. Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner, White Cube, Pace Gallery, Perrotin, Lisson Gallery, and Thaddaeus Ropac anchored the fair with presentations ranging from monumental sculpture to intimate works on paper. A multigenerational booth by one gallery created an unexpected dialogue between paper-based practices spanning three decades.
What makes Frieze LA distinct from its New York and London counterparts is the strength of its local gallery ecosystem. Anat Ebgi, The Pit, Roberts Projects, Chateau Shatto, and Commonwealth & Council demonstrated why Los Angeles has become the world's most dynamic city for emerging contemporary art. The energy of these spaces — rooted in LA's studio culture and proximity to CalArts, UCLA, and Otis — gave the fair an openness that more established fairs sometimes struggle to maintain.
This year's Frieze Projects, themed "Body & Soul" in partnership with Art Production Fund, brought large-scale outdoor installations to the campus grounds. Amanda Ross-Ho's monumental globe sculpture and Shana Hoehn's organic Deadfall piece transformed the outdoor spaces into sites of contemplation and play — blurring the line between art fair and public art park.
Seoul-based galleries continued to expand their presence at Frieze LA, reflecting the growing appetite for Korean contemporary art among West Coast collectors. The Korea-LA art corridor — already strong through K-pop, K-film, and Koreatown's cultural gravity — is now finding its fine art expression through these fair presentations.
KORISE will continue to cover the global art landscape through the lens of Korean culture's expanding influence — from Seoul to Santa Monica, one fair at a time.
Photos courtesy of Frieze.