Singling out the solo booths to see at Frieze Los Angeles
Over 70 galleries will descend on Paramount Pictures Studio for the second edition of the West Coast art fair (14-16 February), anchored by an ambitious programme of special projects, film screenings, talks, and institutional collaborations

‘There is no other city like LA, which generates creativity for the entire world in so many modes,’ says Frieze Los Angeles executive director Bettina Korek. The California native may be somewhat biased, but LA has an indisputable pull – boosted by the thrilling new dimension that Frieze brought to the city’s cultural scene when it launched last year. This week, riding high off the spectacle that is the Oscars, the fair’s sophomore effort returns to Paramount Pictures Studios. Fittingly, the inaugural Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award for emerging LA-based filmmakers is set to be awarded at the fair. Also new in 2020, Focus LA provides a platform for local galleries aged 15 years or younger, with curated artist projects advised by Rita Gonzalez, curator and LACMA department head of contemporary art. But it’s the solo acts that are raising the stakes – here, we make a beeline for the galleries risking it all on one artist.
Avery Singer at Hauser & Wirth
At 32 years old, the Swiss mega-gallery’s youngest signing is almost certainly bound for art superstardom. Lauded for her forward-thinking visual vocabulary, Avery Singer combines digital and manual techniques with gesso paint to create works on canvas that meld abstraction and figuration, historical and contemporary narratives. The artist, who hails from New York, will present four new paintings at Hauser & Wirth’s stand (B14), flexing her affinity for art history and colour theory in works like Jordan (2019, pictured below), which takes 19th-century European painting and the notion of ‘the intoxicated painter’ as starting points.
Jordan, 2019, by Avery Singer, acrylic on canvas stretched over wood panel (Booth B14). Courtesy of the artist, Hauser & Wirth, Kraupa-Tuskany Ziedler, Berlin
Idris Khan at Victoria Miro
At Victoria Miro’s booth (B11), British artist Idris Khan is intent on hitting all the high notes at Frieze with a meditative display of new paintings, sculptures and works on paper, largely rendered in intense shades of blue. But it’s his suite of Large Rhythm Paintings, based on sheet music, that has us completely entranced: obscuring areas of musical notation with gestural passages of oil paint, Khan leaves select elements of the original visible. Additional works include the deeply personal my mother, 59 years (2019) – an abstract monument comprising every printed photograph he could find of his late mother – as well a series of White Wall collages, and a jesmonite maquette of his public art installation recently unveiled in London.
The Old Tune, 2019, by Idris Khan, digital C-print (booth B11).
Calida Rawles at Various Small Fires
Various Small Fires (VSF) is making its hometown Frieze debut with a showing of American photorealistic painter Calida Rawles in the fair’s new Focus LA section. The artist’s surreal paintings – depicting her subjects floating or submerged in swimming pools – dive into topics such as colourism, intersectionality, and the marginalisation of black women. The fair presentation coincides with Rawles’ first solo exhibition, ‘A Dream for my Lilith’ (12 February – 14 March), at the gallery’s Johnston Marklee-designed space in Hollywood.
North and Penn (for Freddie Grey), 2018, by Calida Rawles.
Ugo Rondinone at Galerie Eva Presenhuber
‘Like a diarist, I record the living universe – this season, this day, this hour, this wind, this kind of grass… this kind of snow, this sound in the grass, this silence,’ reflected New York-based, Swiss-born artist Ugo Rondinone in a cryptic statement. The enigmatic Rondinone is revealing little else ahead of his solo presentation at Galerie Eva Presenhuber’s booth (A10), other than it comprises ten small-scale mountain sculptures and one sun painting. Watch this space.
Preview of Ugo Rondinone’s ten mountains + one sun (booth A10). © Ugo Rondinone
James Turrell at Pace Gallery and Kayne Griffin Corcoran
The American artist has the distinct honour of headlining a double bill of his own work across two galleries – Pace Gallery (B16) and Kayne Griffin Corcoran (B18) – including an immersive LED ceiling installation and works from James Turrell’s Glass series. The immersive joint exhibition was conceived to bolster awareness and raise further funds for his magnum opus, Roden Crater – a monumental public arts project that has been 50 years in the making in the Painted Desert region of northern Arizona. Sitting out LA this year? Pace Gallery is hosting a solo exhibition of Turrell at its London outpost (11 February – 27 March); additionally, a survey of his work, ‘Passages of Light’, is currently on view in Mexico until 29 March.
Law of One, Medium Rectangle Glass, 2019, by James Turrell, LED light, etched glass and shallow space (booths B16, B18). © James Turrell.
INFORMATION
Frieze Los Angeles 2020 runs from 14-16 February. frieze.com
ADDRESS
Paramount Pictures Studio
5515 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles
-
Rado’s ceramic watches take inspiration from the world’s great gardens
New additions to the Rado True Thinline watch collection reinterpret exotic plants
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
‘Meaningful disruption’: Heron Preston launches L.E.D. Studio, a convention-defying creative hub
Part art and design studio, part sustainability practice, Heron Preston’s L.E.D. Studio builds on the world he has built at his eponymous New York City-based fashion label. Here, he tells Wallpaper* more
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Exploring Punta del Este, the southern hemisphere’s hub for art and relaxation
Punta del Este offers everything, from party to relaxation; all enveloped in idyllic countryside and a rich cultural offering
By Rainbow Nelson • Published
-
Cindy Sherman’s freaky new portrait collages dissect the divided self
We preview Cindy Sherman’s new portraits, on view at Hauser & Wirth Zurich during Zurich Art Weekend – which will see digitally manipulated collages explore the many facets of society
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Gary Simmons on the erasure of racist tropes: ‘I don't want them to be forgotten for their menace’
In Gary Simmons’ new show, ‘This Must Be the Place’ at Hauser & Wirth, London, the artist explores the process of cultural erasure, and the traces it leaves behind
By Amah-Rose Abrams • Published
-
Matthew Day Jackson: ‘I want digital and analogue to fit together perfectly so we can regain our hands’
American artist-designer Matthew Day Jackson’s new show 'Against Nature' at Pace Gallery, New York offers a sharp digital spin on landscape painting
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Frieze New York 2023 opening day: what went down
As Frieze New York 2023 kicks off at The Shed (until 21 May), Jessica Klingelfuss reports on an electrifying opening day and highlights the unmissable offerings at this year's fair and beyond
By Jessica Klingelfuss • Published
-
The art fair personality test: what type of Frieze New York visitor are you?
Are you a selfie seeker or a champagne visualist? Take our art fair personality test to identify yourself at Frieze New York 2023 (17-21 May)
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Alex Hartley’s eerie ode to Carlo Scarpa in Venice
Alex Hartley’s theatrical new installation ‘Closer than Before’ at Victoria Miro Venice is a haunting take on architectural destruction in Venice
By Thea Hawlin • Published
-
All eyes on Christina Quarles, the painter inventing a new figurative language
Los Angeles-based artist Christina Quarles is in her element, with two major solo shows underway at Hamburger Bahnhof and Hauser & Wirth Menorca
By Emily McDermott • Published
-
New York art exhibitions: what to see in 2023
As Frieze 2023 gets ready to touch down at The Shed, explore our ongoing guide to the best New York art exhibitions 2023 for your diary
By Tilly Macalister-Smith • Published