The fifth edition of Frieze Los Angeles is set to take place from February 29 to March 3, 2024, at the Santa Monica Airport.
Supported by Deutsche Bank, this year’s fair, directed by Christine Messineo, will feature a custom-designed structure by architect Kulapat Yantrasast of the studio WHY.
This edition’s layout at the airport campus is redesigned to enhance the visitor experience, focusing on both the interior exhibitions and the outdoor spaces. The fair will showcase over 95 exhibitors from 21 countries, emphasizing a strong presence from galleries based in the Greater Los Angeles area, which constitute nearly half of the fair.
The Focus section, curated by Essence Harden of the California African American Museum, will present young and emerging galleries from the United States. This section aims to highlight diverse artistic practices under the theme of ecology.
Messineo has expressed her anticipation for the fair, noting its role in bringing together an international audience to celebrate the vibrancy of the Los Angeles art scene. The fair will feature galleries from across the globe, offering a snapshot of current artistic trends and practices.
Yantrasast has designed the fair layout to be efficient and conducive to art discovery, ensuring a focused art experience inside and a lively atmosphere in the outdoor courtyard. Mark Thomann of WILDING X WHY further describes the outdoor space as a sanctuary centered on food, culture, and community, complementing the art experience.
In addition to the gallery presentations, Frieze Los Angeles will feature site-specific artworks and public activations, continuing its support for local non-profits. The fair will also see the return of the Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award and the Frieze Impact Prize.
Frieze Week will be celebrated citywide with events and activations by leading museums and cultural institutions, offering visitors a comprehensive art experience in Los Angeles.
For more information about the fair, including tickets and programming, visit the Frieze website: https://www.frieze.com/fairs/frieze-los-angeles
An Artist’s Personal Dive into Figurative Exploration
Annamotion, a series of monochromatic figurative paintings by LA artist Eric Sanders, opened at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art in June as part of the Japan 22nd International Art Exchange. In this recent series, Sanders navigates the nuanced landscape of the female figure through a grayscale lens while reconsidering the idea of a muse.
The title “Annamotion” is a play on words referencing Sanders’ muse and wife, Anna. In the exhibit, Anna is not simply presented as an observed subject. Sanders’ approach seeks to question and re-evaluate the traditional artist-muse relationship. Through the progression of canvases, Anna appears atop a metaphorical staircase, looking down, emanating an aura of self-awareness.
Shedding light on his conceptual approach, Sanders elaborates:
“In these paintings I engage with, and work against, the traditional artist/muse relationship. Anna is presented as a self-assured and empowered figure. Pulling inspiration from Gerhard Richter and Eadweard Muybridge, referencing gestural markings from Jenny Saville and Cy Twombly, it has been very rewarding to see my influences synthesize through this series.”
What emerges in Annamotion is not just the individuality of Sanders’ style, but a synthesis of his varied influences, so they are distilled in a unique visual narrative.
The artist’s background gives context to his vision. Originally from Pennsylvania, Sanders was mentored by his father, an accomplished amateur painter. His journey, transitioning from art during his youth to entrepreneurship, then back to art, lends depth to his work. The influences of his diverse life experiences are subtly evident in his pieces, making them both layered and accessible.
Annamotion is as a reflective exploration into figurative art, marked by Sanders’ personal connections and interpretations. Through his muse, Anna, Sanders invites viewers into a contemplative space, prompting them to engage with notions of observation, introspection and representation.
Intersect Aspen: A Celebration of Art and Community in the Heart of the Rockies
Aspen’s only fine art and design fair, Intersect Aspen, is scheduled to return to the Aspen Ice Garden from August 1-4, 2023, marking the third annual edition. Presented by Intersect Art and Design, this event unites a selection of modern and contemporary galleries from around the globe in one of America’s most picturesque mountain landscapes.
This year, Intersect Aspen will showcase the work of 31 galleries from 27 cities worldwide. The fair will feature a diverse range of art and design, including pieces like ‘Texas Desert Interior with Noguchi Lantern’ (2023) by JJ Manford, which blends oil stick, oil pastel, and Flashe on burlap over canvas.
Fair Schedule
The fair will kick off with a preview for VIP attendees on August 1 from 10 am to 12 pm. The general public can begin visiting from 12 pm onwards, with varying daily hours until August 4. There will also be a special evening event, “Late Night at the Fair,” on August 3. The closing event, a brunch for VIP guests, is scheduled for August 4, from 10 am to 12 pm.
According to Becca Hoffman, Managing Director of Intersect Art and Design, this year’s fair will host more than 10 new galleries, along with 20 returning exhibitors.
Intersect Aspen 2022
Cultural Events
Beyond the art and design showcase, CEO of Intersect Art and Design, Tim von Gal, emphasized the fair’s robust calendar of events. These events are organized in conjunction with local cultural non-profits such as Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Red Brick Art Center for the Arts, and Aspen Film.
Among these events is the third installment of the popular VIP “Collectors at Home” series, an afternoon tea at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, a VIP tour of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies, a film screening with Aspen Film and The Artist Profile Archive, and a “Midsummer Celebration” at the Red Brick Center for the Arts.
Additionally, there will be a panel discussion with respected art world insider Josh Baer, artist-led happy hours, and onsite ice cream and coffee.
For more details about Intersect Aspen and to stay updated, you can visit intersectaspen.com and also follow them on Instagram @IntersectArtandDesign.
June 8–July 15, 2022
Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery / Cal State LA
Curated by Jason Jenn and Vojislav Radovanović
with Mika Cho, Professor, ART/Director, Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery, Cal State LA
Featured artists: Enrique Castrejon, Serena JV Elston, Anita Getzler, Jason Jenn, Ibuki Kuramochi, Marne Lucas, Trinh Mai, Hande Sever, Vojislav Radovanović, Marval A Rex, Kayla Tange, Nancy Kay Turner and Jessica Wimbley.
Memories are always deeply personal and vulnerable to suggestion, sometimes nebulous, dreamlike and elusive, possibly distorted, often rooted in objects like keepsakes and heirlooms that tie families together across generations. This thoughtfully conceived and curated exhibition connects disparate artistic visions, varied media and divergent approaches to the creative process, linking them in a unifying theme of time and memory in a powerful and haunting way.
The show has a palpable ambiance, a prevailing subdued aura tinged with an overriding sense of sorrow and loss. On entering the gallery, an initial impression is conveyed by sound rather than imagery. In the background, discordant ambient audio from various looped videos creates an eerie otherworldly mood, the non-verbal creaks and squeaks intermingling, contributing to an overall disquiet.
Adding heft to the show, recurring thematic threads surface in unexpected ways, even among the dramatically distinct bodies of work by the 12 featured artists. Included in the mix are site-specific installations, assemblage sculpture, video, ceramics, collage and photography. Themes such as birth, maternity, time and death – propelled by manmade objects – point to the earth and the idea of re-growth and re-generation, suggesting the idea that life is about both renewal and borrowed time.
From the Exhibition ‘Memories of Tomorrow’s Sunrise’.From the Exhibition ‘Memories of Tomorrow’s Sunrise’.From the Exhibition ‘Memories of Tomorrow’s Sunrise’.From the Exhibition ‘Memories of Tomorrow’s Sunrise’.
Images: (Left to right) Trinh Mai: Begins with Tea, Jessica Wimbley: The True Story of Edges (still image), Jason Jenn: Sharing a Seat with the Poets, and Marne Lucas: Wet Passengers Cave (Ascension) 2022. Megan Frances Abrahams Photos.
Striking among these, is Trinh Mai’s installation, Begins with Tea, comprised of rows of tea sachets with tiny sepia-toned family photos enclosed along with grains, seeds, herbs, noodles – symbols of heritage, things passed down through generations. Hande Sever’s black and white photos beckon the viewer to look more closely. In them, a female figure interacts with the outdoor environment and various incongruous manmade objects – a newspaper, a fence, papers, costumes. Jessica Wimbley’s digital video installation, The True Story of Edges, employs a clever framing device so much of the footage is projected within the silhouette of a woman’s hair, as if presenting memories as they transpire in her head.
Allusions to pregnancy, birth and motherhood pervade Ibuki Kuramochi’s video installation, in which ocean waves are linked to procreation. In his quiet contemplative installation, Sharing a Seat with the Poets, Jason Jenn sets a scene: a divan with plants, rocks and stacks of books, among which one title stood out with particular resonance for its reference to the finite reality of life: Paul Monette’s Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir.
Anita Getzler symbolically pays homage to victims of the Holocaust in related sensitive assemblage works that combine historic items like women’s watches, symbolizing time, and Memorial candles from the Jewish tradition. In Vojislav Radovanović’s Days Devoured by Locusts, the artist’s video montage imagery is echoed by an installation of broken glass, tree branches planted in cement, bird figurines, models, feathers, shells and other found objects seemingly implying a confluence of scattered mementos of life. In producing her evocative sepia toned two-dimensional collages, Nancy Kay Turner incorporates a menu of diverse media and materials, including bread residue, lace, parchment, animal skeletons and staples, rendering a compelling vintage effect.
On some level, Memories of Tomorrow’s Sunrise is about layering – both figuratively and literally. Materials, often unconventional, are layered with metaphoric references to time. This is a careful compilation of works connected by family, heredity, tradition, loss and layers of time. For what are memories if not layers of time?
Visit: https://www.laartdocuments.com/memories
Top Image: Enrique Castrejon: The Realization You Are Losing Your Memory with Frequent Confusion and Disorientation, (2021) Foam core board, steel pins, acid-free archival glue, acrylic, pastels, sepia, graphite pigmented ink, black marker, paper, artist tape, thumbtacks and strips of paper with Alzheimer’s data from Alzheimer’s Los Angeles Fact Sheet 2018 and LA County Health Status Profiles 2017. Courtesy Bermudez Projects and the Fraijo Family. Megan Frances Abrahams Photo.
Art Indigenous Santa Fe: August 18 to 21, 2022
Located at the end of the historic Santa Fe trail, the city of Santa Fe has long been a commercial and cultural mecca. Founded in 1610, Santa Fe became a trading post in the 1800s, and went on to evolve into a major center for Native American art, a tradition that has continued ever since.
In 1922, the town became the site of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Santa Fe Indian Market, now the largest Native American event in the world. The annual juried art fair showcases the work of 1,000 Indigenous artists from the United States and Canada. As part of its Centennial this summer, the SWAIA will launch Art Indigenous Santa Fe, a new art fair for galleries that represent contemporary North American Indigenous artists. The gallery-based show will be produced and directed by seasoned art show producer Kim Martindale.
The fair is geared to recontextualize Indigenous art, giving it its due in a new way by including artists working with galleries who have not previously been part of Indian Market. This new level of recognition is long overdue, said Martindale. “We’re really bringing in a whole other world of art that hasn’t been so much of a focus in Santa Fe. The world is starting to get a taste of that by what happened in Basel for the first time, in Miami, having seven Basel level galleries actually show Indigenous art, and two of those galleries having solo exhibitions in their booths. That’s an amazing thing, that moment in time that just happened in December.”
The featured artists are all part of the North American Indigenous art scene, but the presence of this new fair provides a sort of perspective shift for Indigenous art. Many of these gallery artists have attended blue chip art schools like Rhode Island School of Design and the highly regarded fine arts programs of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. As such, while these artists are part of the Indigenous tradition, they have established a certain cachet in the art world at large, in some cases with work that commands high prices at auction. “We’re bringing that to Santa Fe so you can see the full spectrum,” Martindale said.
The concept for the show has been in the works for almost three years, coinciding in an elegant way with the timing of the SWAIA Centennial. Martindale pointed out that North American Indigenous art has only recently been given the attention it merits. It wasn’t until 2017 that New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art showed Native American art in its American wing. “I think it’s an important statement, because for so long, in most museums, it was put off into the ethnographic wing. These are living cultures. They didn’t die,” said Martindale. “They still are living functioning cultures and here’s this art that’s coming out of them.”
Indigenous art hasn’t had that moment where people have really looked at it, Martindale said. People often bypass it or relegate it to craft. “Whatever tradition they have, Native American or First Nations artists are artists first, but it’s the traditions they come out of that inspire how they paint and what develops their style. They all have a unique tradition, but they’re all part of the indigenous cultures of the U.S. and Canada – and that should be honored.”
Martindale produces the two Objects of Art Shows (The Tribal and Textile Art Show and American Indian Art Show) and ran the LA Art Show for 25 years. He’s also been a devoted collector of North American Indigenous art since childhood. He recalled, at the age of six, displaying his collection of arrowheads, seashells and bottles in his bedroom, which he named the “Kimrarium Museum.” This latest iteration is an extension of that. Martindale said his love of collecting is the underlying force behind this new project. “It’s what drives me really,” he said. “It’s part of my DNA.”
As part of his long-range vision for the concept, Martindale hopes to take the show to other cities, like Miami and LA. Ultimately, he’d like to bring selected work by featured artists to fairs in Europe, Asia and elsewhere around the world. At some point, the concept would expand to include exchanges with other fairs, like the Moroccan Biennale. “Its time is really now,” Martindale said. “There are so many things that are coming together at this moment, which makes me excited about this project.”
The inaugural Art Indigenous Santa Fe takes place August 18 to 21, 2022. Click here to read more.
