Five years later, Frieze Los Angeles has grown without aging

As Frieze Los Angeles nears its close on Sunday, the fair finds itself facing the same challenge that many, if not most, of the Hollywood stars who have walked its halls have overcome to maintain their place in the industry’s upper echelon: the start . middle aged

Now in its fifth year, Frieze Los Angeles is no longer the hot, fresh newcomer to the art fair scene it was in the immediate pre-pandemic era. It’s not even the newest Friso fair anymore; the brand’s event in Seoul currently holds that honor by virtue of its 2022 launch.

This is certainly a situation that both Frieze and Endeavor, its entertainment conglomerate parent company, are happy to think about. It didn’t take much effort to find detractors when the companies announced in early 2018 that they would host a major international trade show in Los Angeles the following February. That the event has not only survived, but has become essential for local and international traders alike half a decade later means that, on one level, the gamble has already paid off.

“Art Week brings so much energy to Los Angeles, and that excitement is still palpable five years from now,” says Davida Nemeroff, the owner of Night Gallery in downtown Los Angeles. She describes Frieze as “a critical moment” in the show’s annual calendar, given that “the influx of curators, collectors and press will be able to see what we put on display.”

“I think this fair means a lot to the people of LA, because this is the fair that made the city a real kid,” says Alex Logsdail, the executive director of the Lisson Gallery. Lisson is among the well-publicized group of elsewhere-based commercial galleries that have debuted a permanent Los Angeles expansion since Frieze opened, along with David Zwirner, Marian Goodman, Karma and more. The stampede was already well advanced in the years leading up to the fair, but its arrival was undoubtedly a catalyst.

“Frieze LA has established itself as the most important fair in the United States during the first few months of the calendar year,” says Adam Green, an art consultant based in New York. “The quality of participating galleries is something we haven’t seen again in this country until Frieze New York or maybe Art Basel Miami Beach.”

Find a “permanent home”

An important part of maturing is finding what works. “We really got into our operating groove this year,” Simon Fox, Frieze’s chief executive, says of this year’s Los Angeles fair. While he also cites the expansion of the event’s food and beverage area and improved logistics as key improvements, key to his sentiment is the brand’s long-term comfort with its newly refined presentation at the Santa Monica airport.

In the five editions held to date, Frieze Los Angeles has occupied three different locations in three different neighborhoods: the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood (2019-20), 9900 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills (2022) and the Santa Monica Airport (2023-2020) ). 24). (The fair did not take place in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.) Even this accounting underestimates the decline, given that Frieze has centralized all of this year’s exhibitors in its signature purpose-built marquee after placing a subset of them for about ten minutes. on foot at Barker Hangar in 2023.

Fox is coy when asked about the length of the brand’s commitment to the Santa Monica airport, but hints that Frieze has no plans to look elsewhere for the foreseeable future. “Hopefully, we’ve found a permanent home,” he says, adding that the one-stop shop structure at the airport “will only work for Frieze if it works for the galleries. We’re hearing loud and clear from the galleries that it works for them.” (The brand received notes universally high of the Barker Hangar veterans who showed up again in 2024).

As important as the changing geography, each new location also brought about considerable changes in the scale of Frieze Los Angeles. This year’s fair hosted 95 exhibitors, compared to a record high of 120 last year and 70 in each of the two Paramount editions. When asked how he responds to industry talk that a trade show of 100 or so exhibitors can’t be profitable for the company, Fox says, “I’m happy that other people are concerned about our economy. That’s my job, and you can tell them don’t worry.”

From conversations with collectors and advisors in Los Angeles, a source of affection remains for Paramount’s days at the fair. But true to form, your metaphorical mileage on the issue probably depends on your literal mileage. “Is the airport a little farther than the Paramount lot for some of us who live on the east side? Sure. But it’s still a drive away,” Nemeroff says.

Pedigree and persistence

Combined with the pedigree of its exhibitors, Frieze Los Angeles’ transition to middle age tracks with a larger evolution in the rest of the world’s perception of the city as a nexus for the fine arts. According to data from the Los Angeles Tourism Board, only about a third of visitors to the City of Los Angeles included museums and shopping galleries on their itineraries before the Covid-19 pandemic, and just over 20% did the same with performance. arts This year, these numbers are poised to increase by at least 10%, indicating a modest but significant shift in public awareness.

Any market participant who perceived lower-powered interest in brokers would also be wise not to attribute what may be a macro-level pause to the city or the fair. “I think the levels of enthusiasm for this year’s edition of the fair have waned, largely due to the softening market, which is starting to affect certain galleries in a significant way,” says Green.

However, several exhibitors at the trade show say long-discussed concerns about the size of the organics bin base in metro Los Angeles miss the point. Katey Acquaro, the director of Silverlens Galleries in Manila and New York, who is participating in Frieze Los Angeles for the first time, calls Los Angeles “America’s gateway” to all of Asia. This is not to say that the gallery overlooks local buyers and institutions, just that any dealer who thinks locally, or even inland, is sacrificing a larger opportunity.

Frieze also knows the way hypervigilance at the top of the sales pyramid can shape perceptions, especially in what generally remains a buyer’s market. “Defining the success of a fair by the number seven
The sales numbers are absurd,” Fox says. “What I want is for every gallery, no matter what size, to sell what they brought in.” He adds that his preferred measure is the number of art “changes” on the shelves. between the end of one day and the beginning of the next, and this year, he says, the exchanges were numerous enough to make the event “almost a different fair” for Friday.

Fox also cautions against the default expectation that Frieze will continue to grow its presence in Los Angeles by once again increasing the number of exhibitors. Instead, anyone who wants to understand the company’s attitude to expansion should think “less about the tent and more about the city and the week.”

“I see the fair as the epicenter of an entire ecosystem that extends to institutions, to non-participating galleries, to artists working in LA,” he says. Fair organizers are aware of about 550 cultural events scheduled in Los Angeles during this year’s Frieze Week, nearly double the roughly 300 such events organized during the equivalent period last year.

Throughout its history, the agency side of Endeavor has helped guide hundreds of actors, filmmakers and other creative talent from blazing beginnings to decades-long successful careers. Five editions in, Frieze seems to be guiding its Los Angeles fair down a similar path. Youth, as it turns out, is not everything.