Arkive Magazine: Frieze Highlights

This year, Frieze Los Angeles boasts a curated selection despite a slight reduction in participating galleries.

Notable international and local favorites like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner, and Pace Gallery will be showcased alongside beloved coastal city galleries such as Roberts Projects, Anat Ebgi, Night Gallery, Parker Gallery, and Francis Ghabaly.

The event will be hosted in a new structure designed by Kulapat Yantrasast's architectural studio, WHY, generating high expectations for the revamped layout. Complementing the galleries' presentations is the fair's new public exhibition, 'Set Seen', curated by Art Production Fund. Site-specific artworks by Sharif Farrag, Ryan Flores, Derek Fordjour, and others will be situated throughout the Santa Monica Airport grounds, adding another layer of intrigue to the event.

Essence Harden

Essence Harden, who last week was announced as the 2025 Made in LA co-curator, spearheads this year's focus section dedicated to emerging U.S. galleries. Among the first-time participants are Babst Gallery, Lyles & King, and Shulamit Nazarian, showing photographs and video work by Los Angeles-based Haitian artist Widline Cadet.

Harry Fonseca Babst Gallery

Widline Cadet, Nan Letènite (In Eternity), 2021. Courtesy of the Artist and Shulamit Nazarian.jpeg

Widline Cadet, Nan Letènite (In Eternity), 2021. Archival inkjet print, 101.6 × 81.3 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles

The focus galleries will present solo presentations exploring ecologies as a framework for artmaking, delving into position, geography, material, and theoretical concerns, as described by Harden. Artists delve into the tangible aspects of memory, utilizing Everyday items like clothing, photographs, and jewelry boxes as vessels for personal and shared histories.

Curtis Talwst Santiago, Soca in the Suburbs Grande Fete, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Rachel Uffner.jpeg

Curtis Talwst Santiago, Soca in the Suburbs Grande Fete, 2021. Mixed media diorama in reclaimed jewelry box, 8 × 15 × 15 cm. Courtesy the artist and Rachel Uffner Gallery

Notable artists such as Pia Camil, Curtis Talwst Santiago, Carla Edwards, Josh Callaghan, Stephanie Syjuco, Blessing Ngobeni, and Su Yu-Xin explore the possibilities and constraints of working with materials (Details).

Su Yu-Xin, Earth Palette, 2021. Sulfur, realgar, ochre, clam fossil powder, soil, ferric oxide, linseed oil, sand, green sandstone, synthetic mauveine and violet on hand-shaped board, 17 × 25 × 2 cm. Courtesy the artist and MadeIn Gallery