West Hollywood / Beverly Hills / Melrose

This is the hotspot for auction house and gallery openings (and a fantastic shopping area if you need something to wear to them). If you’re near Fairfax, hit Cofax for some of the area’s best breakfast burritos or Canter’s for an iconic LA deli experience. Crossroads Kitchen (West Hollywood) boasts vegan food so good you’ll forget it’s vegan, and The Hideaway (Beverly Hills) offers an intimate bar amid the bustle and glitz of Rodeo Drive. If it’s time for a taco truck, the Guelaguetza guys in the parking lot of the Pavillions off Melrose are some of the best. But if it’s 1960s Hollywood lore you’re into, you can always hit El Coyote, where Sharon Tate ate her last meal (the New Beverly movie theater, owned by Tate/Manson mythologizer Quentin Tarantino, is across the way). 

BOIL, TOIL, + TROUBLE

 708 N. Manhattan Place

This iterative, non-commercial exhibition, conceived and curated by Art in Common’s Abby Pucker and Zoe Lukov, had its debut in Miami—but for this LA edition, the show of witchy, mystical work by over 50 artists, will unveil site-specific installations and performances, including for its opening on Saturday the 18th (6-10pm).

Courtesy of Art in Common

DESERT X AT CHRISTIE'S

336 North Camden Drive

In anticipation of the fourth edition of “Desert X” (opening March 4), the Coachella Valley-based exhibition, curated by Diana Campbell and Neville Wakefield, featuring artists Sterling Ruby, Jennifer Bolande, and Doug Aitken, is having a kick-off with Christie’s on February 13th.

LACMA

 5905 Wilshire Boulevard

The one museum exhibition that cannot be skipped?  “Afro-Atlantic Histories.” This  ground-breaking show charts transatlantic slave legacies of the African diaspora through contemporary art.

Image courtesy of LACMA

CRAFT CONTEMPORARY

5814 Wilshire Boulevard

Long heralding the artistry of craft-based artworks, Craft Contemporary has unveiled two dynamic exhibitions:  a new, site-specific installation of vibrant multimedia works by Alicia Piller, and a group show of “Strings of Desire,” a woven tableau of artists working in embroidery.

Photo credit: Ken Gun Min, Night Lake, 2016-2022. Korean pigment, collected bead/crystal, silk thread, embroidery wax, oil paint on canvas, 74 x 50 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

HAUSER & WIRTH

8980 Santa Monica Boulevard

Another year, another new space from the ever-expanding mega gallery. Inaugurating Hauser & Wirth’s West Hollywood outpost is “People are Strange,” a show of large-scale, fresh-out-of-the-studio paintings by the no-introduction-needed George Condo.

Image courtesy of Hauser & Wirth

GAGOSIAN

456 North Camden Drive 

This is not a drill! Kim Gordon is performing on the 15th. Get your tickets here. If you can’t snag a spot, the gallery has shows of Cy Twombly, Jim Shaw and Llyn Foulkes. 

Image courtesy of STUDIOpractice Architects

GAGOSIAN AT MARCIANO FOUNDATION

 4357 Wilshire Boulevard

Who misses the private collection? Gagosian has taken over and is curating the hell out of this former masonic temple, one of Los Angeles’s most intriguing art spaces. Up now: an epic installation of large-scale paintings by Anselm Kiefer (How large-scale? Some paintings reach nearly 30 feet). 

Image Courtesy of Anselm Kiefer and Gagosian

UTA ARTIST SPACE

403 Foothill Road

Eddie Murphy just revealed it was he who paid $50,000 for a major Ernie Barnes painting straight from the estate of Marvin Gaye. That’s just the kind of celebrity x art world crossover we love to see out in Los Angeles. If you attend the public opening / block party for “Ernie Barnes: Where Music and Soul Live” on the 15th, you may see a celebrity or two: even Beyoncé, who’s been seen in the mix of attendees. The exhibition is supported by Andrew Kreps Gallery and Ortuzar Projects, who both are presenting solo booths of Ernie Barnes at Frieze LA.

Ernie Barnes, LATE NIGHT DJ, 1980. Photo Jeff McLane Courtesy of UTA Artist Space and the Ernie Barnes Estate

FELIX ART FAIR

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd

“Hotel” and “art fair” don’t often come together in a format so quirky and exciting—and as a result, Felix fills up with fair-goers fast. Don’t get stuck in the elevator line! Head to the Roosevelt early to the upper floors, and peruse the pool-side selection of galleries with a cocktail in hand.

Image courtesy of Roosevelt Hotel

JEFFREY DEITCH

925 N. Orange Drive & 7000 Santa Monica Boulevard

The bi-coastal boss hosts a reception for major exhibitions of work by Tom Friedman ( exuberant sculpture) at the Santa monica location and Refik Anadol (digital paintings) on the 18th when the WeHo wagon journeys forth. 

Image: Tom Friedman, Cocktail Party (2015)

PACE

1201 South LaBrea Avenue

What was once Kayne Griffin Corcoran is now the Los Angeles outpost of Pace, with the mega gallery absorbing the long-time LA stalwart’s artists—and space, too. For this week, the cool La Brea gallery hosts a gorgeous show pairing the small/medium sculptural works of Alexander Calder with his works on paper, all from 1939—and selected and installed by Richard Tuttle. Alongside the exhibition at Pace, David Kordansky Gallery is showing works made by Tuttle as freewheeling analogies to Calder’s storied practice.

Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1939, sheet metal, rod, wire, and paint, 55-1/2" × 64-1/2" (141 cm × 163.8 cm) © 2023 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

PHILLIPS

9041 Nemo Street 

The cool kids of the auction circuit opened their West Coast station, designed by local architecture studio Formation Association, in October and currently has a selling exhibition of curated design pieces from Sight Unseen. 

Image courtesy of Peter Christian Valli and Phillips

BLUM & POE

2727 S. La Cienega Blvd

Take a break from fair mode and relax amid the lush landscapes of Friedrich Kunath. A specially commissioned mural by Dave Muller celebrates the gallery’s major 25th anniversary. 

Friedrich Kunath, Return To Forever, 2022-23. Image courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe.