Frieze Los Angeles wrapped up its inaugural edition over the weekend at Paramount Pictures Studio, and up until the very last hour, it was full of art patrons from all over the globe. Walking in, we wove our way through the backlots of the site before approaching the big Frieze tent. Inside, we moved from booth to booth and took note of seven booths that caught our eyes.
The contemporary Latvian painter Ella Kruglyanskaya presented a work at Thomas Dane Gallery that we loved for its subject—a curvy women at leisure, with red nail and wearing a purple dress.
Tania Candiani presented a work from her “Gordas” series at Brazil-based Vermelho gallery, which caught attention from afar for its image of a screaming mouth amplified by surrounding hands.
The graffiti artist Gajin Fujita’s Phony Disillusion at L.A.-based Louver gallery was a nice mashup of Asian art and contemporary references—an iPhone open in the Photos app, taking a picture of the content, but when it appears on the screen, the geisha is a horned monster.
Lawrence Weiner and John Baldessari took over at Marian Goodman Gallery, with Weiner responding to Baldessari’s works by pulling a work from his personal archives from the 1990s.
At Blum & Poe, we loved the art that wrapped the booth—seemingly a site-specific, creative wallpaper made for the show.
Carpet art in the form of a hand-tufted wall hanging entitled Landscape by Nicolas Party was seen at the Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, reeling the audience in from afar for its vivid blue, red, and yellow foliage.
And at Matthew Marks Gallery, we enjoyed the solo exhibition of works by Ken Price—acrylic and ink on paper works, and a selection of glazed ceramics. All works depicted quintessential Los Angeles scenes, like Return to L.A. showing California-style homes next to tall palm trees.
