This post was originally published on artnews.com
In 1897, amid rumors that Mark Twain was seriously ill, the famed author told a reporter, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” That statement might as well have described Thursday at Frieze Los Angeles. By the end of the VIP Day, the fair had sent out a 1,500-word email reporting “strong sales,” an “energetic opening day” and a long list of sold-out booths and major sales.
Mariane Ibrahim, David Kordansky, Casey Kaplan, and Carlyle Packer all reported selling out, with prices ranging from $13,500-$60,000, $8,000-$80,000, $30,000, and $16,000-$54,000 respectively. Hauser & Wirth also reported selling out its booth of Ambera Wellman works, priced $150,000-$210,000 and presented in collaboration with Company under its “Collective Impact initiative.” James Cohan, meanwhile, “nearly” sold out of its booth of works by Eamon Ore-Giron, featured in last year’s Whitney Biennial, priced between $30,000 and $125,000.
The overall sentiment at the fair seemed to be a mix of relief, excitement, and gratitude at collectors for showing up and supporting the LA arts community as it recovers from a harrowing start to 2025. As one East Coast-based collector put it outside of the Ruinart Art Bar, “Up until Tuesday I wasn’t sure [if I would come]. Then I said to myself, ‘Of course you’re going.’ It’s the right thing to do.”
Just after 11 a.m., the main corridor thrummed, and two collectors in front of Matthew Marks booth— one in tannish red suede pants and a brown leather trench, the other in a puffy-armed knit jacket and clutching a fur-and-leather handbag—exclaimed how glad they were to see each other. Showing up was important.
They weren’t the only ones to make the trip. The fair reported a star-studded list of attendees that included celebs like Katie Couric, Kid Cudi, Gunna, Brit Marling, and Gwyneth Paltrow—spotted in the aisles eyeing a Mark Manders print at Xavier Hufkens—and a raft of Top 200 collectors, including Larry and Allison Berg, Lauren Taschen, Komal Shah, Ric Whitney, and more than a few Rubells. Taschen, according to one New York dealer, showed up even before the fair opened, to stroll the aisles and earnestly, joyfully thank out-of-town dealers for coming. (However, Frieze spokesperson told ARTnews that there there were no collectors visited the fair prior to the official opening.) There were also brand-name institutional figures like the Serpentine Galleries’ Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Thelma Golden, and LACMA’s Michael Govan, to name just a couple.
(Not named in Frieze’s report, but spotted nonetheless was actor James Franco, who also paid a visit to Felix on Wednesday.)
The megas were not immune from the general atmosphere of anxiety, and relief. As Samanthe Rubell, president of Pace, told ARTnews, “We were nervous at first but we knew that people would come out. I think everyone knew it would be a great fair. And it is. It’s beautiful to see and to be a part of.”
Throughout Thursday, Pace’s booth was bustling, with CEO Marc Glimcher holding court over a vibrant red and white painting by Maysha Mohamedi, while a seemingly endless queue lined up to photograph a work by James Turrell.
Several works by Kylie Manning and Tara Donovan sold in the first few hours of the fair; though Pace did not provide prices. More exciting, however was the sale of Robert Indiana’s LOVE (Red Outside Blue Inside), a work conceived in 1966 and executed 30 years later. The sale, which Pace reported was over $500,000, comes just days after the gallery and Kasmin announced that they would mount tandem Robert Indiana solo shows in New York in the coming months, with an additional show at Pace’s Hong Kong location.
The biggest winner of the fair seemed to be David Zwirner, who saw a number of sales reach past $1 million. Among them, an Elizabeth Peyton painting for $2.8 million, a Noah Davis work for $2.5 million, an Alice Neel painting for $1.8 million, and a Lisa Yuskavage painting for $1.6 million. (Yuskavage, meanwhile, had the must-see show of the week at the gallery’s Melrose Hill location.)
Gladstone and Michael Rosenfeld Gallery also reported sales over $1 million, for a 2 million painting-on-glass by Keith Haring and a $1 million Ruth Asawa sculpture respectively.
Kasmin, which was presenting a solo booth of elegant works by the Syrian-born American artist Diana Al-Hadid had encouraging sales. Five of the panels sold throughout the day for a range between $75,000 and $110,000. Blum, too, had a strong showing. A Yoshitomo Nara ceramic sold for a mouth-watering $750,000, and works by Tom Anholt, Ryan Sullivan, Sam Moyer, and Theodora Allen sold for between $48,000 and $65,000.
“The community has really shown up, and it’s been incredibly moving,” LA dealer David Kordansky told ARTnews. By 1pm, he had sold out his booth of works by New York–based artist Maia Cruz Palileo, who will open their first LA solo show at the gallery in a few weeks. “We didn’t know what to expect going into the fair this year. There’s been an openness and willingness to look and to learn. We’re grateful not only to the LA art community that has turned out but to out visitors who came from elsewhere.”
“The art week is pumping this year—the wheels are definitely churning,” LA dealer Charlie James, who is showing at both Felix and Frieze this year, told ARTnews. In his booth are works by Ozzie Juarez and Jackie Amézquita, both of whom have Frieze Projects located outside the fair.
That churn, that constant whipping up and reinvigoration of relationships that art fairs were built for was in full view. “It’s really about the long view,” influential art dealer and former president of the Art Dealers Association of America Andrew Meier told ARTnews. “If you’re lucky enough to stick around the returns are there. The relationships are always a net positive.”
Another net positive was Frieze’s various fire relief initiatives. The Frieze Arts Alliance brought multiple institutions with acquisition budets to the fair, resulting on Thursday in California African American Museum’s purchase of Darrel Ellis’s two works, Untitled (Bathing Beauty), 1987-1989 and Untitled (Bathing Beauty), 1988-1991, from Hannah Hoffman Gallery. Additionally, a new acquisition fund, MAC3, created in collaboration with the Mohn Art Collective, the Hammer, LACMA, MOCA: LA and Frieze, was announced. MAC3 acquired acquired Edgar Arceneaux’s Skinning the Mirror (Summer 1) (2025) from Dreamsong, and Shaniqwa Jarvis’s Slowly,Surely (2025) from Sow & Tailor.
Lastly was the Galleries Together initiative, which saw the gallery Victoria Miro open their booth to other galleries participating in the fair that wanted to donate works to benefit the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund. Multiple works at the booth sold including three works by Chinatsu Ban priced between $2,000 and $6,000, a Shin Murata x Takashi Murakami ceramic piece for $12,000, and a work by Yuji Toma for $3,000.
The fair then, seemed to be a balm of sorts, for a city that is understandably still suffering, just one month after the worst of the wildfires.
“Morale has been so low here,” New York dealer James Fuentes, who opened an outpost in the Melrose Hill corridor of galleries in 2023, told ARTnews. In his booth, he is showing historical works by underknown abstractionist Pat Lipsky, which are complemented by recent ones by the artist. “This year’s fair is part of the healing process,” he added. “This will probably be the most memorable Frieze.”