At Frieze LA’s Satellite Fairs, Galleries Wait For Crowds to Roll In

At 11 a.m. Wednesday, the VIP line for the Felix Art Fair stretched from the Blossom Ballroom of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to Hollywood Boulevard. And, as is often the case at this show, the line for the elevator to the 12th floor was long. So unlike other fairs held during L.A. Art Week, the opening half-hour was relatively quiet for exhibitors as collectors, consultants, curators and critics filed laboriously to reach the fairgrounds.

When I finally stepped out of the elevator bay, I found myself standing in front of the Althuis Hofland Fine Arts gallery in Amsterdam, my second time attending Felix. “Last year went really well,” said founder Jeanine Hofland art newsnoted that they featured a solo performance by Masao Nakahara, who shared the room with Karel Dick this year. Dick’s intimate genre paintings in artist-made wooden frames are particularly captivating. The gallery pre-sold several works ahead of the show, indicated by a rare price list marked with a red dot sticker, and has had a small number of visitors so far — probably seven or so people in one elevator ride.

The energy was heightened at nearby Tribeca gallery Dimin, where dealer Robert Dimin greeted guests with a friendly, “Let me know if you have any questions.” His demeanor was upbeat, considering he had arrived in Los Angeles around 10 p.m. the night before, after a nor’easter dumped nearly two feet of snow on Manhattan and disrupted travel from New York.

“It was a battle to get here,” Diming said. For the past few days, he’d been checking the Delta app every 30 minutes to see if he could find a better flight than the rebooked one, which departed New York at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning. He surprised even himself by grabbing one of the only direct flights to Los Angeles

Most of the New York dealers I spoke to this week told stories of multiple connections to far-flung cities like Fort Lauderdale, Minneapolis and Austin. That was a sentiment I heard throughout the day at Felix and Enzo, which features New York galleries, most of whom had also arrived late the night before and were rushing to finish their shows before the show opened at 2 p.m.

Dimin knew it was especially important to be present from the beginning of the VIP opening, as it was his gallery’s first time attending Felix and the first show of the year. “I’m a big fan of Felix and this is a huge opportunity,” he said. “Los Angeles is exciting right now and has a good market.” At his booth, he showed an overview of work by Emily Cohen, Michelle Yim, Stephen Thorpe and Kelly Vance. He has pre-sold a few, with prices ranging from $8,000 to $12,000.

Another first-timer at the Felix event was the three-year-old gallery ATLA, located just blocks from Barnsdell Art Park in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. Co-founder Jenny Blumenfield said the gallery was attracted to Felix because of its hotel setting. “The environment is a very comfortable, home-like experience,” she said, noting that “we wanted to think of everything for our first fair.”

There are 10 artists at the booth, including paintings by Yuka Mori and Rina Matsudaira and ceramics by Kuniko Kinoto and Yoshikazu Tanaka, all priced under $14,000. When asked about the market in Los Angeles, Blumenfield said, “I can’t speak for other people, but we’ve been doing well. We see ourselves as a place of discovery where people can fall in love again and buy jobs without worrying about their long-term value.”

Felix highlights include Bethann Parker’s embroidered animist paintings by Adams and Ollman; photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and Dash Snow paired with new sculptural paintings by Tiona Nekkia McClodden at Morán Morán Gallery; Creative Growth Lulu Sotelo’s handcrafted dolls; Terumi Saito’s mixed media ceramics; Volume; and softnessa painting created in 2026 by RF. Alvarez Portrays Tender Scenes in HBO’s Adaptation of Shane and Elijah fierce competition. The latter work sold for $14,000 in the first hour at Megan Mulrooney’s booth.

Unlike other art fairs, the small space of Felix Art Fair often makes purchases more casual and within earshot of others in the hotel room. I witnessed several transactions taking place throughout the morning as I entered the room. The Galleri Urbane in Dallas showcased several knitted pieces from Cassie Arnold’s “Mom Bra” collection. Two of the pieces hang on the towel rack and one hangs on the back of the bathroom door. When a buyer asked for the hanger, gallery director and curator Ree Willaford responded, “It comes with it.”

Multiple or alternating screenings

A handful of Felix’s dealers are showing historical art, including the Weinstein Gallery in Los Angeles, whose booth is organized by independent curator Dominic Clayton. The booth, titled “SEE ME – Unapologetic Voices in Sisterhood,” features works by 17 contemporary artists, as well as works from the 20th-century Weinstein Collection by Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini and Tamara de Lempicka. Clayton said the talk was about “legacy and supporting female artists. I’m thinking about allyship and what it means to really support female artists. We’re not a trend, so how to provide continued visibility is something I’m thinking about.”

Some galleries are participating in multiple fairs this year, asking dealers to calculate where and when to attend. Marc Selwyn Fine Art has two booths at Felix and one at Frieze; the Bank Gallery is at Enzo and Frieze; and Gordon Robichaux is at Frieze and Post-Fair. Dealers Marc Selwyn and Bank’s Mathieu Borysevicz were at Felix and Enzo on Wednesday and Frieze on Thursday. Sam Gordon and Jacob Robichaux began their appearance at Frieze on Thursday morning, with Robichaux manning their booth after heading to the show in the afternoon.

“These are great opportunities for self-presentation,” Selwyn said of his many lectures, including a recital for William Levitt on the 11th floor of the Felix, and one for Channing Hansen on the 12th floor, with an intricately woven maze in one corner.

About 15 minutes (and longer travel time) southeast from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is Enzo, a new fair of nine New York galleries in Echo Park. Upon entering, Borisevic joked, “Welcome to our potluck art fair.” To the public gathering, he brought two paintings by Tim Crowley that imagined a 22nd-century Mars colony called “New Earth,” an exhibition poster.

The show, housed in two adjacent buildings, was quiet about an hour and a half after its debut Wednesday afternoon. The dealer said there was a steady flow of visitors, but during my hour-long visit, I never saw more than 10 people at any one time. They expected it to be back up by 6 p.m. (Borysevicz confirmed this the next day at Frieze.) Enzo eschewed traditional booths, including signage for each presentation.

Since Enzo is free for exhibitors, Borisevic said participating was an easy decision since he was already traveling to Los Angeles for Frieze. “There’s less risk here, and there’s less risk over there. [at Frieze] Every second counts,” he said, noting that he will likely spend much of the next few days on the other side of Friezetown.

Rounding the corner into the second building, ILY2 showcases charming collages created by Mars Ibarreche using old books, mostly paperbacks from the 1930s and 1940s, which the artist, who has recently been living in Los Angeles, sources from Skylight Books, Stories Books & Cafe, and Free Box. Opposite Ibaresh’s intimate work is Laurel Gitlen’s display, which includes two mesmerizing saddle-shaped sculptures suspended from the ceiling by New York artist Peggy Chang.

Across from Bank is Margot Samel, who launched the boutique fair Esther in 2024 at Estonian House in New York. Esther was the inspiration for Enzo, and its founder, collector R. Parmar, initially proposed the idea of ​​bringing Esther to Los Angeles. Samel declined, but it’s great to see Parmar moving forward and getting involved. She is showing paintings by Sasha Brodsky and sculptures by Kris Lemsalu, as well as a work by Sarah Margnetti that happened to be back in New York from an international exhibition. “Whether it’s two exhibitors or 200, you still have the same things to talk about, do, promote,” she said.

Strong sophomore performance

Frieze Los Angeles held its seventh art fair on Thursday morning, attracting most of the city’s population. Just a short drive from the Santa Monica Airport to downtown Santa Monica is the Post-Fair, a former post office now in its second year. While Felix has long been the leading alternative to Frieze, Post-Fair is giving it competition with an impressive portfolio of work from some 30 galleries. Like Enzo, Post-Fair again eschewed traditional booths this year, creating strong sightlines that made it easy to spot interesting things in the room.

Los Angeles dealer Chris Sharp founded Post-Fair last year because he saw a need in the market. “The trade show landscape has become very complex. Fee structures [of larger fairs] This was a bit prohibitive and I wanted to create an alternative. ” His pricing is very transparent: $6,500 for a regular booth and $3,500 for a project-scale booth.

The first version was a pilot, and before starting he wasn’t sure if there would be a second version. Thankfully, there is. The performance in the second year after the show was not sluggish. The show has been curated (pardon the pun) by Sharp’s keen eye. Word has spread as multiple museum groups come to visit – something that didn’t happen last year. Still, Sharp doesn’t believe there will be a third edition, especially the past fifth edition.

Around 4 p.m., the show was buzzing with activity — “the energy has been great the past few hours, better than last year,” as Sharp said, noting that he was aware of sales throughout the day. “It’s a tough time in the market and people are less willing to spend money [than previously]but I hope it lasts. “

At his booth, Sharp displayed five works by Los Angeles-based artist Edgar Ramirez on a more intimate scale than usual. Made of acrylic, cardboard, and mounted on canvas, they recall fragments of urban debris – a poster torn or weathered by rain. “They have an organic relationship with the landscape, as if they were extracted from it,” Sharp said.

Several galleries are returning for Post-Fair’s second edition, including Gordon Robichaux, PPOW, Ehrlich Steinberg, House of Seiko and the bookstore and curatorial project Untitled Love. PPOW director Ella Blanchon said Sharp called co-founder Wendy Olsoff last year to invite participation. Olthoff saw the space and agreed, especially considering the gallery hadn’t held a fair in Los Angeles in a few years.

“This is a very collegiate fair,” Blanken said. “Everything has pros and cons. This was a different opportunity to do something we might not have tried at Frieze.” PPOW’s booth featured still life paintings by emerging artist Phoebe Helander, who had never before exhibited outside of the East Coast.

“He was impressed by the sophistication of the audience it attracted and the reputation it had already established,” said Ehrlich Steinberg’s Ace Ehrlich. His booth was a highlight, featuring a small moss agate piece by Joel Otterson housed in an ornate metal frame.

Several galleries are exhibiting for the first time, including New York’s The New York Times, which is showing three works by Andrew Chapman created specifically for the fair. “Post-era, post-fair—the name says it all,” joked founder Brock Brigham, before adding more seriously, “The galleries Chris Sharp chose offer a unique perspective. He chose galleries on a different level. It means something to be here.”

House of Seiko founder Cole Solinger showed several works by John Hodgkinson, created after a summer at the Back to Freedom residency, where the artist lived in a stable loft as part of his working trade. Solinger has completed several sales with works selling for between $2,000 and $10,000, and he is optimistic that more will be sold over the weekend.

“Tomorrow is the day,” he said. “People tend to spend more time here on Fridays. That’s when it gets dialed in.”