The Tamesis
I arrived in Los Angeles last Friday afternoon, anticipating that the showers that had brought my hometown last week might dampen spirits ahead of Frieze Los Angeles. That proved not to be the case — temperatures here have been steadily rising into the 70s over the past few days — but weather across the country and along the East Coast proved to be the real problem for some attendees, who were left scrambling after a nor’easter dumped nearly two feet of snow in New York City.
Jonas Albro, associate director of Magenta Plains, who attended the new Enzo show that opened Wednesday afternoon, was scheduled to take a direct flight from New York to Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, but he rebooked three times after the flight was canceled. talking art news En route to LaGuardia Airport (which has no direct flights to Los Angeles), he said he was flying to Pittsburgh, then taking another flight to Salt Lake City and then to Los Angeles. His estimated time of arrival was 10 p.m. PST, about eight hours later than he originally planned.
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“It’s just a journey,” Albro said with a wry smile. He didn’t care whether the gallery participated in the fair because Enzo’s other eight participants were all downtown New York dealers who were also friends. “I was able to ask people who were already there for help with installation, photography, etc. It seemed like as long as I got there in time, everything would be fine. But it was definitely a little chaotic.”
Another Enzo exhibitor, Alyssa Davis, founder of the eponymous gallery, also had her flight canceled after she was initially rebooked for Wednesday. She called the airline today to change her flight, which also took off from LaGuardia Airport, then connected in Fort Lauderdale before landing in Los Angeles. She expects to arrive at 8pm and head straight to the show to hang some pieces so her booth will be ready for the opening.
“Everyone is very supportive of each other – all the galleries are very consistent,” Davis told us art newshas passed the LGA security check.
Felix LA opens tomorrow at 10am. At least one of the show’s exhibitors, Uffner & Liu founder Rachel Uffner and gallery associate director Tania Fer, has also experienced travel delays. Ufner plans to leave on Monday and then on Tuesday. She will now arrive on Wednesday on a 6am flight. “This is a transit point [flight]”I had never flown to Los Angeles before because there are usually so many flights,” she said, noting that her connecting time in Minneapolis was only an hour. She will arrive in Los Angeles at 11:30 a.m., which means she will miss the installation and part of the VIP opening.
“Install [at Felix] It’s always a little tricky because [the booth] “Even though it was a hotel room, I really enjoyed it, moving furniture and figuring it out,” Uffner said. Her business partner, Lucy Liu, went skiing out West last weekend and now has to figure out the booth configuration on her own. To help her, the gallery also had to hire a last-minute assistant and contact Felix to obtain an exhibitor pass.
“We’re used to being fast and resourceful,” Ufner added, but “this is something new.”
Chris Sharp, Los Angeles dealer and founder after the show art news In an email, he learned that one exhibitor’s flight was delayed but was already en route and would arrive before the opening. Both After Show and Frieze LA benefit from its VIP opening hours being Thursday mornings, which gives exhibitors more time to get things done in a timely manner, even though their booth setup time may be shorter than usual.
Perrotin, which has a team in Los Angeles and is exhibiting at Frieze, said some of its team in New York experienced flight delays, but by Tuesday the staff had begun traveling and planned to rush on Thursday.
in an email art newsA Frieze spokesman said preparations for Thursday’s opening of exhibitors, including East Coast exhibitors, are proceeding as planned. “We are aware that severe weather along the East Coast is affecting some travel this week and is impacting more widely,” the spokesperson said. “A few exhibitors have adjusted their arrival times, but installation and operation will take several days, and galleries have contingency plans in place.”
