Georgina Cohen
FRIEZE-ing in LA: Georgina Cohen tells Entourage what went on around town during the busy Frieze LA Art Week.
This year’s Frieze LA kicked off with the Joel Mesler dinner on the roof of the Maybourne Beverly Hills. While some were over at the “official” Frieze cocktail at the Getty and rolled over to Joel’s on the later side, those who came early were met with delicious food by Dante Beverley Hills and music by Grammy Award-winner Louis B. Middleton. Guests were treated to an al fresco candlelight dinner and bespoke cocktails, including Joel’s signature Mesler-ita, all served on fabulous plates that he created for the Artist Plate Project, which supports the Coalition for the Homeless. His new inspiring installation, “Hopes and Dreams”, looked beautiful lit up from across the pool. Guests included visionary painter and good friend Henry Taylor (whose MOCA show is an absolute must-see), Alex Israel, Scott Campbell, Music Producer Josh Abraham, actress Lake Bell, Lisa Edelstein and her husband Robert Russell, artist Jen Guidi and her partner Brooklin Soumahoro, and UTA Partner and trailblazer Darnell Strom. There was no hard stop at 10pm for this party - it went on ‘til the wee hours and seemed to be the talk of the town.
Tuesday was a good day to see the best shows outside of the fairs: George Condo at Hauser & Wirth topped that list, the genius of Anselm Kiefer at the Marciano - Gagosian space, and the incredible retrospective of Henry Taylor at MOCA was not to be missed, surveying thirty years of the artist’s work in painting, sculpture, and installation art, on until the end of April.
Wednesday saw the opening of the Felix Art Fair at the iconic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The most talked about presentation from this year’s fair was a hallway installation by London-based artist Jeffrey Dalessandro, presented by A Hug from the Artworld. The project started out when founder Adam Cohen received a figurine of Larry Gagosian from Dalessandro. Cohen, who is a director at Gagosian Gallery in New York, subsequently gifted the piece to the mega-dealer as a birthday present. That led Dalessandro to create a figurine of notorious specu-collector Stefan Simchowitz. Over the past 18 months, the series has grown in scale from there. These action-hero-size works, which Dalessandro fabricates and paints himself, come with a monochrome box. The works are simultaneously reverential of their subjects and irreverently tongue-in-cheek. Some of my favourites include David Hockney, Jeffrey Deitch, the Rubells, Yayoi Kusama, Damien Hirst, Rashid Johnson, Jonas Wood, Beth Rudin DeWoody, David Kordansky, Ai Weiwei, Maurizio Cattelan, Jerry Salz (who dedicated an Instagram post especially to the funny figurines) and his wife Roberta Smith, and Kenny Schachter, among others.
Thursday was onto Frieze itself, this year located at the Santa Monica Airport; Gagosian’s stunning solo presentation of artist Rick Lowe was a stand-out star. Another favourite was Pace Gallery, where highlights included works by Agnes Martin, Robert Longo, Yoshitomo Nara, and a 1960 standing mobile by Alexander Calder, along with new works by Adrian Ghenie, Matthew Day Jackson, and many more.
Running concurrent to Pace’s Frieze presentation was a new Calder Exhibition at its LA outpost, curated by legendary contemporary artist Richard Tuttle.
Hauser & Wirth didn’t disappoint, and their Frieze presentation included monumental works by Larry Bell, Jason Rhoades, Henry Taylor, Diana Thayer, and Paul McCarthy, amongst others.
Not forgetting Frieze Projects, which this year featured a monumental sculpture by the late Chris Burden and an immersive musical performance at the Santa Monica Pier. Additionally, there were two site-specific programs that fully embraced the expanded grounds. The first, “Now Playing”, was made in collaboration with Art Production Fund, featuring artists who shed light on the often-overlooked facets of daily life in LA, from the food stalls, car culture, sports fandom, and more. Participating artists included Autumn Breon, Chris Burden, Basil Kincaid, Divya Mehra, Ruben Ochoa, Alake Shilling, and Jennifer West.
That’s all, Folks…
Follow Georgina at @georginacarolinecohen