As Frieze Los Angeles prepares for its fifth year, Christine Messineo, the international art fair’s director of Americas, already knows how she’ll spend the first weekend in March: “Always wearing sneakers, and always running around,” she jokes.
The art summit attracts artists, gallerists and collectors from around the globe — from L.A. and New York to Dubai and Shanghai — to Santa Monica Airport and a slew of associated parties, events and installations. From Feb. 29-March 3, more than 95 exhibitors will deliver a staggering amount of paintings, sculpture, photography and more, but for new voices, the Focus section is essential.
Curated by Essence Harden, visual arts curator at the California African American Museum, a dozen U.S. Focus galleries that are 12 years old or younger will each spotlight an artist — with Mustafa Ali Clayton, Lilian Martinez and Javier Ramirez among those representing L.A. — who is making new commissioned works that explore interpretations of “ecology."
Previously unseen, they provide anticipation and mystery. “There’s an element of discovery for me as well,” Messineo says. “That’s what I find particularly exciting about this part of the fair.”
In Focus
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