Frieze Los Angeles got off to a sunnier start Thursday compared with its rain-soaked debut at Paramount Studios last year, as Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Poehler and James Corden arrived with art world insiders to preview the West Coast’s preeminent contemporary art fair, which opens to the public Friday.
Museum of Contemporary Art Director Klaus Biesenbach, Broad founding Director Joanne Heyler and curators Paul Schimmel and Hans-Ulrich Obrist were among those gauging the temperature of artists, collectors and exhibitors from around the world.
The forecast: sunny, with intermittent gusts of air kisses.
Frieze, which started in London in 2003, drew 30,000 people to Paramount over four days last year, organizers said. The presence of global art admirers, buyers and sellers spawned parties, performances, art talks and other events citywide — plus a new nickname: Frieze Week.
Frieze 2020 will feature 77 exhibitors in its gallery tent, compared with last year’s 70. More than 80% are returning galleries.
No Chinese galleries are among this year’s exhibitors, and Frieze said no exhibitors have canceled because of travel restrictions related to the deadly coronavirus. But that doesn’t mean the outbreak hasn’t affected the fair. With the recent cancellation of Art Basel Hong Kong, which was set for March, some exhibitors are hoping to make up for lost sales at Frieze Los Angeles.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation for a number of reasons, a big loss for everyone involved,” said Alex Logsdail, director of London’s Lisson Gallery, which has outposts in New York and Shanghai. “But people are hopeful they can make up for lost business. There may also be a large number of collectors coming to L.A., people who no longer can go to Hong Kong so will be coming here instead. Though it may not be a realistic proposition to make up for two fairs in one. We’ll see.”