Frieze’s Los Angeles online show opens this week, and galleries are feeling the energy of the growing West Coast art market.
As gallerists in Los Angeles prepare for a major art week, including the LA edition of the Frieze Viewing Room (July 27-August 1), there is a sense that the West Coast art market is well suited to a post-pandemic mindset.
Also helping Los Angeles is its relative proximity to Asia, responsible for much of the broader art market’s demand at the moment. “We share the Pacific, there’s always been a natural bridge,” says Kim Varet, whose gallery opened a second space in Seoul, South Korea, in 2019. Frieze too has made the link, with its next fair launch planned for Seoul next year.
Galleries elsewhere feel the attraction. Miami’s Bill Brady Gallery has recently opened in LA, with Harper’s joining the fray later this year, while there are unconfirmed rumours that David Zwirner also has West Coast plans. All are building on momentum that began before the pandemic — Frieze launched its LA fair in 2019 and was able to get its second edition in before Covid-19 struck down most such events. Out-of-town galleries in previous waves into LA have included Hauser & Wirth and Sprüth Magers, joining the likes of homegrown heavyweights David Kordansky and Regen Projects as the city grew in art-market stature.
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