Notes: Returning to Felix, Frieze Los Angeles and The Future Perfect

Uncovering inspiration at three of the most compelling art and design destinations in the global circuit

I missed Los Angeles Art Week in 2023 for one very good reason: I wanted to attend my husband’s ceremony to become an American citizen here at home in New York City. This year, with no conflict of such magnitude present, I made my way back to LA and, prior to joining a slate of events organized by BMW in celebration of their latest color-changing concept car, I moved into the legendary Hollywood Roosevelt hotel. I chose the Hollywood Roosevelt because it hosts the Felix Art Fair and I wanted to maximize time with colleagues beside the pool (which features underwater embellishments by David Hockney) and have the earliest access to explorations through gallery installations tucked into poolside bungalows and throughout guest rooms in two floors of the tower. Every time I attend Felix, I leave feeling refreshed.

There’s a celebratory, hurried nature to all of Los Angeles Art Week, though the pace feels more manageable than that of its elder (though equally sunny) sibling on the circuit, Miami Art Week. This year, the city itself staged an abundance of high-profile art world parties, including the chic 10th anniversary soirée for the Serpentine Americas Foundation at the home of Sybil Robson Orr and Matthew Orr (which housed eye-catching works by Alex Israel, James Turrell and many others), Wet Paint‘s late-night fête at Mars Hollywood with Cultural Counsel, and Nota Bene‘s dazzling cocktail reception at the West Hollywood EDITION.

As with the previous years I attended, highlights were plentiful—though two art and design moments distanced themselves from all others during the week. First, NYC’s Rachel Uffner Gallery exhibited at both Frieze and Felix—with a selection of artists (including Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Anne Buckwalter, Hana Yilma Godine and Anna Jung Seo) in her group show at the Hollywood Roosevelt and works by Sheree Hovsepian, Erica Mao and Curtis Talwst Santiago at the Santa Monica Airport. These concurrent installations demonstrated the depth and breadth of Uffner’s roster, and each engaged attendees in different ways.

The most transportive installation of Los Angeles Art Week took place at The Goldwyn House, where The Future Perfect hosted the temporary exhibition, “Inner Space.” Centered around large-scale, carved-wood works by JB Blunk, as well as painted and ceramic pieces from the artist, the design exhibition paired a complementary metal cafe set from Isamu Noguchi as well as stone sculptures and furniture by Ian Collings, lighting by Minjae Kim and silver articles by Alana Burns. Though the “Inner Space” exhibit represented meticulous curation, other rooms in the house offered equally compelling displays of art and design—including five lighting installations from Karl Zahn.

This year marked the sixth edition of Felix—and more than 60 art institutions undertook the task of transforming guest rooms into gallery spaces. From Montauk, The Ranch (which also simultaneously exhibited at Frieze) presented sculptural works from Matt Johnson (including a basketball Jack O’Latern and a cosmically sliced apple). Nearby, Miami-based Nina Johnson dedicated her space to a solo show of riveting woven reed works by the Chicago-based artist Dee Clements.

Inglewood’s Residency Art Gallery curated a captivating, deeply personal solo exhibition of painted works by Waterbury, Connecticut-born, Houston, Texas-based artist Will Maxen, entitled “I’ll Be With You As You Go.” Within, Maxen deftly portrayed intimate, familial moments from his past through poetic form and an often unexpected use of color. The installation was hosted on the second level of cabanas, and a sign on the balcony of the guest room invited visitors up with the message, “Black Owned.”

Based in Athens, Georgia, gallery owner Tif Sigfrids adorned one wall of her Felix installation with a vibrant, geometric piece by NYC-based artist Margaux Ogden—that stayed with attendees long after they moved into other rooms. Ogden’s piece was pulled from a series that she painted while on residency in Rome. “I spent a lot of time at the Baths of Caracalla, drawing from the ruins,” she told me on site. “It started as a series of water colors that then turned into these paintings. There’s a form that references the floor mosaics in the Baths of Caracalla. It all starts with that same spatial logic but I left room for intuitive developments.”

As a final Felix highlight, Romania’s SUPRAINFINIT gallery immersed visitors into a mythical, multilayered space with the works by Øleg&Kaśka. Their paintings and drawings paired fantastical, medieval and fairy tale reference points with an undercurrent of contemporary emotion.

This year, Frieze Los Angeles featured 95 galleries from 21 countries (and roughly 32,000 visitors from 48 countries trying to see it all). Stand-out gallery presentations were so plentiful that the act of narrowing down highlights has stirred days of reflection and consideration. From Jessica Silverman, Silverlens and Almine Rech to Proyectos Monclova, Jeffrey Deitch and Night Gallery, a suite of inspiring installations enveloped all attendees—myself included. And in addition to the aforementioned BMW activation, both Ruinart Champagne and Maestro Dobel Tequila spoke to audiences with their pioneering art and design collaborations, unveiled on site, alongside glasses of Blanc de Blancs or Cristalino.

Two galleries, however, must be acknowledged for the precision of their curation and the immense emotional gravity of their installations. First is NYC-based Hannah Traore Gallery‘s solo presentation of geometric sculptural and painted works by James Perkins. Part of the fair’s Focus section (which acknowledges 12 leading galleries founded in the last 12 years, specifically chosen by Essence Harden, the visual arts curator and program manager at the California African American Museum), Traore’s booth asked fair attendees to pause, observe a dialogue between form and material, and consider each piece individually and as part of the whole.

A knot of disparate emotions augments the subjects and scenarios in each of the paintings and works on paper by Miami-based artist Hernan Bas, presented in a solo exhibition by London-based Victoria Miro. Bas, who is exhibiting at The Bass Museum of Art right now), depicts young men trapped in complex moments, often pondering, generally alone. To stand in front of each artwork is to attempt to meet the gaze of each figure—and to wonder what they might be thinking. It’s works like these, and those of Perkins, Øleg&Kaśka, Ogden, Maxen and Sharif Farrag (who orchestrated a literal outdoor rat race of motorized sculptures) that make Los Angeles Art Week worth the annual effort.

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