Patrick Martinez Illuminates Immigrant Rights at Frieze Los Angeles
In a neon installation at the fair’s entrance and on billboards across the city, the artist reflects on ICE raids throughout Los Angeles and the United States
In a neon installation at the fair’s entrance and on billboards across the city, the artist reflects on ICE raids throughout Los Angeles and the United States
Frieze Los Angeles has invited the Los Angeles-based Patrick Martinez to present a new installation at the entrance to this year’s fair. Martinez’s iconic neon signs respond poetically to the devastating ICE raids across Los Angeles and throughout the United States. For over a decade, Martinez – whose work has long focused on immigrant rights – has transformed neon, traditionally associated with consumerism, into a medium of visual resistance.
Martinez’s signs illuminate the experiences of marginalized communities and make visible realities often obscured in news coverage or social media. Works referencing deportation and immigrant rights serve as both memorials and calls to awareness, embedding urgent social critique within the vibrant, instantly recognizable visual landscape of Los Angeles.
Martinez’s neon artwork If I Love You (2025) forms this year’s Frieze Los Angeles campaign image. The work resonates with the fair’s role in platforming overlooked perspectives and celebrating the city’s iconic visual landscape, its creative spirit and art communities.
As part of Frieze Week, Martinez presents a series of public billboards and digital screens throughout the city, in a special collaboration with Orange Barrel Media.
Frieze Los Angeles is supported by global lead partner Deutsche Bank, reflecting a shared commitment to artistic excellence.
Further Information
Frieze Los Angeles 2026, 26 February – 1 March 2026, Santa Monica Airport.
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Main Image: Patrick Martinez, If I Love You (James Baldwin), 2024. Courtesy: the artist. Photo: Paul Salveson
