in Frieze Los Angeles | 06 FEB 23

Spotlighting LA-based Artists at Frieze Los Angeles 2023

Featuring Diedrick Brackens's intricate tapestries, Ernie Barnes’s depiction of Black American joy and Luchita Hurtado's surreal painting, artists at this year’s edition of the fair pull inspiration from the city of Los Angeles

in Frieze Los Angeles | 06 FEB 23

Testament to the city's rich history of community and multiculturalism, this year’s edition of Frieze Los Angeles will spotlight generations of Angeleno artists. The fair will take place from 16-19 February at Santa Monica Airport. 

Doug Aitken presents a solo with 303 Gallery, displaying works that reflect on the nature of language, climate change, and placement within his constructed alternate reality (303 Gallery, New York, Main).

Doug Aitken, Installation view: Terra (camouflage), 2022. © Doug Aitken. Courtesy 303 Gallery, New York. Photo: Ed Mumford
Doug Aitken, Installation view: Terra (camouflage), 2022. © Doug Aitken. Courtesy 303 Gallery, New York. Photo: Ed Mumford

Hauser & Wirth brings together some of LA's most celebrated and established artist with works by Larry Bell, Mark Bradford, Charles Gaines, Richard Jackson, Paul McCarthy, Gary Simmons, Henry Taylor and Diana Thater, as well as the late Luchita Hurtado, Mike Kelley and Jason Rhoades (Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles, Main).  

HURTA95658-hires.jpgLuchita Hurtado Untitled1966Oil on canvas50.8 x 55.9 cm / 20 x 22 in 54.6 x 59.7 x 3.8 cm / 21 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (framed)© The Estate of Luchita HurtadoCourtesy The Estate of Luchita Hurtado and Hauser & Wirth
Luchita Hurtado, Untitled, 1966, Oil on canvas, 50.8 x 55.9 cm / 20 x 22 in 54.6 x 59.7 x 3.8 cm / 21 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (framed) © The Estate of Luchita Hurtado. Courtesy The Estate of Luchita Hurtado and Hauser & Wirth.
Mark Bradford, Shall Rest in Honor There, 2023, Mixed media on canvas, 184.1 x 244.5 x 5.4 cm / 72 1/2 x 96 1/4 x 2 1/8 in.© Mark Bradford. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com 
Mark Bradford, Shall Rest in Honor There, 2023, Mixed media on canvas, 184.1 x 244.5 x 5.4 cm / 72 1/2 x 96 1/4 x 2 1/8 in.© Mark Bradford. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com 

Rendered in a neo-mannerist style, Ernie Barnes created his figures with a long-limbed, muscular dynamism in order to capture the joy and struggle of Black American life as he experienced it, growing up in the segregated South (Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, Main) 

Ernie Barnes, The Shootout, 1972, Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 24 inches (121.9 x 61 cm.), Courtesy of the Ernie Barnes Trust and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, and Ortuzar Projects, New York 
Ernie Barnes, Protect The Rim, 1976, Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 24 inches (121.9 x 61 cm.), Courtesy of the Ernie Barnes Trust and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, and Ortuzar Projects, New York 

The Pit will showcase Bella Foster’s newest large scale painting hilly landscapes and fabulous dollhouse-like reconstructions of her memories, alongside Kelly Lynn Jones's artwork reflecting children’s tales and mythology  (The Pit, Los Angeles, Main). 

Kelly Lynn Jones, Christmas Chase in the Desert, 2022, Acrylic, oil, oil stick on canvas, Courtesy of the Artist and The Pit. Photo credit Ed Mumford. 
Kelly Lynn Jones, Christmas Chase in the Desert, 2022, Acrylic, oil, oil stick on canvas, Courtesy of the Artist and The Pit. Photo credit Ed Mumford. 

Diedrick Brackens weaves intricate tapestries that explore allegory, narrative, and myth found in his experience as a Black, queer American. He uses techniques inspired by West African weaving, European tapestry-making, and dyes with specific histories; the resulting wall-based works portray narrative moments that range from tenderness to deep trauma (Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, Main). 

In Focus, the fair's section dedicated to emerging artists, Roksana Pirouzmand presents psychological spaces, representing how the artist feels as an immigrant living far from her birth country. Her work tries to capture the experience of hearing news of trauma and civil unrest coming out of Iran, especially in the wake of the Mahsa Amini protests (Murmurs, Los Angeles, Focus).

Roksana Pirouzmand, I was praying at home while you were dying on the streets (6), 2022, Ceramic, 14.25 w x 12.75 h x 0.5 d inches, Copyright: Copyright The Artist Courtesy of Murmurs Gallery 
Roksana Pirouzmand, I was praying at home while you were dying on the streets (6), 2022, Ceramic, 14.25 w x 12.75 h x 0.5 d inches, Copyright: Copyright The Artist Courtesy of Murmurs Gallery 

Another highlight of the Focus secion, Veronica Fernandez's colorful paintings are reinterpretations of her family’s history. Through her personal narratives, the works are both truthful representations of events and symbolic storytelling. Detailing a history of homelessness and poverty, Fernandez’s works posit family as a source of strength and resilience (Sow & Tailor, Los Angeles, Focus). 

Veronica Fernandez, Hot Ass Apartment, 2022 Acrylic and oil on canvas, 60" x 62" [HxW] (152.4 x 157.48 cm), courtesy the Artist and Sow & Tailor 
Veronica Fernandez, Hot Ass Apartment, 2022 Acrylic and oil on canvas, 60" x 62" [HxW] (152.4 x 157.48 cm), courtesy the Artist and Sow & Tailor 

Clifford Prince King will present a new body of work that represents a continuation of his explorations into care, intimacy and vulnerability within his community. He uses a range of gestures to reanimate the documentary-style image (Stars, Los Angeles, Focus). 

Clifford Prince King, Act IV, 2022, Archival Pigment Print on Canson Rag, 48 x 32 in., 121.92 x 81.28 cm, courtesy the Artist and Stars 
Clifford Prince King, Act IV, 2022, Archival Pigment Print on Canson Rag, 48 x 32 in., 121.92 x 81.28 cm, courtesy the Artist and Stars 

Self-taught Californian artist Greg Breda’s solo presentation will focus on new figurative paintings from his series ‘Hei’, which references the fifth letter in the Hebrew alphabet. “Hei” has historically been interpreted in different ways, from referencing an “opening” or “window”, to its common attribution towards signaling a spiritual presence. Breda’s work is thus a portrait of the human spirit, a series of love letters to the internal moments within us all that illuminate the illusions that create our reality (Patron, Chicago, Focus). 

Greg Breda, Devotion, 2022, Acrylic on vellum, 60" x 40" | 152.4 x 101.6 cm, Framed: 65 5/8" x 45 5/8" x 2 | 166.7 x 115.9 x 5.1 cm, courtesy the Artist and Patron 
Greg Breda, Devotion, 2022, Acrylic on vellum, 60" x 40" | 152.4 x 101.6 cm, Framed: 65 5/8" x 45 5/8" x 2 | 166.7 x 115.9 x 5.1 cm, courtesy the Artist and Patron 

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Main image: Ernie Barnes, Homecoming, 1994, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 48 inches (61 x 121.9 cm.), Courtesy of the Ernie Barnes Trust and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, and Ortuzar Projects, New York

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