Following Felix Art Fair’s energetic opening, Frieze Los Angeles took off at the Santa Monica Airport with an unmistakable sense of momentum. Just one month after a tragic event shook the city, ninety-seven galleries from twenty countries pressed forward, reporting robust sales throughout the opening day as the art world rallied in support of L.A.’s scene. This year with all exhibitors gathered under a single tent, the aisles filled quickly at the fair’s opening, drawing a high level of attendance that included Susan Bay Nimoy, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Chow, Russel Tovey and Christian Bale, among others.
While collectors appeared more relaxed than the frenzy of fast dealing at Felix the day before, most of the fair’s high-priced trophies found buyers either on-site or through global teams, signaling a markedly stronger market for works both under and above the $100,000 threshold compared to just a year ago. Both galleries and collectors remarked upon the fact that the tent was packed and the energy was palpable throughout the day. However, the enthusiastic crowd appeared to be mostly local or from the U.S., with fewer European and Asian collectors making the trip for the event than one might expect.
SEE ALSO: Observer’s Guide to the L.A. Gallery and Museum Exhibitions to Check Out During Frieze
With a booth positioned right at the entrance, Mariane Ibrahim sold out their inaugural presentation at Frieze featuring Haitian American painter Patrick Eugène, with prices ranging from $13,500 to $60,000, within the first few hours. Nearby, David Kordansky also sold out their solo booth, which showcased a striking new body of work spanning painting and sculpture by Filipino artist Maia Cruz Palileo, with prices ranging between $8,000 and $80,000. Notably, Palileo is set to open their solo exhibition “SATOR ROTAS” on March 13 at David Kordansky’s L.A. venue, where they will present a series of works conceived during a recent residency at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology. There, they engaged with the museum’s vast collections to interrogate historical and colonial ties between the U.S. and the Philippines.
Another Los Angeles heavy hitter, BLUM, saw a strong series of sales, including an anchor work by Yoshitomo Nara for $750,000. Nara, who also has a major exhibition at the gallery timed with Frieze, was among a lineup of artists whose works found buyers, including Tom Anholt, Ryan Sullivan, Sam Moyer, Theodora Allen, Asuka Anastacia Ogawa, Hadi Falapishi, Julian Hoeber and Kazunori Hamana, with prices between $20,000 and $65,000.
Attracting considerable interest was Casey Kaplan’s daring solo booth featuring the hauntingly moody paintings of San Francisco-based artist Sydney Cain, ahead of her debut solo exhibition in New York in September. Cain’s work, rendered in carbon-based and mineral materials such as powdered metals, graphite, pigments and chalk on wood, presents figures that emerge and recede almost alchemically, resisting oblivion and deepening her exploration of ancestral and arcane memories within the African diaspora. Her canvases function as visual meditations on collective consciousness and the unconscious of displaced communities.
A few booths away, Brussels-based Xavier Hufkens secured a placement for a majestic large-scale canvas by Tracey Emin for £1.2 million, while two-dimensional works by Mark Manders sold for €30,000 each. The gallery also sold a large painting by L.A.-based Sayre Gomez for $60,000, and all eight paintings by Constantin Nitsche were snapped up, with prices ranging from €15,000 to €50,000.
In the next tent, Chris Burden’s Nomadic Folly, presented by Gagosian, offered a moment of meditation and reconnection amid the crowded and hectic aisles. Originally produced for the seventh Istanbul Biennial as a nomadic tent incorporating locally sourced materials and objects, the work was being exhibited in the United States for the first time. As described in the gallery’s statement, the project aimed to provide visitors with “a place to gather in safety and community” at a profoundly difficult moment for Los Angeles.
Institutional-quality presentations proved to be a strong strategy in today’s hypersaturated market. In an equal partnership with Company Gallery as part of their Collective Impact Initiative, Hauser & Wirth dedicated their booth to a solo presentation of ambitious large-scale paintings by Canedian artist Ambera Wellmann, whose apocalyptic orgies of bodies materialized as uncanny images both ominous and gorgeous in their visions of what lies ahead. “It is such a great pleasure to work closely with Sophie Mörner and her team at Company, developing a relationship where the sharing of knowledge, resources and mutual support can suggest a new model for cooperation across the wider gallery field,” Marc Payot, the gallery’s president, told Observer. The booth saw immediate results, with four works priced between $150,000 and $210,000 sold by day one.
Another museum-quality presentation came from Marian Goodman Gallery, which dedicated its booth to a solo installation by Colombian artist Delcy Morelos. The series featured cascading threads falling like waterfalls to the floor, their visceral red color the result of crystallized salt minerals. Priced between $90,000 and $125,000, the work evoked an earthy primordial connection and invited a kind of spiritual elevation while engaging with pre-Columbian traditions. “We are delighted to present Delcy Morelos’s work at Frieze Los Angeles following her impactful exhibition at Dia Chelsea,” commented the gallery president Philipp Kaiser, “Her practice seamlessly merges art historical references, Indigenous cosmology, and a poetic material presence, offering a profound meditation on the relationship between land and body.” The gallery started representing the artist following her major show at Dia Chelsea last year, leading to a rapid ascent in both institutional and market circles as she officially joined the gallery’s roster.
Staged with the same museum-quality standards, Almine Rech’s colorful booth featured a solo presentation of shaped pop canvases by Japanese artist Tomokazu Matsuyama, with prices ranging from $100,000 to $600,000. By the afternoon, the booth was nearly sold out, with four works placed in institutional collections. “We felt a deep sense of pride seeing so many patrons and collectors show up—not just for the fair but for Los Angeles itself. There was a quiet question of whether this was the right moment in uncertain times. But the city’s resilience and the energy in the air made it clear: there may be no better time,” Paul de Froment, managing partner at Almine Rech, told us. “The atmosphere was charged with sympathy, optimism and a belief in art’s role when things feel fragile. Tomokazu Matsuyama and the gallery are grateful to stand with the artists, residents and collaborators who shape and support this city’s creative pulse.”
Equally positive feedback and strong sales came from South Korea’s Johyun Gallery, which staged a captivating dialogue between two Asian masters with works by Lee Bae, a leading figure in Korean contemporary art, and Kishio Suga, a key representative of Japanese contemporary art. By the end of the first day, the gallery had placed all of Lee Bae’s signature Brushstroke and Issu du Feu paintings and works on paper, priced between $60,000 and $180,000, along with nine editions of his bronze sculptures, which materialize ink brushstrokes in space, priced between $25,000 and $85,000. The gallery also sold three recent works by Kishio Suga, with prices between $20,000 and $100,000.
Another L.A. powerhouse, Night Gallery, also saw dynamic sales activity, particularly for works by Sterling Wells, an L.A.-based artist who paints the city’s terrain vague, as well as Jesse Mockrin, who is set to open her first solo museum exhibition this fall at the Art Gallery of Ontario. “After the devastating fires early this year, it’s amazing to see the community’s resilience and the ongoing outside support,” Davida Nemeroff, owner of Night Gallery, told Observer. The gallery placed works by both artists on the first day, with prices respectively in the $10,000 to $20,000 and $100,000 to $120,000 ranges.
Lehmann Maupin, an international gallery with a longstanding commitment to L.A.-based artists, also reported strong sales, with multiple sales of works by Todd Gray, Catherine Opie, Alex Prager, Lari Pittman, Calida Rawles and Liza Lou, who also generously donated artwork to Frieze’s “Galleries Together” initiative benefiting the L.A. Arts Community Fire Relief Fund. “We felt it was especially important to support our artists and the art market here during this time,” the gallery’s co-founder David Maupin told Observer. “I’m thrilled to see that other galleries, advisors, curators and collectors felt the same and that they all showed up!” The gallery also placed a work by the vibrant Brazilian duo OSGEMEOS, who currently have a major exhibition on view at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., as well as several works by Japanese artist Mr., who recently had a solo exhibition at the gallery’s Cork Street location in London and just opened a solo presentation at Perrotin Los Angeles this week.
Meanwhile, David Zwirner saw a string of major sales during the VIP preview, including a 1997 painting by Elizabeth Peyton for $2.8 million, a work by Noah Davis for $2.5 million, a masterfully painted canvas by Alice Neel for $1.8 million and Faucet (1995), a large painting by Lisa Yuskavage, for $1.6 million. The latter sale coincided with the opening of Yuskavage’s major solo show of new works at the gallery’s L.A. location this week. Additional sales included works by Kai Althoff ($150,000-$400,000), Emma McIntyre ($100,000) and Walter Price ($30,000), as well as a significant painting by Laura Owens from 2003.
Among other notable six- and seven-figure sales on the first day of the fair, Gladstone Gallery placed three Keith Haring works, including a painting on glass for $2 million, alongside multiple editions of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs priced between $200,000 and $300,000 each and several David Salle paintings for $140,000 each. The gallery also sold a Rondinone painting for $240,000, a Frances Stark diptych for $25,000 and Amy Sillman works on paper for $75,000 each. Meanwhile, White Cube reported sales of a Howardena Pindell painting for $325,000, two Tracey Emin works for $215,000 and a Yoko Matsumoto painting for $55,000. The gallery also placed a vibrant orange painting by Tunji Adeniyi-Jones and a Danica Lundy work for $75,000.
The discoveries to be made in the “Galleries” section included Shanghai-based BANK / MAB Society’s solo booth dedicated to the hyperrealistic, psychologically charged oil paintings of young Chinese artist Liang Hao. His work explores the expressive and technical potential of hands as extensions of the mind, hovering between the unconscious and their scientific function. Marking the artist’s U.S. debut, the booth drew strong early interest from institutions and collectors, captivated by the suspended, enigmatic and illusionary conceptual spaces of his laboratory-inspired scenes. Works were priced between $7,000 and $35,000.
Community-led projects and Frieze as an incubator for L.A.’s recovery
The Focus section, curated this year by Essence Harden (also co-curator of Made in L.A. 2025), provided a platform for the discovery of younger talents, many making their Frieze debut with solo presentations. Among the standout booths, Xin Liu’s solo presentation with L.A.-based Make Room featured a series of multimedia works that continue the artist’s visionary investigation into the metamorphosis of bodies—human, non-human and beyond-human—through technological intervention. The captivating presentation, titled “The Theater of Metamorphoses,” explores notions of vitality, mutation and the human quest for immortality through technology. The gallery reported significant museum interest, with several works priced between $20,000 and $50,000 placed in prominent private and institutional collections on the first day.
Lyles & King presented new acid-toned paintings by highly sought-after L.A.-based artist Kate Meissner. With prices ranging between $10,000 and $36,000, the gallery had just two works left in the early hours. Also in Focus, Babst Gallery showcased a series of new large-scale abstract paintings and material explorations by Athena LaTocha, an artist of Hunkpapa Lakota and Ojibwe descent. Incorporating natural resources into her works, LaTocha examines the complex relationship between humans and nature, evoking the tensions and frictions between artificial and natural landscapes.
This year, Frieze also expanded its platform for fundraising and community-led projects, highlighting initiatives such as Lauren Halsey’s hub Summaeverythang, the Frieze Impact Prize and Art Made Between Opposite Sides, or AMBOS, a femme-led binational artist collaborative working along the U.S.-Mexico border to build migrant support systems through craft, care and mutual aid, advancing pro-migrant narratives in both countries. Founded in 2016 by artist Tanya Aguiniga to bring visibility to the issues affecting transnational populations in Tijuana, the project has grown organically in scale and scope in response to the evolving border landscape. At Frieze, AMBOS’s colorful presentation reimagines the informal street carts selling fruit, offering ceramic-made imitations of Frutas Coquetas, crafted by students in its trauma-informed ceramics program. Other objects, including hats and posters made by their communities, were also available for purchase to support the collective’s mission.n.
No one, however, was overlooking the recent tragedy in Los Angeles. Instead, galleries and organizations explored different ways to contribute to and support L.A.’s recovery from the devastating fires, with Frieze serving as an incubator and platform for several initiatives. Among them, Galleries Together was launched to raise funds for the L.A. Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, with Victoria Miro generously opening its booth at Frieze Los Angeles as a space for galleries to contribute to recovery efforts. Throughout the day, sales of three works by Chinatsu Ban, priced between $2,000 and $6,000, a Shin Murata x Takashi Murakami ceramic piece for $12,000 and a work by Yuji Toma for $3,000 helped generate funds for the cause.
On the institutional side, Frieze introduced the “Frieze Arts Alliance,” a coalition of museums across the U.S. that redirected their active acquisition funds toward purchasing works by Los Angeles-based artists during the fair. The group included the Baltimore Museum of Art, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, the Guggenheim in New York, ICA Miami, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, the Queens Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Seattle Art Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Toledo Museum of Art, among others. On opening day, the California African American Museum made a significant acquisition from Hannah Hoffman Gallery, purchasing two works by Darrel Ellis: Untitled (Bathing Beauty), 1987-1989 and Untitled (Bathing Beauty), 1988-1991.
Additionally, this year’s fair introduced a newly established $75,000 joint initiative specifically designed to support artists living and working in L.A. Frieze Los Angeles collaborated with the Mohn Art Collective—including the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MAC3)—to direct funds toward local artists. On opening day, the fund facilitated two acquisitions in the Focus section: Edgar Arceneaux’s Skinning the Mirror (Summer 1) (2025) from Dreamsong and Shaniqwa Jarvis’s Slowly, Surely (2025) from Sow & Tailor. Additionally, the newly established Santa Monica Art Bank Acquisition Fund acquired another work by Arceneaux.
For many, post-Frieze meant a stop at Post-Fair
By the afternoon, collectors and art professionals with energy to spare headed over to Post-Fair, launched this year by Chris Sharp at the former Santa Monica Post Office. Conceived as an alternative three-day art fair focused on accessibility and simplicity, it featured twenty-nine exhibitors in a fluid, open-space environment that eliminated traditional booth walls in favor of a layout that encouraged dialogue between what were often more experimental solo presentations. While most participating galleries in this inaugural edition prioritized reasonably priced works and emerging talents, the exhibitor list also included well-established names from both the American and international art scenes, such as PPOW, Sprüth Magers and Tanya Leighton Gallery.
Collectors seemed to enjoy the more relaxed experience of this new fair, which offered a welcome contrast to the tightly packed aisles of Frieze. The atmosphere translated into early sales for dealers who opted for this alternative model. By the afternoon, Tokyo-based Tomio Koyama Gallery had already placed several paintings and ceramic sculptures by Keiji Ito, all priced under $10,000, following the artist’s sold-out presentation last October at Paris Internationale.
Frieze Los Angeles runs through Sunday, February 23, while Post-Fair is open to the public through Saturday, February 22.