Two years ago, the art world descended on Los Angeles for Frieze L.A., in what would turn out to be the last art fair in the U.S. before the world came to a grinding halt due to the pandemic. After canceling its West Coast edition entirely last year, Frieze L.A. is returning from February 17 to 20 stronger than ever. On Thursday, the fair’s VIP opening boasted a decidedly jubilant and buzzy mood. And with the exception of everyone wearing masks and a few vaccine protocols thrown in, it felt just like the social fair days of old.
Below, Galerie shares a selection of standout artworks and booths that made a big impression.
2. Legendary Artist Joan Semmel’s Unflinching Nudes Cause a Stir at Alexander Gray Associates
At 89 years old, Joan Semmel has been exploring the theme of the naked body since the early 1970s, when she made her mark on the art world painting large-scale oil paintings of couples having intercourse. Since then, she has turned the attention inward, using her highly personal paintings as a means to document her nude body as it has aged over the years. Three large-scale works by Semmel make an immediate impact on the walls of the booth of Alexander Gray Associates. One of the more recent works is particularly breathtaking; Spaced Out, which she created in 2019, depicts a top-down, close up, view of her fleshy breasts, arms and stomach, rendered in a vivid palette of reds, oranges, and purples against an acidic turquoise green, lending the work an almost supernatural glow. Semmel is currently having a big year, with her first and long overdue museum retrospective. Titled “Skin in the Game,” it covers more than six decades of her practice and is on view at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia. The works had all sold on opening morning.
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