With the first VIP preview day of Frieze Los Angeles now complete, Artnet News can report that the fair’s second outing at the Santa Monica Airport is shaping up to be a commercial success, with packed crowds and brisk sales. There is a lot of art to take in, so we asked a number of seasoned art advisors to select their favorite pieces. Read on to see what they covet—and would flag to their clients as a best buy.
Sayre Gomez
Sayre Gomez, Tranq (2024) at Francois Ghebaly at Frieze Los Angeles. Photo by Eileen Kinsella
Work: Tranq (2024), acrylic on canvas
Gallery: François Ghebaly, Los Angeles
Price: $150,000 to $200,000
Recommended by: Rachel Cole of Rachel Cole Art Advisory, New York
“I have been a longtime fan of Sayre’s since I first encountered it at Frieze New York in 2019. This week at Frieze L.A. you can see his latest work, Tranq (2024), which continues his series of sunset paintings. These scenes juxtapose hyperreal sunsets in the Los Angeles smog against everyday sightings (i.e. overgrown brambles, branches, and street lamps), all of which are made hazy, mimicking the blur of a camera lens.
As a former L.A. resident myself, these everyday aspects Sayre captures are familiar; yet, his skill in revealing the beauty within these ephemeral moments presents the city in an unexpectedly profound light. Sayre’s work masterfully navigates the boundaries of photorealism, artificiality, and the sublime, challenging our perspectives of our urban environments.”
Kelly Akashi
Kelly Akashi, Life Forms (2023) at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Frieze Los Angeles.
Photo by Eileen Kinsella.
Work: Cultivator (Sprouting Stamens), (2021-2024) and Life Forms, (2023)
Galleries: Lisson (New York, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai, Beijing) and Tanya Bonakdar (New York and Los Angeles)
Price: Around $45,000
Recommended by: Liz Parks, Parks Art Advisory
“I can’t decide between these two new works by L.A.-based artist Kelly Akashi, the former at Lisson’s booth and the latter at Tanya Bonakdar’s. I have been looking at Akashi’s work for some time, and these two in particular appeal to me for the large amount of real estate taken up by the glass elements. My draw to Akashi’s work is driven by its study in contrasts: familiar and strange, formal and conceptual, comforting and confusing, durable and breakable, timeless and ephemeral.”
Kathleen Ryan
Kathleen Ryan, Bad Lemon (Slice of Paradise), (2024)
Serpentine, prehnite, azurite in malachite, amazonite, aquamarine, jasper, dolomite and fuchsite, pyrite, turquoise, labradorite, agate, marble, steel pins on coated polystyrene, Volkswagen fender
© Kathleen Ryan. Image courtesy the artist and Karma
Work: Bad Lemon (Slice of Paradise), 2024
Gallery: Karma, New York and Los Angeles
Price: $110,000
Recommended by: Liz Parks, Parks Art Advisory, New York
“Three of five senses activated: I want to ogle, run my hands over, and sink my teeth into Ryan’s strange and decidedly un-juicy fruit gems. Mold has never appeared so visually, touchably, and even mouth-wateringly delicious.”
Debra Cartwright
Installation view of Debra Cartwright solo show at Welancora Gallery, Frieze Los Angeles 2024.
Photo by Bibi Zavieh.
Work: Phantasmagoria (2023)
Gallery: Welancora, Brooklyn, New York
Price: Under $20,000
Recommended by: Bibi Zavieh, founder of newcube
“I first discovered her works last year in Berlin. I am captivated by how she intentionally abstracts the female body. She is the child of an African American gynecologist, and her work evokes the painful and often forgotten history of the American medical system as it commodified Black female patients and their bodies. It’s so important to talk about this.”
Matthew Cerletty
Matthew Cerletty, Convention (2023) at Standard, Oslo, Frieze Los Angeles. Photo by Bibi Zavieh.
Work: Convention (2023)
Gallery: Standard, Oslo, Norway
Price: About $60,000
Recommended by: Bibi Zavieh, founder of newcube, New York
“For his work, I’m really impressed by the mastering of details, hyperreal precision, the vivid colors, and also this underlying sense of humor. It’s really hard to stop staring at it; there is something very hypnotic about his works that reflect the time spent on each painting.
I think he only makes like 10–15 paintings a year, and seeing several of his large-sized hyperrealistic works really felt like a privilege.”
Hernan Bas
Hernan Bas, Absinthe Drinker (2024). Image courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery.
Work: Absinthe Drinker (2024)
Gallery: Victoria Miro
Price: $150,000–$200,000
Recommended by: Rachel Cole of Rachel Cole Art Advisory, New York
“I absolutely loved Victoria Miro’s entire booth of Hernan Bas’s works on canvas, board, and paper. The smaller scale canvases, in particular, conveyed intimacy that I found quite captivating. What caught my attention the most was the absinthe imagery, which alludes to escapism as a theme, and the depiction of such by French artists in the 19th century.
One work, in particular, stood out to me because of its direct reference to Degas’s L’Absinthe (1875-76) with a composition and background that reminded me of Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882). The sitter’s confident gaze and contemporary clothing and posture starkly contrast with its 19th-century references, which I found meaningful—I love it when artists bridge the gap between the past and present, referencing simpler times, while still maintaining the thread of escapism.”