Santa Monica’s Art Runway Lights Up as LA Galleries Take Center Stage
Art fairs often feel like global caravans, but Frieze Los Angeles keeps its roots firmly in local soil. When the fair returns to Santa Monica Airport in February 2025, nearly half its 101 exhibitors will be LA-based—a bold statement in a city where galleries open, close, and reinvent themselves at a dizzying pace.
The main section reads like a who’s who of contemporary art, with mega-galleries such as Gagosian and Hauser & Wirth rubbing shoulders with LA icons like Blum and Roberts Projects. Meanwhile, the Focus section, curated by Essence Harden, spotlights emerging talent, with two-thirds of its solo presentations coming from LA’s own rising stars.
Recent years have seen the city’s gallery map redrawn, with closures making headlines and new spaces—especially in Melrose Hill—fueling fresh excitement. As Frieze LA returns, it mirrors the city’s restless creativity: always shifting, never standing still, and determined to make the local scene impossible to overlook.
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