This past weekend, over 70,000 fair-goers visited the LA Convention Center's West Hall to attend the 24th annual LA Art Show, the city's longest-running art fair. 120+ galleries from 18 countries packed the hall's 200,000 square feet of exhibition space, featuring modern and contemporary works, blue chip art, historical pieces and a stunning breadth of new contemporary and lowbrow work from around the world. The LA Art Show once again cemented its position as the most diversely programmed art fair in the world, dedicated to making art accessible to everyone.
Highlight's of the annual event included this year's Art Ambassador, musician and avid art collector Gavin Rossdale, who purchased Chaz Guest's "Jaajo," a large-scale, mixed media painting depicting a buffalo, from
Patrick Painter Gallery.
Gavin Rossdale purchases "Jaajo" from Chaz Guest at Patrick Painter Gallery.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Painter Gallery.
Arcadia Contemporary's booth was packed with fans of contemporary, pop-culture inspired work, with favorites including
Alex Gross' antique photos turned into contemporary superheroes,
Stephen Mackey's surreal oil paintings, and
Matthew Cornell's photorealistic pop culture oils all grabbing our attention.
Alex Gross "The Avengers"
Stephen Mackey "An Evening of Clairvoyance"
Matthew Cornell "Stoppin' For Scooby Snacks"
Steve Diamant, owner of Arcadia Contemporary, reflected on the high volume of sales enjoyed at his booth. "We go to a lot of art fairs across the country. But the LA Art Show is our Superbowl," he said. One of their best-selling artists, Loribelle Spirovski, created a portrait of rising pop-icon Troye Sivan, a major hit among fair attendees. On Saturday, Sivan himself happened upon the painting and posed for pictures in front of it.
Troye Sivan posing with Loribelle Spirovski's portrait at the LA Art Show.
Courtesy of @loribellespirovski
The most photographed and talked about highlights of the fair, Anthony James' large "Portal Icosahedrons" light and mirror sculptures at
Melissa Morgan Fine Art, sold to a notable collector.
Anthony James, Portal Icosahedrons at Melissa Morgan Fine Art
Benjamin Shine's large-scale work "Remembrance," on display at
Boccara, was another of the show's highlights. Playing with notions of creating order out of chaos, Shine created this piece entirely out of tulle
Benjamin Shine "Remembrance"
During our visit to the LA Art Show, other pieces that captured our interest included Olivia Steele's bold and beautiful neon work.
Craig Allen's Populus series, on display at
Connect Contemporary, featured portraits of celebrities made up entirely of a crowd of tiny people.
Craig Allen "Shhh!"
Detail of Craig Allen's "Shhh!"
Marc Scheff's "So Far Away" mixed media on display at
Rehs Contemporary, was a glorious example of mixed media contemporary art.
Marc Scheff's "So Far Away".
It was fun to see perennial L.A. favorite Shag on display in Littletopia along with
Dosshaus's cardboard furniture,
Margaret Keane's Big Eyes creations, and fabulous lowbrow works on display at
Red Truck Gallery's booth.
Shag "The Tiger Killers"
Notable photography included Noell Oszvald's untitled gelatin silver prints, displayed at the
Peter Fetterman Gallery.
Noell Oszvald Untitled
If like me you can't wait for it to roll around again, mark your calendar now, the 25th edition of the LA Art Show is scheduled to return to LA February 5 - 9, 2020.