Only in its second installment, many were unsure if this year’s Frieze Los Angeles (Feb. 14-16, 2020) was set for another successful weekend or if maybe the City of Angels wasn’t quite ready to be listed on the international art world calendar. Under the leadership of its Executive Director, Bettina Korek, this year’s event proved that Frieze Los Angeles surely belongs as part of L.A. Art Week alongside its close competitor, Felix Art Fair. Under clear skies, the crowded fair welcomed a star-studded audience, including J. Lo, Lily Collins, Leonardo DiCaprio and The Weeknd — not including Kendall Jenner who, while not present, made a purchase through her advisor. Following a weekend of high attendance and sales, we’ve now got our eye on a few female artists that will be worth watching in the coming year.
Genevieve Gaignard (b. 1981)
At the Vielmetter Los Angeles booth, Genevieve Gaignard made a splash not only through her solo presentation titled “Look at Them Look at Us,” but also by standing directly next to her work wearing a dress that read “SELL TO BLACK COLLECTORS.” It’s rather atypical to see an artist in their booth, let alone witnessing one make such a bold statement, while also welcoming comment and conversation. It speaks to Gaignard’s practice, which explores race, femininity, class, and their various intersections through photographic self-portraiture, sculpture and installation. As a woman of color with fair skin, she is perfectly poised to transform herself as the primary subject in her work which questions identity.
Bunny Rogers (b. 1990)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5VoPsjlixs/
Raised in the digital age, Bunny Rogers, who just turned 30, first began making artwork specifically for the internet. She now creates poetry, sculpture, video, installation and even websites that explore teenage fears and fantasies in a way that is often both surreal and playful. Her piece at Société’s booth, Study for Joan Portrait (Pulling Tights), which depicts the artist’s cartoon, gothic version of Joan of Arc, was a major highlight of this year’s fair and included a price tag of $80,000-$90,000. With works recently shown at the Whitney Museum and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, she is surely one to watch.
Avery Singer (b. 1987)
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Leading Swiss contemporary art gallery, Hauser & Wirth, recently announced its representation of the young rising artist, Avery Singer. This weekend, the gallery sold every one of Singer’s newest works at their booth, with prices ranging from $85,000 to $495,000. Singer is known for creating digitally assisted paintings through 3D modeling software and computer-controlled airbrushing, thereby removing any trace of the artist’s hand in her work. The rapid sale of her work is strongly representative of her current appeal in the art market, having sold a painting at Sotheby’s for $735,000 in 2018, more than six times its high estimate.
Aria Dean (b. 1993)
At Chateau Shatto’s booth, Aria Dean had similar luck with a quick sale of her work, all priced at $9,000 each. At only 27 years old, her work will soon be included in the upcoming Made in L.A. Biennial at the Hammer Museum this May. Splitting her time between New York and Los Angeles, Dean is more than a visual artist – she is also a prolific writer, curator and art critic. Just last year, she was promoted by The New Museum to editor and curator of Rhizome, the New York based nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and championship of born-digital art and culture. Dean does not have any one medium and rather experiments with different techniques, production processes and technologies to examine the nature of “blackness” in the United States.
By Hannah Shepard