Today the Felix LA Art Fair, planned to take place at Los Angeles’s Roosevelt Hotel from February 17–20, concurrently with Frieze Los Angeles, released its list of 60 exhibitors from around the world—the fair’s first return to a full edition since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. It includes both established galleries, such as Kasmin and P.P.O.W., as well as emerging ones. A third of the participants are first-time exhibitors, including Misako and Rosen (Tokyo), One Trick Pony (Los Angeles), and The Ranch (Montauk).
Fair cofounder, collector, and former TV executive, Dean Valentine, told ARTnews of this year’s roster, “We’ve consistently tried to hone our list and shape it to express what we always hoped would be the core of Felix: galleries run by passionate gallerists who have a point of view about the art they show. This year we think is the best incarnation of that ever. There are exciting galleries from around the world showing incredible artists.”
Felix debuted in Los Angeles in 2019, concurrent with the first edition of Frieze Los Angeles. Its second edition, like Frieze’s, took place in February 2020, just before Covid-19 lockdowns, making it one of the last fairs to take place worldwide. Last July, Felix put on a pared-down edition for local Los Angeles galleries. This year brings exhibitors from places like Tokyo, Paris, Dusseldorf, and London, and the question remains whether the omicron variant will throw a wrench into the works for art fairs planned in the first months of 2022. This week, museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced reduced capacity; others, like those in Boston, announced temporary closures. With galleries displaying art in hotel rooms, Felix has in the past seen crowds of collectors in cramped spaces—a challenge during a pandemic. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t nervewracking,” Valentine said. “But my gut is telling me that things are going to go forward.”
Founded in 2019 by Valentine and art dealer brothers Al and Mills Morán, the Felix Art Fair offered a way for exhibiting galleries to participate in a fair without the usual high art fair cost, by running Felix out of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Instead of renting out expensive booths, galleries could rent out hotel rooms and suites at a much lower rate.
The location has other benefits, including that of luring Hollywood stars. Previous iterations of Felix have seen the likes of Brad Pitt admiring work. And galleries have creatively arranged hotel furniture to set off artworks, as when a pair of paintings by Dan Finsel were placed above a bed in the room occupied by dealer Michael Benevento. While the intimacy of these hotel rooms exhibitions will likely have to be managed, guests will presumably be able to more freely socialize around the hotel pool and free standing cabanas.
The full list of participating galleries follows below.
56 Henry, New York
Adams and Ollman, Portland
Baik + Khneysser, Los Angeles
Nicelle Beauchene, New York
Michael Benevento, Los Angeles
THE BREEDER, Athens
Broadway, New York
Matthew Brown Gallery, Los Angeles
Canada, New York
C L E A R I N G, New York
DOCUMENT, Chicago
Downs & Ross, New York
Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles
Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris
Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris
Gavlak, Los Angeles | Palm Beach
Grice Bench, Los Angeles
Kavi Gupta, Chicago
Jack Hanley Gallery, New York
Harkawik, New York | Los Angeles
Harper’s, New York
KLEMM’S, Berlin
Kadel Willborn, Dusseldorf
Kasmin, New York
LINN LÜHN, Dusseldorf
Tanya Leighton, Berlin
Josh Lilley, London
Lomex, New York
Luce, Turin
Lyles & King, New York
M+B, Los Angeles
Misako & Rosen, Tokyo
Charlie Moffett , New York
Morán Morán, Los Angeles
mother’s tankstation, Dublin | London
Mrs. Gallery, Queens
Nicodim, New York City | Los Angeles | Bucharest
Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles
One Trick Pony, Los Angeles
Parrasch Heijnen, Los Angeles
Patron, Chicago
Peres Projects, Berlin
P·P·O·W, New York
Ramiken, New York
The Ranch, Montauk
Raster, Warsaw
Ratio 3, San Francisco
Residency Art Gallery, Inglewood
Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles
Soft Opening, London
Thomas Solomon Art Advisory, Los Angeles
Tierra Del Sol, Los Angeles
Rachel Uffner, New York
Van Horn Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf
Volume Gallery, New York
Wentrup, Berlin
Kate Werble Gallery, New York
White Columns, New York
Maximillian William, London
ZERO, Milan