Artist and LA resident Richelle Rich joins Carrie to debrief on what turned out to be a landmark week for art in Los Angeles. Fresh from days of fairs, openings, and yes, a lot of driving, Richelle gives us her honest account of Frieze LA and the constellation of events that surround it.
They talk about why this year felt so different from last year's emotionally charged, post-wildfire edition; what it means for LA to transform, however briefly, into a truly international art city; and whether the energy of one extraordinary week can carry a creative community through the other fifty-one.
Richelle shares the works that stopped her in her tracks: a quietly devastating Gillian Wearing self-portrait, a tower of broken pencil points that took real courage to show at a fair, and a series of abstract paintings that made a noisy room go still. She also makes the case for why art fairs, commerce and all, are ultimately good for artists and reveals the one thing she bought.
Plus: the new fairs shaking up the LA art week calendar, why Butter might be the most radical fair model in America right now, the impossible choices that come with navigating a city the size of LA, and what Frieze still needs to do better.
One word for Frieze LA this year? Richelle doesn't hesitate: joy.
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About the Have You Seen? series:
The Have You Seen? Series is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.
Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.