Frieze Los Angeles opens its doors this week at Santa Monica Airport, bringing together more than 100 galleries from 24 countries for one of the most ambitious editions of the West Coast's preeminent contemporary art fair.
The four-day event runs Feb. 26 through March 1 and is expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors from around the world to view works by artists spanning generations, mediums and cultural traditions. The 2026 edition includes 17 first-time participants and continues the fair's partnership with Global Lead Partner Deutsche Bank.
"Los Angeles thrives on experimentation and artist-led practice, yet its defining strength is the enduring, interconnected community of artists, curators, collectors and institutions who show up for one another across generations," said Christine Messineo, Frieze's Director of Americas. "Frieze Los Angeles 2026 captures this energy, from pioneering surveys to ambitious emerging voices."
The fair's gallery presentations range from sweeping multigenerational surveys to focused solo projects spotlighting some of the most compelling voices in contemporary art.
Gagosian will stage a multi-generational West Coast survey placing artists such as Richard Diebenkorn and Ed Ruscha in dialogue with contemporary figures including Lauren Halsey, Alex Israel and Jonas Wood. Pace Gallery will highlight LA-connected artists with a never-before-seen rounded-diamond installation by James Turrell alongside new paintings by Mary Corse and historic works by David Hockney and David Lynch.
Sprüth Magers will pay tribute to the late conceptual art pioneer John Baldessari, underscoring his foundational role in establishing Los Angeles as a center for conceptual art and pedagogical experimentation. Roberts Projects will mark the centennial year of Betye Saar, a key figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1970s, with a presentation of altered Polaroids, sketchbooks and archival materials.
Solo presentations reflect the fair's commitment to both rediscovery and emerging talent. Hauser & Wirth will introduce newly represented painter Conny Maier to West Coast audiences, while White Cube will stage a solo presentation of Antony Gormley's recent sculptures. Various Small Fires will showcase Southern California-based Jessie Homer French, whose six-decade practice charts the American West through symbolic landscapes of fire, memory and ecological reckoning.
Now in its third consecutive year, the Focus section — curated again by Essence Harden, curator at EXPO Chicago and co-curator of Made in L.A. 2025 — features 15 U.S.-based emerging galleries presenting solo projects. Stone Island continues as the section's official partner, providing each gallery with financial support alongside Frieze's subsidized booth fee.
Highlights include Sea View's debut at the fair with new sculptures by LA-based Zenobia Lee, Superposition Gallery's presentation of Greg Ito's immersive meditation on Japanese American displacement and memory, and Murmurs' showcase of Malik Jalal, who examines Blackness and American inequality through salvaged car parts and hand-forged metals.
The 2026 edition introduces the inaugural Los Angeles edition of Frieze Library, which will invite galleries to submit art publications to benefit the newly reopened Pacific Palisades Library following last year's devastating Palisades fire. The initiative will create a permanent collection accessible to the public.
The California African American Museum Acquisition Fund returns for its second year with $25,000 dedicated to acquiring a work by a Black American artist with strong California ties, to be accessioned into the museum's permanent collection. The Santa Monica Art Bank Acquisition Fund and the MAC3 Collective Acquisition Fund — led by the Hammer Museum, LACMA and MOCA — also return to support Southern California-based and emerging talent.
Frieze will again collaborate with AMBOS (Art Made Between Opposite Sides) on "Botánica AMBOS," a site-specific installation inspired by healing and spiritual supply shops in migrant communities. Proceeds will support AMBOS' trauma-informed ceramics program in LGBTQ+ shelters and fund the AMBOS Prize, a scholarship for undocumented community college art students.
Since its 2019 debut at Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood, Frieze Los Angeles has drawn roughly 30,000 visitors annually and helped cement the city's standing as a global art capital. The fair has been credited with accelerating a wave of major gallery openings across the city — Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner, Pace, Lisson Gallery and Perrotin all opened or expanded Los Angeles outposts in the years following the fair's arrival. Art industry observers have called Frieze "the fair that made the city grow up" as a serious art market destination.
While Frieze does not disclose aggregate sales figures, individual transactions have reached into the millions. A Mark Bradford painting sold for $3.5 million in 2023, and a 2025 Elizabeth Peyton work fetched $2.8 million. The 2025 edition drew 30,000 visitors from 85 countries and representatives from more than 150 museums.
Santa Monica officials have called the Frieze partnership vital to supporting the city’s economic growth, and the city annually acquires works through its Art Bank program at the fair.
Frieze Los Angeles 2026 is open to invitation-only guests Thursday, Feb. 26, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday, Feb. 27, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The fair opens to the public Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. and continues Saturday, Feb. 28, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, March 1, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets are available online at https://www.frieze.com/
Food and beverage options at the fair include Ayara Thai, Roberta's wood-fired pizza, Kismet Rotisserie, Sunday Gravy pasta and Dina's Dumpling, among others.