Whole, an enormous unfinished project she’d intended to debut at New York’s Greene Naftali gallery in 2002, would become [Julie Becker’s] magnum opus of sorts… The project was built to fail. Whole would come to include a scale model of the soon-to-be-dissolved California Federal Bank building on Sunset Boulevard, a tiki bar, a videotape in which a scale model of the bank building is hoisted down into an elevator shaft, a glitter-drenched drawing of the pyramid on the dollar bill, and a sculpture that resembles an excised chunk of sidewalk. As she explained to me that year, Whole would be “an endless exposing of parts…not ever reaching a whole.” — Chris Kraus*
Moving with the sun after earlier iterations in Hollywood and Beverly Hills, FRIEZE LOS ANGELES 2023 pitches its colossal tent at the Santa Monica Airport for its largest presentation to date.
Outside the main tent—leading to the Focus section inside Barker Hanger—the Now Playing program of installations and performances features work by Autumn Breon, Chris Burden, Jose Dávila, Basil Kincaid, Divya Mehra, Ruben Ochoa, Alake Shilling, and Jennifer West. Also on site: A Frieze-MOCA partnership will bring four performances of Simone Forti’s dance construction Huddle to the fair.
Staying on the coast, Jay Ezra Nayssan and Del Vaz Projects were invited to curate a series of exhibitions as part of the Frieze Project Against the Edge, including Kelly Akashi’s Heirloom at Villa Aurora, Tony Cokes’ So to speak at Beyond Baroque, Nicola L.’s Nous Voulons Entendre at Thomas Mann House, and—in homage to Walter Hopps—an Action 3 performance at the Santa Monica Pier merry-go-round. In addition, a reinterpretation of the late Julie Becker’s (W)hole opens this weekend at Del Vaz Projects’ 19th Street gallery. Join Chris Kraus and Ralph Coon on Tuesday morning for an artist talk.
As always, a spectacular array of FRIEZE WEEK events will unfold at museums, galleries, and performance spaces throughout the city, including a set by Kim Gordon and Bill Nace, an Anne Imhof opening—her first show in Los Angeles—an L.A. Dance Project presentation, an art talk with Henry Taylor, and the world premiere of Trulee Hall’s new film. See links below for a manageable selection.
Thursday preview, February 16 (invitation only), 10 am to 7 pm
Friday preview, February 17, 11 am to 8 pm
Saturday, February 18, 11 am to 7 pm
Sunday, February 19, 11 am to 6 pm
Santa Monica Airport
Bundy Drive and Airport Avenue, Santa Monica
FRIEZE WEEK ROUNDUP
CHRIS KRAUS and RALPH COON ON JULIE BECKER
Tuesday, February 14, at 10 am
Del Vaz Projects
259 19th Street, Santa Monica,
ANNE IMHOF — EMO opening reception
Wednesday, February 15, from 4 pm to 7 pm
Sprüth Magers
5900 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles
KIM GORDON and BILL NACE performance
Wednesday, February 15, at 7 pm
Gagosian
456 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills
AUTUMN BREON — SWAG SURF IN THE WATER performance
Thursday, February 16, at 2:30 pm
Frieze Los Angeles
Santa Monica Airport
Isabelle Albuquerque, Orion Catoto, Arman Nafeei, Ariana Papademetropoulos, Ariana Reines, Sisson, and Hamza Walker perform John Cage’s Speech
Thursday, February 16, at 7:30
Merry-Go-Round Building
Santa Monica Pier
Ocean Avenue at Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica
SIMONE FORTI — HUDDLE performance
Friday, February 17, at 11:15 am and noon
Saturday, February 18, at 3:15 and 3:45
Frieze Los Angeles
Santa Monica Airport
Caitlin Berrigan Book Launch — A voice becomes a mirror plane becomes a holohedral wand
Friday, February 17, from 4 pm to 6 pm
JOAN
1206 Maple Avenue, Suite 715, downtown Los Angeles
GAZELLI ART HOUSE — TUXEDO RESIDENCY — VAM STUDIO
Friday, February 17, from 7 pm
5946 Tuxedo Terrace, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles
FAC XTRA RETREAT (FXR) performance
Ei Arakawa, Patty Chang, Pearl C. Hsiung, Amanda Ross-Ho, Anna Sew Hoy, Shirley Tse, and Amy Yao
Friday, February 17, at 8:30 pm
Saturday, February 18, at 2 pm
REDCAT
631 West 2nd Street, downtown Los Angeles
L.A. DANCE PROJECT PRESENTS performance
Lionel Popkin, Kate Wallich, Marjani Forté-Saunders, and Julia Eichten
Saturday, February 18, from 1:45 pm
L.A. Dance Project
2245 East Washington Boulevard, downtown Los Angeles
WHAT BEAUTIFUL SPACE TOMORROW performance, discussion, screening
William Kentridge — In Praise of Shadows
Bongile Lecoge-Zulu, Raél Jerro Salley, Patrisse Cullors, Zachary Price, Ed Schad, Lecoge-Zulu
Saturday, February 18, from 3 pm to 5 pm
The Broad
221 South Grand Avenue, downtown Los Angeles
DonChristian Jones, EJ Hill, [jef]Frey Michael Austin, and Morgan Bassichis
Saturday, February 18, at 8 pm
Standby only
Hauser & Wirth
901 East 3rd Street, downtown Los Angeles
BOIL, TOIL & TROUBLE — BENDING THE RIVER discussion
Lauren Bon and Emma Robbins
Sunday, February 19, from 11 am to 1 pm
Art in Common
708 North Manhattan Place, Melrose Hill, Los Angeles
HENRY TAYLOR AND FRIENDS discussion and book signing
Moderated by Bennett Simpson
Sunday, February 19, at 3 pm
MOCA Grand Avenue
250 South Grand Avenue, downtown Los Angeles
TRULEE HALL — LADIES’ LAIR LAKE screening
World Premiere with Live Musical Score
Sunday, February 19
Doors and reception, 4 pm
Screening, 5 pm
Standby only
REDCAT
631 West 2nd Street, downtown Los Angeles
*Chris Kraus, “Passages: Julie Becker,” Artforum 55, no. 2 (October 2016).
From top: Jennifer West, Hologram Phantom Limbs, 2023, detail, image courtesy and © Jennifer West; Julie Becker, Untitled, 2007, mixed media on paper, with frame, courtesy and © Del Vaz Projects; Kelly Lynn Jones, Christmas Chase in the Desert, 2022, acrylic, oil, oil stick on canvas, © Kelly Lynn Jones, courtesy of the artist and The Pit, Los Angeles, artwork photograph by Ed Mumford; Camila Falquez, Danielle as San Sebastián, San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 2022, digital C-Print, Kodak-matte, closed frame with silk-red, spacers, museum glass, © Camila Falquez, courtesy of the artist and Hannah Traore Gallery, New York; Juliana Huxtable, MUCUMBA MIDNIGHT TYPE, 2022, acrylic on printed canvas, artist frame, © Juliana Huxtable, courtesy Project Native Informant, London; Roksana Pirouzmand, I was praying at home while you were dying on the streets (6), 2022, ceramic, © Roksana Pirouzmand, courtesy of Murmurs Gallery, Los Angeles; Helen Evans Ramsaran, The Soul of the House, 1995, bronze, © Helen Evans Ramsaran, courtesy Welancora Gallery, Brooklyn; Sadie Barnette, Mirror Bar, 2022, neon, vinyl on mirror plexiglas in arched frame, holographic vinyl upholstery, and glitter plexiglas, © Sadie Barnette, courtesy Jessica Silverman, San Francisco; Catherine Opie, Gina & April, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1998, pigment print, © Catherine Opie, courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles, and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London; Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Easier to Bare, 2022, oil, ink, and pastels on canvas, © Michaela Yearwood-Dan, courtesy Tiwani Contemporary, London; Arlene Shechet, Pulse and Powder, 2021, glazed ceramic, painted hardwood, painted steel, © Arlene Shechet, courtesy Vielmetter, Los Angeles, artwork photograph by David Schulze; Nicola L., Nous Voulons Entendre, Frieze Projects: Against the Edge, curated by Jay Ezra Nayssan, Thomas Mann House, Los Angeles, photograph by Paul Salveson, courtesy and © Nicola L. Collection and Archive, Alison Jacques, London, and Frieze; Hilda Palafox, Naturaleza Viva, 2021 (detail), © Hilda Palafox, courtesy Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City, artwork photograph by Ramiro Chaves; Gillian Wearing, Me as Jean Cocteau after Berenice Abbott, 2022, framed bromide print, © Gillian Wearing, courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
