Art Fairs, Anniversaries & Inaugurals: Arts Calendar February 22-28

This week’s very special episode of the Arts Calendar is dedicated to the incoming suite of Art Fairs and the eclectic cohort of new, expanded, and prodigal galleries inaugurating, popping up, and celebrating milestones in L.A. spaces — all just in time for Frieze Week (don’t call it that). Scroll down for a fuller account of the weekend’s planned exhibitions across the city, as just about every art shop in town rolls out the proverbial red carpet for the occasion.

30 Years of NIA at New Image Art

Thursday, February 22

30 Years of NIA at New Image Art. Founded in 1994, New Image Art is an artist-run venue whose mission is to provide an inclusive cultural and curatorial platform, continuously exhibit the under-represented and cultivate new artistic possibilities. Chronicling three decades of subversive contemporary art movements in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and beyond, this milestone show features more than 40 iconic artists, ranging from locally-adored West Coast artists such as Monica Garza, Sharif Farrag, and Umar Rashid, to cult phenomenons such as Takashi Murakami, RETNA, Barry McGee, Ed Templeton, Matt Furie, and more. New Image Art has become known and valued for helping launch many noted contemporary artists—many of whom assemble for this most special of occasions. 7920 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood; Opening reception: Thursday, February 22, 6-9pm; On view through March 30; free; newimageartgallery.com.

PatrickBongoy DesertFlower 2023 Cr.ChristofvanderWaltSGuild.01.HR V2

Patrick Bongoy: Desert Flower, 2023 (Photo: Christof van der Walt. Courtesy Southern Guild)

Mother Tongues and Zizipho Poswa: Black Bounty at Southern Guild. Established in Cape Town in 2008 by Trevyn and Julian McGowan, SG represents contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora, focusing on the continent’s rich tradition of utilitarian and ritualistic art and contributions to global art movements. SG opens a new chapter of dynamic exchange with their inaugural Los Angeles presentations: Mother Tongues, a group show highlighting 25 exceptional artists; and Black Bounty, a solo show by South African sculptor Zizipho Poswa. Moving between visible surfaces and interior states, the two opening exhibitions feature diverse forms of expression which is the heart of the gallery; exploring the preservation of culture, spirituality, identity, ancestral knowledge and ecology within our current landscape. 747 N. Western Ave., Melrose Hill; Opening reception: Thursday, February 22, 6-8pm; On view through April 27; free; southernguild.com.

Sandow Birk: Domingo es Mi Barrio, 1994, Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 36 1/2 in. (The Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University)

Friday, February 23

Hilbert Museum Grand Reopening at Chapman University. This beloved institution holds the distinction of being the only museum in the world committed to tracing the rich, iconic history of the Golden State from the 1900s to the present through works by leading California Scene artists and Hollywood studio artists and animators. Now its spaciously reimagined expansion is finally ready for visitors to its striking new two-building ensemble offering 26 galleries for rotating displays of the more than 5,000 oils, watercolors, illustrations, drawings, pieces of movie production art and more in the growing Hilbert Collection. 167 N. Atchison St., Orange; Timed entry reservations beginning February 23; free; hilbertmuseum.org.

Monica Mirabile

Monica Mirabile: Guidance at Albert Projects. One of an exciting crop of new galleries opening this month in Los Angeles, the inauguration of Albert Projects is a presentation of American painter and performance artist Monica Mirabile’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, opening February 23. The debut solo exhibition of the renowned performance artist’s oil paintings, Guidance features a new series of large-scale figurative works that employ beauty and wit to probe ideas of spirituality, death and the unknown. 2122 Berkeley Ave., Echo Park; Opening reception: Friday, February 23, 6-9pm; Performance event with Trinity Vigorsky, Friday, March 1; On view through March 23; free; instagram.com/Albert.Projects.

High Desert Art Fair Herb Ritts Frankie Rayder with Snake 1 Vasquez Rocks 2000 Silver Gelatin Photograph Courtesy of Fahey Klein Gallery

Herb Ritts: Frankie Rayder with Snake 1, Vasquez Rocks, 2000 at the High Desert Art Fair (Courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery)

Saturday, February 24

High Desert Art Fair. The inaugural edition of the High Desert Art Fair, where the artistic spirit of the desert comes alive in a celebration of creativity, culture, and community, promises captivating artworks, artist talks, live performances, treats-based receptions, creative exercises, and random desert surprises. Works included span styles and genres, but all underscore the evolution of creative expression while emphasizing the contemporary relevance and creative diversity that contribute to the ongoing narrative of visual storytelling and experiential culture. Multiple gallery and domestic locations in and around Flamingo Heights (take the 247 aka Old Woman Springs Rd turnoff out of Yucca Valley); Saturday-Sunday, February 24-25; free; highdesertartfair.com.

The Pit Paul McCarthy Ben Weissman Never Digested 7 2004 Paint marker on paper 18 x 23 7 8 inches Courtesy of the artists and Hauser Wirth

Paul McCarthy & Ben Weissman: Never Digested #7, 2004, Paint marker on paper, 18 x 23 7-8 in (Courtesy of the artists and Hauser & Wirth)

Paul McCarthy & Benjamin Weissman: Cognitive Surge: Coach Stage at The Pit. The Pit inaugurates their massive new Los Angeles location with a two-person show by artists who’ve been close friends for decades. Their respective work is unrestricted by preconception, generating images that expose bare truths which can be harrowing, enticing, and disarmingly relatable; and their proximity has fostered a prolific creative discourse resulting in countless artistic collaborations. Weissman and McCarthy share an avid interest in the unconscious—often envisioned as a place inhabited by the abject, the grotesque, the surreal, the repressed, the crazed. But their works also point to the social, the shared, an awareness of the other, and a persistent need to communicate what one knows to be incommunicable. 3015 Dolores St., Atwater Village; Opening reception: Saturday, February 24, 5-8pm; On view through April 6; free; the-pit.la.

Fitzpatrick Gallery Cédric Rivrain Passagers Avion Passengers Airplane detail 2024 Oil on linen 66 7 8 x 51 1 8 in Courtesy of the artist and Fitzpatrick Gallery Paris

Cédric Rivrain: Passagers (Avion) / Passengers (Airplane), detail, 2024, Oil on linen, 66 7/8 x 51 1/8 in (Courtesy of Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris)

Cédric Rivrain: Poussière (Dust) at Fitzpatrick Gallery. The acclaimed Paris-based gallery winters in Los Angeles this week, with a new exhibition showcasing art that is doubly anchored in a domestic context. Firstly, by its layout, which takes up the bare walls of an empty house; and secondly, by its canvases—portraits, scenes, animals—almost all seen in interior settings like bedrooms or living rooms. The bareness of the exhibition space echoes that of the canvases, where one can barely distinguish anything but parquet flooring and curtained windows, in neutral rooms with a paradoxical intimacy. 2357 Hermits Glen, Laurel Canyon; Opening reception: Saturday, February 24, 2-8pm; On view through March 3; free; fitzpatrick.gallery.

Rhett Baruch Gallery Marcus Berndardes S Vase 3 Rock sediment resin 6 x 6.5 x 14.5 in

Marcus Berndardes: S Vase 3, Rock sediment, resin 6 x 6.5 x 14.5 in (Courtesy of Rhett Baruch)

Rhett Baruch Art and Design X Good Naked Gallery: Terrestrial Aperture. Just in time for Frieze Week, Good Naked (NYC) and Rhett Baruch (L.A.) team up to present a four-person exhibition celebrating visual pleasure and curiosity. Each of the eclectic cohort culls imagery from a combination of close looking and reverie as they explore formal and material play. In a moment of attention economy, these artists ask us to slow looking and delve deeper into a world of whimsical structures and tended surfaces. 6057 Melrose Ave., Hollywood; Opening reception: Saturday, February 24, 4-7pm; On view through March 31; free; instagram.com/rhett.baruch.design.

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Laurie Hogin: Habitat Diorama with a Thousand Shimmering Dreams (Summer Skies of the Future) at Koplin del Rio

Koplin del Rio: (Untitled #42) at Mixografia. Koplin Del Rio (nee Koplin Gallery) opened in 1982 in West Hollywood, and after evolutions and many exciting decades here, relocated to Seattle in 2016. Now a weeklong group exhibition pops up in Los Angeles, marking 42 years since they opened their doors. Loosely shaped around notions of continuum, lineage & adaptation, the exhibition will include work from long-time gallery artists such as Joan Brown, Kerry James Marshall, Robert Pruitt & Laurie Hogin, as well as artists from the Pacific Northwest who have joined their roster. Their Frieze Week sojourn is hosted by longtime friends and collaborators, the Mixografia studio family. 1419 E. Adams Blvd., downtown: Opening reception: Saturday, February 24, 4-6pm; On view through March 2; free; koplindelrio.com/1982-now.

Gallucci Tull Nick Taggart Clive 1974 graphite on paper 11.5 x 8.25 inches

Nick Taggart: Clive, 1974, graphite on paper, 11.5 x 8.25 in (Courtesy of the artist and Gallucci Tull)

Sunday, February 25

Nick Taggart: Art School Portraits from 1974 at Gallucci Tull. The gallery’s inaugural exhibition is a series of masterfully rendered, gloriously dated, earnestly cringe graphite drawings by UK-born, LA-based artist Nick Taggart. Comprising eight never-before-exhibited works on paper completed during the artist’s final weeks as an undergraduate at Torquay School of Art, three years ahead of his move to Los Angeles, one drawing is a self-portrait; the others depict Taggart’s colleagues. The exhibition takes place in a geodesic dome on the site of the Encina Artist Residency. 21658 Encina Rd., Topanga Canyon; Opening reception: Sunday, February 25, 1-4pm; On view through March 3; free; galluccitull.com.

Brain Dead Studios Still from Told A Vision 2023 dir. Chloe Wise 1

Chloe Wise: Still from Told A Vision, 2023 (Courtesy of Almine Rech)

Monday, February 26

Chloe Wise: Told A Vision at Brain Dead Studios. International gallery Almine Rech presents the Los Angeles premiere of Told A Vision (2023), the directorial debut of multidisciplinary artist Chloe Wise. Originally created for Parcours, Art Basel, the 15-minute film replicates the sensation of channel surfing, the remote in an unknown holder’s hand. Moving at a crescendoing pace, fragments of commercials, marked with an uncanny visual familiarity and authoritative language advertising nothing in particular, form together a patchwork contemplation of consumerism and how it relates to the self. The film will screen on a loop all evening, and will be followed by a Q&A with the artist and comedian Eric Wareheim, and a cocktail reception in the outdoor patio. 611 N. Fairfax., West Hollywood; Monday, February 26, 7:30pm; free; alminerech.com.

SPRING BREAK Art Show Kellesimone Waits Untitled Portrait Of Perpetual Sleep Paralysis Acrylic on Framed Canvas 2023 36 x 24 in

Kellesimone Waits at SPRING/BREAK Art Show

Tuesday, February 27

SPRING/BREAK Art Show. NYC and L.A.’s curator-driven art fair returns, bringing its uber-chic, totally feral experience back to Los Angeles. With over 50 curatorial projects, 70 curators and 200+ artists, SPRING/BREAK is a destination for art enthusiasts to experience contemporary art by established and emerging artists, each of whom has received free exhibition space to do with as they please. The fair will also feature a new Artist Spotlight section, an initiative wherein artists submit directly for a salon show curated by fair founders Ambre Kelly & Andrew Gori. Special programs and events extend to music, performance, games, AI tarot, a design-infused installation from The Street and the Shop, and more. 5880 Adams Blvd., Culver City; Opening night: Tuesday, February 27, 5-9pm; Fair Hours Wednesday-Sunday, February 28 – March 3; $30-$100; springbreakartshow.com.

Materia Perpetua at Galerie Philia

Materia Perpetua at Galerie Philia. A nomadic program anchored by the gallery’s permanent spaces in Geneva, Mexico City, New York, and Singapore takes the form of group and solo exhibitions in unique locations around the world. Each transient exhibition features unique works by emerging and established designers and artists. For Frieze Week, this means their inaugural presentation in Los Angeles. Featuring a collection of limited-edition onyx works by ten of the gallery’s international designers, the exhibition will be staged in the striking studio of designer Giampiero Tagliaferri, who will also create a one-off piece for the occasion. More than a display of creative skills and in line with Philia’s distinct philosophical approach, the inaugural collection delves into the concept of eternity and its paradoxical origins. 2235 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake; Open February 27 – March 3; free; galerie-philia.com.

Felix Art Fair Residency Art Gallery Will

Residency Art Gallery presents Will Maxen at Felix Art Fair

Wednesday, February 28

Felix Art Fair at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Everyone’s favorite poolside cabana-based art fair with a heart of Old Hollywood glamor and a penchant for selfie-taking, Felix Los Angeles 2024 will feature over 60 eclectic exhibitors from around the world, including galleries from Berlin, Bucharest, Chicago, Dallas, Kyiv, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Turin, and Montreal with works to discover, covet, attainably collect, and aspire to. The sixth iteration of the fair will also present a debut partnership with leading global retailer Dover Street Market. Tip: plan your visit around a boozy patio lunch to get the full Los Angeles experience. 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; February 28 – March 3; $75-$100; felixfair.com.

Izumi Kato, Untitled, 2023 (Courtesy of Perrotin)

Izumi Kato at Perrotin. International gallery Perrotin inaugurates their new Los Angeles location with work by Japanese artist Izumi Kato. Both primitive and pop, the simple geometries and biomorphic shapes Kato uses to compose his distinctive figures seem to nod at the elemental forms found in petroglyphs and cave paintings, while also channeling the character-driven aesthetic of contemporary culture. He uses timeless natural materials such as wood and stone alongside manufactured creations such as plastic and vinyl. Kato employs the most primal of tools—his own hands—to paint his canvases, while simultaneously experimenting with forms of production that only modern technology can enable. 5036 W. Pico Blvd., Mid-Wilshire; Opening reception: Wednesday, February 28, 6-8pm; On view through March 23; free; perrotin.com.

High Desert Art Fair Alex Stoddard Metamorphosis Interrupted I 2017 Archival Pigment Print Courtesy of Fahey Klein Gallery

Alex Stoddard, Metamorphosis Interrupted I, 2017 at the High Desert Art Fair (Courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery)

Other notable gallery openings & art-forward performances and events this week, with many remaining on view through March and into April—and yes, Tuesday and Wednesday really are that busy—below: