Inside the 2026 edition’s Focus section, of emerging talent, what’s new and more
For Christine Messineo, Frieze’s Director of the Americas, one of the most thrilling moments of the annual Los Angeles art fair is when the big white tent goes up. “I love to be there in the midst of that production side,” she says. “It makes it real.”
The staking down of the structure, she explains, marks a culmination of months of work — which kicks off just a few months after the fair closes — coming to fruition.
From Feb. 26 to March 1, Frieze Los Angeles takes over the Santa Monica Airport with a contemporary art showcase featuring approximately 100 galleries and an array of installations, collaborations with nonprofit organizations and restaurant pop-ups.
“Poeisis” by Zenobia Lee Credit: Courtesy Frieze Los Angeles
“The End is Just the Beginning” by Greg ItoCredit: Courtesy Frieze Los Angeles
“El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles del Rio Porciúncula” by Greta Waller Credit: Courtesy Frieze Los Angeles
“SPAN No. 5” by Y. Malik JalalCredit: Courtesy Frieze Los Angeles
Within the signature white tent, visitors will find presentations by both first-time participants and industry pillars, including Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Cardi Gallery and Taka Ishii Gallery. Additionally, Focus — a platform for new artistic voices overseen by Essence Harden for the third year in a row and subsidized by menswear label Stone Island — exhibits solo presentations from U.S.-based galleries operating for 12 years or less, such as Dreamsong, Lyles & King, Sea View and Hannah Traore Gallery.
“Struck (Beet Blush)” by Erica Mahinay Credit: Courtesy Frieze Los Angeles
“Memorial Day Weekend” by Y. Malik Jalal Credit: Courtesy Frieze Los Angeles
Notably, Messineo highlights that about half of the galleries are based in L.A., explaining that the fairs’ Los Angeles edition is truly a snapshot of the city and its emerging talents. She hints guests will want to take notice of the entrance art by Patrick Martinez, whose “Hold the Ice” piece — a neon sign that reads “Agua is Life; NO ICE” — is on view at the Hammer Museum as part of Made in L.A. 2025.
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“[Frieze] is a highlight moment in the art fair calendar in Los Angeles, and there’s such generosity of spirit and excitement and energy during that week,” she says. “There’s this sense of community and mentorship that exists here.”
Read more about the artists and galleries part of the Focus section below.
Christine Messineo, Fair Director, Americas
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Frieze
Although based in New York, L.A. is a special place for Christine Messineo. Not only was she a director at Hannah Hoffman gallery near MacArthur Park, Messineo led her first Frieze in L.A. back in 2022, and she now heads into Frieze L.A.’s seventh edition with a reverence for the city’s resilience and community focus.
Morgan Elder, Director & Curator
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Murmurs Gallery
Like mumbled whispers in a crowd, Murmurs Gallery aims to highlight art that captures the less obvious, collective undercurrents of society. Here, Morgan Elder curates presentations — from sculptures to performances and pop-ups — that emphasize engagement over commodification.
Zenobia Lee, Artist
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Presented by Sea View Gallery
The New York-born, Los Angeles-based artist works primarily in sculpture to explore the ebb and flow of queerness, desire and the homoerotic. Aspiring to discover clarity and meaning within an object or material, colonial histories of the Caribbean and its diaspora flow through Lee’s art.
Sara Lee Hantman, Founder & Director
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Sea View
Originally opened on Sea View Lane in Mount Washington in 2022, this contemporary art gallery now finds a home in a restored Hollywood building from 1937 where four exhibition areas and pied-à-terre encourage conversations that intersect art, design and architecture.
Carlye Packer, Owner
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Carlye Packer
The nomadic gallery returns to Frieze Los Angeles after a 2025 showing that sold out by the end of the VIP preview. Established more than a decade ago, the eponymous art dealer showcases a range of young and emerging artists.
Erica Mahinay, Artist
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Presented by Make Room Los Angeles
Following up the likes of exhibiting at Marciano Art Foundation and Paris’ Pinault Collection, Erica Mahinay continues probing the line between figure and abstraction with a new body of work made up of ceramic sculpture, painting and glass pieces.
Emma Fernberger, Owner & Director
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Fernberger Gallery
In just two years, Emma Fernberger has cultivated a gallery with a reputation for showcasing thoughtful pieces that foster visceral reactions. It operates with the mission to highlight an intergenerational roster of artists with global perspectives and a focus on women-identifying artists.
Emilia Yin, Owner & Director
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Make Room Los Angeles
At her 2018-established gallery, Emilia Yin uplifts female and emerging creatives and artists of color through solo and group presentations and collaborative off-site projects. Make Room’s dynamism is executed in a gallery, inclusive of numerous exhibition spaces and an outdoor courtyard.
Greg Ito, Artist
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Superposition Gallery
The Japanese-American multidisciplinary artist invigorates all pieces — from museum and gallery exhibitions and public artworks to institutional and corporate acquisitions and design projects — with a signature bold palette and themes of love, tragedy, time, strength and renewal.
Storm Ascher, Owner
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Superposition Gallery
Through Superposition, Storm Ascher works to subvert art galleries as gentrification tactics by staying on the go. The roaming gallery features exhibitions, performances and other events in spaces mindful of their neighborhoods in order to connect artists with collectors and institutions.
Lee Foley, Co-Owner and Co-Director
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Bel Ami
Named after Guy Maupassant’s 1885 novel, this Chinatown gallery (also co-owned by Naoki Sutter-Shudo and Eric Kim) has honed in on unusual and overlooked art for nearly a decade.
Greta Waller, Artist
Credit: Irvin RIvera
Presented by Fernberger Gallery
Powered by an insatiable need to understand the nature of light and color — notably executed through an affinity for painting ice in watercolor — the Indianapolis-born, L.A.-based artist unpacks light’s variable properties through her subject matter.
