Bettina Korek's Guide to LA

Known for its resistance of easy hierarchies as well as for its radical openness, the spirit of Los Angeles lies at the heart of Frieze Los Angeles and Frieze Week’s city-wide encounter with the arts. Frieze Week is an invitation for visitors to discover somewhere new and for Angelenos to get out of their average routine – though probably not their gym routine.

In collaboration with ForYourArt, Frieze Week has provided 12 “routes” around Los Angeles to highlight our favorite galleries that you can visit on a walk of the city. Inspired by the peripatetic visits of the late John Baldessari as well the city’s galleries, I’ve tried to include many of the spaces we’re excited about, but to list them all would be impossible.

As much as Frieze Week is about going somewhere new, I’m very much a creature of habit, so alongside the events I’m most looking forward to, I’ve also provided a few recommendations of my favorite places to eat and drink.

Eating and Drinking
Here are some of my go-to spots across Los Angeles:

• Breakfast at All-Time, don’t miss the B.O.A.T. (breakfast of all time).
• Dinner at the Chateau Marmont, which has been the decadent Sunset Boulevard hideaway for celebrities and artists since 1929
• Stop by My Two Cents for a BBQ Chicken Salad and slice of Crack Cake and say hello to Chef Elisa. (along our curated Route 9)
• Street-food star Tacos 1986 will bring their Tijauana style taco shop, known for its liberal use of cheese, to the Paramount backlot but the original is also close to Route 6
• Soregashi Sushi, though many sing the praises of their Alaskan salmon sashimi, those in the know will prefer the subtleties of their take on halibut, Hiramè no Usuzukuri. (Route 1)

Frieze Week Highlights
Here's what I'm excited about seeing and doing from February 10 to 16, both at the fair and around the city...

On February 10th, in conjunction with Los Angeles Philharmonic Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen’s exploration of the Weimar Republic’s cultural explosion, LACMA senior curator Stephanie Barron and independent curator Nana Bahlmann have organized a series of public programs, which include the world premiere of Nicole Miller’s Weimar-inspired laser light installation; and an exhibition of the Bauhaus masterpiece costumes by Oskar Schlemmer for the Triadic Ballet, the first time these iconic pieces have been seen in the United States in over 30 years.  

On February 15th , the artist and choreographer duo Gerard & Kelly will present the performance State Of (2017) at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, an excavation of the creative process behind contemporary dance. 

At Frieze Los Angeles on February 15th, Regen Projects will screen Redoubt, the new film by artist Matthew Barney, director of the acclaimed CREMASTER Cycle.  Barney’s new film unfolds as a series of hunts in the wilderness of Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. The characters communicate a mythological narrative, told through movements that replace words.

Among the week’s not-to-miss exhibitions are The Box’s presentation of performance artist and punk rocker Johanna Went; Huma Bhabha and Lauren Halsey at David Kordansky Gallery; Felipe Baeza at The Mistake Room; and"Tanya Aguiñiga: Borderlands Within" at The Armory in Pasadena; major monographic exhibitions at LACMA of Julie Mehretu, Luchita Hurtado, and Betye Saar; Arcmanoro Niles and “Back and Song” by Elissa Blount Moorhead and Bradford Young at UTA Artist Space.

For other exhibitions and routes by ForYourArt to make the most of your visit, click here.