10 Exhibitions Not to Miss During L.A. Art Week

Last year, Los Angeles Art Week unfolded in the wake of the devastating wildfires, and the mood was sober, introspective and distinctly community-focused, with the resilience of L.A.’s artistic ecosystem front and center. This year, the city of stars has weathered a different kind of turbulence. Across the state, thousands rallied against mass deportation in protests that stretched through the summer, while on the art front, several galleries quietly shuttered their second spaces. And yet, if anything, the density and ambition of this week’s programming, timed to Frieze Los Angeles and its ever-expanding constellation of satellite fairs, suggest a city unwilling to dim its lights.

New collector-led boutique fair ENZO joins Chris Sharp’s Post-Fair and the historic poolside Felix at the Roosevelt Hotel, reinforcing how Los Angeles is not just a major art hub but an unusually dynamic one. With the LACMA expansion set to open in April, the city stands on the cusp of another institutional milestone.

This year’s offerings are wide-ranging and genuinely compelling, and Observer took on the unenviable task of narrowing the field to 10 must-see exhibitions. The challenge was compounded by a relentless calendar of openings and the famously unsolvable traffic that greets anyone attempting to cross from Venice Beach to Downtown and back again, but we did it. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss.