Art fairs recently migrated online to remedy the crowded, in-person attractions that proliferated before the pandemic. Now art audiences should get familiar with a new acronym: OVR, the online viewing room. The yearly Art Basel Miami is typically a huge international event, traversing the beachside city and offering satellite fairs including New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) and Untitled. This week, they all open online.
NADA Miami , opening today, has opted for a unique solution to the online fair, encouraging participants to put up physical exhibitions in conjunction with the online fair. Galleries participating in the fair span 44 cities across the world, and here in L.A., there are several fair presentations that you can view this week in person. While Los Angeles has announced a safer-at-home order this week, galleries have already adapted to timed appointment-only viewing. The current restrictions, which require 50% capacity at galleries, have no additional effects on in-person gallery viewing at this time. Here is our guide on how to experience NADA in-person in L.A. this week. Masks and timed appointments are required at all locations.
“Lone Stars” at the Landing (off-site) for NADA Miami featuring Chuck Arnoldi and Leonardo E. Marmol. Image courtesy of the artists and the Landing.
Chuck Arnoldi and Leonardo E. Marmol at the Landing (off-site)
The Landing gallery is presenting a two-person fair booth featuring the iconic L.A.-based artist Chuck Arnoldi and abstract painter Leonardo E. Marmol. The exhibition is happening off-site in Frank Gehry-designed lofts that Arnoldi helped develop in the ‘80s on a property which were adjoined at the time by a series of artist studios. In addition to Arnoldi and Gehry, other artists, including Billy Al Bengston and Chris Burden, had studios in the space. In one of the lofts, Arnoldi’s foam and wood sculptures share space with Marmol’s understated paintings made with a palette knife. Although not officially part of the Landing’s NADA presentation an exhibition curated by Michael Slenske called “Object Lessons” is taking place in an adjoining loft. The exhibition highlights the material histories of notable Westside artists such as Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Lita Albuquerque, Kenny Scharf, and Ed Moses. Across town in the gallery space on Jefferson Blvd, the Landing is showing a solo exhibition by L.A.-based painter Ryan Fenchel.
NADA booth on view December 1–5, 2020
Object Lessons on view December 1–12, 2020
Installation View of NADA Miami (December 1–5, 2020), Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. Image courtesy of the artists and Nino Mier Gallery. Photo by Dawn Blackman.
Group show at Nino Mier Gallery
Over the course of the fair this week, Nino Mier Gallery will present four group exhibitions featuring artists on their gallery roster, each on view for only one day at the gallery. While it’s common to replace artworks daily at art fairs as works are sold, Nino Mier’s pre-planned exhibitions allow for conversations to emerge between their artists, whose work becomes recontextualized with each curated display. Tuesday’s exhibition features an aluminum sculpture by Anna Fasshaeur alongside paintings by Jan-Ole Schiemann and the colorfully layered spirals of Mindy Shapiro. Wednesday will include the psychedelic figurative works of Gerlind Zeilner alongside colorful abstractions by Antwan Horfee. Thursday and Friday unfold with a standout by Andrea Joyce Heimer — a graphic and stylized painting of a house party underway, featuring bodies layered across the canvas as if the home itself has been unfolded and flattened. Aside from the fair presentation, the gallery is also showing a solo exhibition of paintings by Nikki Maloof and a selection of paintings by Brianna Rose Brooks presented by Deli Gallery.
NADA booth on view December 1-5, 2020
Adam de Boer, “Red-Crowned Amazons” (2020). Wax-resist acrylic staining, crayon, and oil paint on linen, 46 x 60 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Hunter Shaw Fine Art.
Adam de Boer at Hunter Shaw Fine Art (off-site)
Hunter Shaw Fine Art presents a solo booth of Adam de Boer, in an off-site space across the street from the gallery on Pico Boulevard. The artist creates paintings using the method of batik, a process of painting with wax and dye on fabric, which he learned from traditional crafts-people in Indonesia while spending time trying to unravel his Dutch-Indonesian heritage. De Boer’s previous works depicted his time spent in Indonesia, yet for his new paintings, the artist looks to a closer surrounding: Los Angeles. Many of the works were made looking out the artist’s window in downtown L.A.’s fashion district. In his artist statement, De Boer explains that this particular body of work — made in and about Los Angeles, but using traditional Indonesian batik techniques — feels like a breakthrough. “I am proud of a lot of the art that I’ve made over the years, but I think something is happening with these batik paintings about L.A. that feels significant,” he says. “It feels like a synthesis of a lot of what I’ve been thinking and feeling for the last 10 years.” Across the street at the gallery’s main space, a group show called “XX:XX” reflects on the themes that have shaped 2020.
NADA booth on view December 1-5, 2020
Devin Troy Strother “good hair part 1 (don’t touch)” (2020). Oil stick, acrylic, and paper collage on linen, 59 x 68 inches Image courtesy of the artist and The Pit, Los Angeles. Photo by Jeff McLane.
Group show at The Pit
The Pit in Glendale has recently expanded its gallery space, and their NADA presentation is a group show presented in their new gallery. The booth highlights several of the gallery’s roster artists including Hilary Pecis, Devin Troy Strother, and Bella Foster. Standout works sculptures include Erik Frydenborg’s intricate patterns screenprinted on sleek basswood forms and Tony Marsh’s ceramic vessels covered in his signature layered and crackling glazes. New colored pencil and watercolor works by Julian Pace include an intimate selfie drawing of the artist paired with an unassuming portrait of Frida Kahlo. Aside from the NADA works, the gallery presents a solo show by Jaime Muñoz and a group show called “Mirror-Gazing.”
NADA booth on view December 1-5, 2020
James Harrison, “Hold On” (2020). Acrylic on stretched paper, 27 x 30 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Lulu, Mexico City.
In Lieu, Lulu, Parrasch Heijnen, Night Gallery, and more
Additional in-person fair viewing includes In Lieu gallery , which has a two-person booth featuring works by artists Katja Farin and Ficus Interfaith at their L.A. gallery space. Mexico-City based gallery Lulu has installed their NADA booth of floral and text-based James Harrison paintings at their L.A.-outpost, Feuilleton Gallery . Night Gallery has a group show on view in their gallery space, and a two-person presentation of Forrest Kirk and Mildred Howard is on view this week at Parrasch Heijnen . While other fairs such as Art Basel and Untitled are not promoting in-person exhibitions this week, Shulamit Nazarian displays their three-person Art Basel presentation in a small space in their L.A. gallery.
See gallery websites to make an appointment.