Roles within the artwork trade have gotten more and more fluid, and sustaining the market’s present scale would require extra collaboration amongst its members. As rising prices push many galleries to rethink their participation in artwork gala’s, one collector is stepping as much as make gala’s extra accessible. Raj Parmar, founding director of the brand new boutique honest, ENZO, has scheduled the primary version for L.A. Artwork Week, and his honest is free not just for guests but in addition for collaborating galleries.
Working concurrently with Frieze Los Angeles, ENZO will take over a Twenties warehouse in Echo Park, only a brief drive from The Broad, MOCA and Hauser & Wirth. There, it would deliver collectively 10 rising galleries from New York’s Chinatown and Decrease East Facet, in a bid to position East Coast voices in direct dialog with the L.A. artwork neighborhood at a second when youthful galleries are dealing with growing monetary stress and lots of have opted to skip L.A. this yr as a consequence of prohibitive prices.
“We selected a small, free artwork honest as a response to the present state-of-the-art world. Rising, mid-career and blue-chip artists and galleries are all having a tricky time in in the present day’s artwork economic system,” Parmar advised Observer. “A smaller honest feels extra intimate, informal and private, and with three different gala’s taking place in L.A., we thought it will be significant to supply one thing completely different, notably on the Eastside.”
The 5,000-square-foot warehouse, which has two predominant areas and several other communal areas, will host immersive installations, efficiency artwork, digital media, artist talks, site-specific initiatives and different discursive codecs. ENZO, based on Parmar, was designed to take away the monetary threat of participation and encourage extra formidable, experimental shows.
The roster of collaborating galleries features a robust mixture of established, research-driven areas recognized for expertise scouting—corresponding to Financial institution, Lubov, Magenta Plains and Margot Samel—alongside galleries much less generally seen at artwork gala’s, together with Sara’s Worldwide, Silke Lindner, Wschód and Alyssa Davis.
“The artwork world is remarkably small and fluid, extending past cities and nationwide borders. The individuals you meet in New York usually reappear in Paris or London throughout honest season,” Parmar added. Whereas Los Angeles and New York are arguably the 2 most influential geographies for up to date artwork in the USA, he identified that not everybody can journey to the East Coast to expertise New York Metropolis’s downtown gallery scene firsthand. “Creating an intimate honest on the Eastside affords Angelenos a uncommon alternative to have interaction instantly with a definite New York artwork ecosystem.”
ENZO, which opens on February 25 and runs by means of February 28, joins a rising constellation of satellite tv for pc gala’s and happenings held throughout L.A. Artwork Week alongside the principle occasion, Frieze Los Angeles, which this yr brings 95 exhibitors from 22 international locations to the Santa Monica Airport. The dealer-led unbiased honest Publish-Truthful, based by Chris Sharp, will happen February 26-28 within the historic Santa Monica Publish Workplace constructing, with a curated however increasing roster of 25 galleries. The extra glitzy Felix Artwork Truthful can even return to the Hollywood Roosevelt Lodge from February 26 to March 1, with a VIP preview on February 25. This yr’s version options 57 worldwide galleries, greater than 20 of that are new to the honest—a sign of each turnover and the challenges of sustaining a West Coast presence. New York Life Gallery, Feia (Los Angeles) and SOM Gallery (Tokyo) are among the many newcomers, alongside worldwide exhibitors corresponding to Cohju (Kyoto), Patel Brown (Toronto and Montreal), Period Gallery (Milan), Gallery Playlist (Busan and San Francisco) and Ungallery (Buenos Aires).
But because the honest panorama continues to develop, Los Angeles’s gallery ecosystem has skilled vital contraction, underscoring how the West Coast—and L.A. particularly—stays a difficult marketplace for sellers. In 2025, a number of galleries closed their Los Angeles areas, together with established names corresponding to Tanya Bonakdar and Sean Kelly, whereas the longtime establishment L.A. Louver closed its Venice location to the general public, coming into a brand new section centered on non-public dealing and pop-up exhibitions.
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