While the art world has felt bleak amid a buckling market, a new art fair is gracing Los Angeles this year. Named for its location, Santa Monica Post Office, will run concurrently with Frieze LA and Felix art fair in February. The new boutique art fair may be small in size, but it is expected to pack a big punch. The LA fair was born from the earlier and smaller project Place des Vosges in Paris, also named for its location, for which a limited number of notable international galleries staged a show together over the last two consecutive years. Noticing some success and a lot of camaraderie, organizer Chris Sharp decided to bring this energy from the city of light to the city of angels. Related Articles Frieze Los Angeles Names Exhibitors for 2025 Edition Miami Beach's Untitled Art Fair Will Expand to Houston “The fair landscape has gotten really complicated,” Sharp told ARTnews in an interview. “The fee structure [of larger fairs] is somewhat prohibitive and I wanted to create an alternative to that.” In recent years, art fairs have expanded and become more corporatized, with substantial price increases, in which it can be difficult, if not impossible, for emerging or small galleries to participate, let alone experiment with their presentations. charging project spaces $2,000 and galleries $6,000—a nominal fee compared to its larger competitors—Santa Monica Post Office will be “much more collegial” with “less pressure to sell”. It is expected to feel more like a large curated group exhibition rather than an art fair with separate booths set up to sell. The move is not entirely unexpected for the art world, which has seen art dealers dissatisfied with the status quo established by art fairs such as the Art Dealers Association of America and the Armory Show. Santa Monica Post Office will feature a total of 25 local, national, and international galleries hailing from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Toronto, New York, Milan, and Tokyo. The fair will consist exclusively of solo projects, including a presentation of one of Kaari Upson’s last bodies of work via Sprüth Magers, a showcase of Sara Cynwar’s latest work presented by Cooper Cole, and a show of work from the late Lin May Saeed from Chris Sharp Gallery. The full list of participants are listed below. 4649, TokyoBabst Gallery, Los AngelesCastle, Los AngelesChris Sharp Gallery, Los AngelesCooper Cole, TorontoCruise Control, CambriaEhrlich Steinberg, Los AngelesEt al., San FranciscoGood Weather, Little Rock, ChicagoHouse of Seiko, San FranciscoKayokoyuki, TokyoKing’s Leap, New YorkLaurel Gitlen, New YorkLomex, New YorkLouis Reed, New YorkMichael Benevento, Los AngelesOverduin & Co., Los AngelesP.P.O.W., New YorkRoland Ross, MargateSprüth Magers, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, New YorkTanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin, Los AngelesTheta, New YorkTomio Koyama Gallery, TokyoTureen, DallasThe Untitled Love, Los AngelesZero…, Milan
