From January 23 - 27, 2019, fair-goers packed the LA Convention Center’s West Hall to attend the 24th annual LA Art Show, the city’s longest-running art fair and the largest and most comprehensive showcase on the west coast. 120+ galleries from 18 countries packed the hall’s 200,000 square feet of exhibition space, featuring modern and contemporary works, blue chip art, historical pieces and a stunning breadth of new contemporary and lowbrow work from around the world. Returning for the third year in a row, DIVERSEartLA’s donated exhibition space showcased installations and performances from non-profits, museums and institutions from around the world, including for the first time ever CCK - Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Art Share LA. The LA Art Show once again cemented its position as the most diversely programmed art fair in the world, dedicated to making art accessible to everyone.

Following the Opening Night Gala, LA Art Show opened to the public and brought in over 70,000 attendees over the four day period, delighting with more highlights and featured exhibitions than ever before.

Gavin Rossdale, an avid art collector, returned to the fair even after completing his Art Ambassador duties to see what was being shown this year. After spotting Chaz Guest’s “Jaajo,” a large-scale, mixed media painting depicting a buffalo, he purchased the newly completed work from Patrick Painter Gallery. Rossdale joins other high-profile collectors of Guest’s work, including Oprah WInfrey, President Obama, and Herbie Hancock, among many others.

Steve Diamant, owner of Arcadia Contemporary, reflected on the high volume of sales enjoyed at his booth. “We go to a lot of art fairs across the country. But the LA Art Show is our Superbowl,” he said. One of their best-selling artists, Loribelle Spirovski, created a portrait of rising pop-icon Troye Sivan, a major hit among fair attendees. On Saturday, Sivan himself happened upon the painting and posed for pictures in front of it.

The most photographed and talked about highlights of the fair, Anthony James’ large “Portal Icosahedrons” light and mirror sculptures at Melissa Morgan Fine Art, sold to a notable collector.

Ink paintings from China, Japan and South Korea were a major focus of this year’s programming—a major art movement that has developed entirely independent of western art history. Michael Goedhuis showcased the ten most important Chinese ink painters for the first time at LA Art Show, while Baik Art premiered new landscape paintings by Chuni Park, influenced by his recent road trip through California. These were just two of the many galleries showing ink painting this year.

House of Fine Art (HoFA), a gallery with long-established spaces in London and Mykonos, used the LA Art Show to introduce art collectors and Angelenos to their new Los Angeles gallery, which opened only three months ago.

Ferran Josa of Pigment Gallery, returning for the 4th year in a row, commented about always having unusually good experiences in Los Angeles. For his artist Rosa Galindo, all but one of her paintings sold.

Simard Bilodeau Contemporary reported high sales and interest from a number of new collectors. Their artist, Yalda Sepahpour, sold out for the second year in a row.

Rebecca Hossack of Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery was excited about sales across the board for her artists. She travels to over two dozen art fairs around the world per year, but notices that she sees the most traffic at the LA Art Show.

Many galleries shared the sentiment that this year’s fair offered both a way to meet with longstanding clients, as well as establish relationships with new collectors enthralled by the diversity and growth of the LA art market.

The LA Art Show also kicked off with one of the strongest Opening Night Galas in years, where Kate Beckinsale drew a crowd as the evening’s host, meeting with St. Jude patient families and delivering an address about the organization’s mission to the VIP area. Gavin Rossdale, this year’s Art Ambassador, reminded the audience that art can save lives. They were joined by previous host Emma Roberts, and stars such as Jessica Szohr, Peyton List, Cameron Monaghan, Joe Manganiello, Lance Bass, Amy Smart, Odette Annable, Brandon Boyd, Brigitte Nielsen, Evan Williams Bailee Madison, Kevin Zegers, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Perrey Reeves, Amber Stevens West, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Naomi Grossman, Davi Santos, Barry Sloane, Brittney Palmer, Ian Bohen, Denim Richards, Celeste Thorson and many more.

Art stars Tristan Eaton, Camille Rose Garcia, Jorge R. Gutierrez, Gregory Siff, Dave Pressler, Brandi Milne, Dosshaus, Gary Baseman, RETNA, Andy Moses, Mikael B, and hundreds more were in attendance, along with over 7,500 VIPs.

The 25th edition of the LA Art Show is schedule for February 5 - 9, 2020. Please save the dates.