Best of Paris Photo
Los Angeles

The turnout for the preview was pretty star-studded­–­a mix of Hollywood and the art world. We personally spotted Jodie Foster, Brad Pitt, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Catherine Opie. Beth Rudin DeWoody, Lauren Taschen, Maria Bell, Eli and Edythe Broad, Judd Apatow, Orlando Bloom, Julie Delpy, Jane Fonda, Moby, Joni Mitchell, Ed Norton, and Frank Ocean were also in attendance, enjoying a steady flow of Ruinart champagne.

Galleries reported strong sales and, along with attendees, expressed an overall enthusiasm for the fair experience. With the official announcement on Friday that FIAC will be coming to downtown L.A. in the spring of 2015, it looks like Lala-land may be the new spot for future art fairs.

But Paris Photo Los Angeles wasn’t just about the stars, the sun, and the fun location. There was a lot of great work on view. One of the most unique aspects of the fair was the “UNEDITED!” exhibition of archival LAPD photographs. Both in black-and-white and color, the selection of mug shots, evidence, and crime scene documentation was gritty, real, and sometimes humorous (like the stick up notes that read “stick up/don’t move/smile” or the series of a woman presumably failing a roadside field sobriety test). The first mug shots of Charles Manson were on view, as well as photos of the arrest of the Manson family.

A few of the solo presentations on the New York back lot stood out. Cherry and Martin showed Brian Bress, who covered the walls of the space with overlapping, tropical imagery, complimenting his photo and video collages. M+B had an installation of work by Mariah Robertson, who chemically treats large reams and individual pieces of RA-4 photo paper. In the final image, you can see how she physically moved or altered (cutting, burning) the paper. The altered paper is displayed in Plexiglas, transforming the pieces into large, sculptural works. And Loock gallery’s presentation of work by Charlie White showcased a new direction in the artists work. He created a riff on the classic still-life with decadent desserts, using graph paper as a base layer, referencing the digital photo.

Rare black-and-white photographs by William Eggleston were on view at Rose Gallery. It was fascinating to see how an artist known so well known for his work in color, made the banality of everyday life beautiful in black-and-white. Ryan McGinley at Team Gallery’s booth, on the other hand, showed the seduction of color and youth in Roundup (Wide Sky). And Viviane Sassen, on view at Stevenson, showed a deft ability to play with color in relation to her subjects.

A new find for us at the fair was a series of ambrotypes by Patricia Lagarde presented at Patricia Conde. Lagarde uses century-old techniques and materials to create curious images. We were told she stages miniature dioramas that hark back to the late 19th-century. Each work came in a special velvet and leather box, to be used for both display and travel, making it both an image and an object.