In the Spring, the Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport plays host to Frieze Los Angeles — an upper echelon, exclusive international art fair featuring the world’s art stars and targeting high dollar collectors. But this week, as fall begins, it’s the location of The Other Art Fair — an event focused on creating a friendly, budget-friendly array of emerging and mid-career artists.
From September 26-29, The Other Art Fair, an offshoot of the online gallery Saatchi Art, will feature booths from 143 artists, nearly half of them from the Los Angeles region, and a handful from Santa Monica. This fair marks the 100th edition since the 2011 founding of the Other Art Fair, which has annual events in cities around the world including Brooklyn, London, Sydney and Dallas.
“I like to imagine that since we’ve had 100 fairs with more than 100 artists at each one, just how much art we’ve brought into people’s lives,” says Nicole Garton, the Global Fair Director. “We’re really celebrating with our fair season this fall, which launches in Santa Monica.”
Day passes for the event start at $25 and grant you access to the booths, along with a smattering of interactive exhibits and Santa Monica-specific offerings. Welcoming visitors to the fair will be an installation by Orange County-based textile artist, Kacie Lyn Martinez. Throughout the weekend, visitors will be invited to add their mark to the piece by scrawling out their hopes for the future onto a piece of fabric and weaving it directly into the work.
There will also be a number of artists making custom works for guests. NapkinKilla, whose medium is in his name, will post up at the bar and create quick sketches of guests, by request. He came to notoriety by popping up at New York Fashion Week a few years ago, where he sketched celebrities, including Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington. Then, as a nod to Santa Monica’s dog culture, the fair has recruited Ben Lenovitz to paint custom pet portraits. While only service dogs are allowed at the fair, Lenovitz works from photographs anyway, because he’s, ironically, allergic to most animals.
While most art fairs rent booth space to galleries, which then curate the artists, The Other Art Fair works directly with the artists, allowing them to hang and manage their own spaces. This year’s fair features numerous artists from the region, but Garton pointed to two artists from Santa Monica she’s excited about. First, Amelie Laurice, who goes by the moniker, Desert Moonrise. Her work falls in line with her alias: think tranquil sunsets over cacti-speckled landscapes. Look also for Phyllis Miller, a retired US Navy Vet, a local painter who uses her talented to build community in the veteran community.
“It’s really incredible to think about all of the artists on our roster, who are devoted to community building, because that’s something we’re invested in as well,” Garton says.
As a special way to mark this 100th edition, the fair has asked artists to sell one work priced under $100, the proceeds of which will be donated to Hümnkind Collective, an organization dedicated to combating the loneliness epidemic in Los Angeles.
“We are continually reinventing ourselves as a fair and be there for the community,” Garton says. “There are lots of different activities this year for people to come out and meet new friends.”
Lauren Smart
