Overflowing with collectors anxiously trying to secure the best works in the shortest amount of time, the fifth edition of Felix Art Fair was proclaimed an outstanding success within the first few hours of its opening on February 15.
Founded in 2019 by art collector Dean Valentine and gallerist brothers Al Morán and Mills Morán with the goal of creating a fair experience that prioritizes connoisseurship, collaboration, and community among collectors, dealers, and artists, Felix LA has been a hit from the start.
On view February 15-19 at the famous Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the fair presented 65 galleries from around the world in the pool cabanas of the hotel and in the more expansive rooms on the 11th and 12th floors above.
“I made every phone I could to get the sun out this week,” Mills Moran told Galerie. “I called in every favor from everyone I knew. In the five years of the fair, there was never a day so nice. You could tell by the buzz around the pool and the galleries were all crowded. This year finally felt like we were back to normal.”
Adams and Ollman sold 20 pieces in the first three hours and continued to make significant sales every day of the fair. See the fair highlights below and the artist to keep on your art collecting radar.
2. Clementine Keith-Roach at PPOW Gallery
A British artist who lives on a rural farm outside of London, Clementine Keith-Roach originally studied art history before turning to ceramics as her creative medium. Inspired by travels through Greece, Turkey and the Middle East, she began collecting old ceramic vessels which she employs as what Marcel Duchamp dubbed an “assisted readymade” by casting her own body parts and attaching them to these utilitarian objects. Painting her hands to match the patina of a found terracotta vessel, her 2023 Colonnade II sculpture almost makes a funny face as the artist’s clutching hands become supporting stems that keep the transformed vessel afloat.