Timeline
The LA Art Show: 20 Years in the Making
200,000 square feet
120 galleries
22 countries
30 million in sales
20,000 works of art
56,000 visitors
15,000 parking spaces
300 journalists
500 stories
5 billion media impressions
2 million web hits
150 show staff
5 days open
7 days to set up
4 days to take down
1994
  • 14 galleries exhibiting Historic & American Regionalism. 250 attendees: Pasadena Civic Auditorium
1997
  • 36 galleries: John Wooden Center, UCLA
1999
  • 40 galleries: John Wooden Center, UCLA
  • Show expands to include modern & contemporary work
2001
  • 44 galleries: John Wooden Center, UCLA
  • Opening benefits the Music Center of Los Angeles County
2002
  • 49 galleries, 5 museums: Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, first art event held at Barker Hanger, launching the destination as a premiere art venue
2004
  • 75 galleries: Barker Hangar, addition of numerous supplemental tents to accommodate growing number of exhibitors
2008
  • Barker Hanger: 115 galleries, 9 museums
  • IFPDA Fine Print Fair joins the LA Art Show
2009
  • 108 galleries, 16 museums/art organizations: Los Angeles Convention Center West Hall
  • Show expands to 100,000 sq. ft
  • LA Art Show’s move to the Los Angeles Convention Center propels the renaissance of downtown Los Angeles and named as the anchor event for Los Angeles Arts Month by the City of Los Angeles
  • LA Art Show presents LIFE Awards to LA’s leading artists Billy Al Bengston, Ed Moses, Howard Bingham, Betye Saar, and Larry Bell as part of the Getty’s hallmark “Pacific Standard Time” initiative
2010
  • 91 galleries, 27 participating museums/ arts organizations
  • Venice Biennale artists Raquel Bessio, Juan Burgos, Lacy Duarte, Nelson Ramos, Pablo Uribe Wilfredo Dia Valdes and Ernesto Vila featured in contemporary Uruguayan art exhibit, “34° 53’ 0” S – 56° 10’ 0” W”
  • Nick Cave’s “Soundsuit Invasion” debuts in Los Angeles at LA Art Show Opening Night Premiere Party
  • LA Art Show is the first major art fair to host a street art exhibition featuring live performances by artists Retna, Mear One, Chor Boogie, and El Mac, launching street art into the fine art mainstream
2011
  • 108 galleries, 23 participating museums/arts organizations
  • More than 20 international galleries from China, Korea, Taiwan, Venezuela, Cuba, Spain, The Netherlands and United Kingdom
  • Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity host David Arquette
  • Internationally acclaimed cutting-edge artists Feng Feng, Liu Qing-Yuan, and Qin Jin featured in special exhibit “China Today” in partnership with 53 Art Museum in Guangzhou, China
2012
  • 100 galleries, 9 participating museums/arts organizations
  • Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity host Kat von D
  • Mark Mothersbaugh’s “Scion Car Sculpture” debuts at the LA Art Show before its exhibition at the MOCA, Los Angeles
  • Damien Hirst’s Butterfly Print Series “The Souls” and Gold Foil Block Skulls “Death or Glory” make California debut
  • Venice Biennale artist Tong Hongsheng debuts new works at LA Art Show’s “China Pavilion” alongside works by master brush painter Xia Jingshan
  • Exclusive performance of “The Myths of Rape” with artists Leslie Labowitz-Starus and Suzanne Lacy, in partnership with The Getty’s “Pacific Standard Time” Initiative
  • LA Art Show acquired by Palm Beach Show Group
2013
  • Moves to 200,000 sq. ft South Hall in Los Angeles Convention Center
  • 106 galleries, 5 participating museums/arts organizations
  • 25% of galleries from outside the United States, countries represented at the LA Art Show include Canada, China, Russia, Japan, Spain, Korea, Italy, Germany, Venezuela, Ireland, France, and United Kingdom
  • LA Art Show on Front Page of the LA Times, the first time in the history of the newpaper that an an art fair has made the front page
  • Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity host Ali Larter
  • Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity art ambassador James Franco
  • “Letters to Los Angeles” debuts as one of the first text-centric art exhibits, curated by Jack Rutberg and featuring artists Lita Albuquerque, John Baldessari, Bill Barminski, Wallace Berman, Chris Burden, Hans Burkhardt, Huguette Caland, Doug Edge, Mark X Farina, Jud Fine, Eve Fowler, Gajin Fujita, Scott Grieger, Mark Steven Greenfield, Raul Guerrero, George Herms, Dennis Hopper, Ed Kienholz, Lynn Hanson, Charles LaBelle, Mark Licari, Michael C. McMillen, Jim Morphesis, Bruce Nauman, Stas Orlovski, David Allan Peters, Paulin Paris, Raymond Pettibon, Lari Pittman, Ken Price, Bruce Richards, Ed Ruscha, Richard Shelton, Alexis Smith, J. Michael Walker, Gordon Wagner, and Tom Wudl
  • Beijing Biennale winner Andrea Juan of Argentina debuts new video installation “New Species”
  • Acclaimed Mexican artist Betsabee Romero of Mexico showcases a selection of her celebrated carved tires and imprints
2014
  • 134 galleries, 16 participating museums/arts organizations
  • More than 1/3 of galleries from 22 countries including China, Brazil, Cuba, Korea, Taiwan, France, Japan, Spain, Czech Republic, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Venezuela, Argentina, Denmark, UAE, Hong Kong, Russia, and Mexico
  • Venice Biennale artist Zhang Yu debuts new “Fingerprints” exhibition before showcasing works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
  • Venice Biennale Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa debuts new collection of works “The Present of the Century”
  • Venice Biennale Korean artist Lee Yong Baek presents his 2011 Venice Biennale video installation accompanied by an exclusive live performance
  • Beijing Biennale Argentine artist Andrea Juan debuts new video installation “Organic 2013”
  • LAAS becomes the first major art show to recognize the “Pop Surrealist” art movement with Littletopia gallery section
2015
  • 130 galleries/16 participating museums/arts organizations
  • Show presents works from more than 20 countries including: Canada, Cuba, China, Denmark, France, Japan, Korea, Russia, United Kingdom and Venezuela, among others
  • Opening benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with Hosts Amy Adams & Darren Le Gallo
  • First art fair to present Dansaekhwa-Korean Monochrome Painting featured artists include: Yun Hyong Keun, Kim LiKin, Hur Hwang, Choi Myoung Young and Suh Seung Wons
  • LA Art Show is the first western art fair to feature Chinese contemporary ink painting
  • Show features the largest grouping of Japanese galleries at any art fair outside of Asia showcasing pop surrealism and manga art
  • United Arab Emirates Featured Guest Country brings Past Forward Exhibition showcasing Contemporary Art from the Emirate Chung
  • Nomads Sculpture Installation by Cuban artist Angel Ricardo Ricardo Rios
2016
  • 121 galleries/10 participating museums/arts organizations
  • In a groundbreaking move, the LA Art Show presents two complementary art fairs under one roof – the Los Angeles Fine Art Show and the LA Art Show
  •  Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity hosts Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman
  • Building Bridges Art Exchange celebrates the renaissance of painting as an artistic genre by presenting Time for Painting: The Return, showcasing artists from Cuba, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. Featured artists include Angel Delgado, Ciro Quintara, Angel Ricardo Ricardo Rios, Frank Martinez, Rodolfo De Florencia, and Luis Reyes Guzman
  • The National Exhibition of China offers insight on the evolving art movement in China with its presentation of two themes with works by up and coming young artists active in China’s contemporary art scene: Vision of Chinese Contemporary Art and Transition of Inheritance
  • Dansaekhwa II highlights Korean Monochrome Painting by Young Il Ahn, Lee Seung Jio, Yoo Byeong Hoon, and Kim Hyung Dae
  • An exclusive West Coast viewing of acclaimed Spanish artist Lluis Barba’s seminal work – a reimagining of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ – takes center stage in a thought-provoking exhibition entitled “Traveller in Time:The Fragility of the Historical Memory and Political Powers”
  • Special solo show of anime-inspired portraits by Korean artist Mari Kim examines the evolving roles of Korean women in “Days of Future Past”
2017
  • 128 galleries/12 participating museums/arts organizations
  •  LACMA presents a series of active art events to focus attention on issues of mortality and the human condition with destructive acts “performed” by Raphael Montañez Ortiz – Couch Destruction: Angel Release (Pennies From Heaven); Piano Destruction Ritual: Cowboy And Indian, Part Two; Shred Your Worries
  • Staged performance entitled “Violent Times” by Melanie Pullen explores the ceremonial aspect of violence and how we dress for both violence and war
  • Artist Eugenia Vargas Pereira invites community participation with her interactive radio project, “Talking Head Transmitters”
  • Mella Jaarsma’s unique wearable sculpture “The Carrier” addresses the fleeting nature of all living things, and our need to escape the fear of death by indulging in consumerism
  • Dansaekhwa III: Formation and Recurrence highlights the multilayered Korean monochromes of Kim Tae-Ho and the iconic water drop paintings of Kim Tschang-Yeul
  • Lindsay Scoggins’s award-winning “Dichotomy Bifurcation” is social commentary in video form, and has been exhibited in the Guggenheim Museums of New York City, Bilbao, Berlin, and Venice
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2018
  • 125 galleries/12 participating museums/arts organizations
  • Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity host was Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor, director, and producer, Jon Hamm
  • In the special section DIVERSEartLA, over 50,000 square feet of exhibition space is dedicated to participating organizations, museums, and non-profits with featured work that is not for sale 
  • MUSA, Museum of the Arts of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, presents Metaphysical Orozco, based on the work of José Clemente Orozco, shown for the first time ever in the United States
  • LACMA and the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center stage Daniel Joseph Martinez’s immersive environment referencing Jacques-Louis David’s seminal portrait The Death of Marat (1793), with Martinez connecting David’s painting with our present moment, giving a historical dimension for modern politics as a form of theater, sport, and business
  • On the 30th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, actor Matthew Modine offers an incredibly unique and vibrant portrait of one of cinema’s most iconic war films through a combination of rarely seen, medium-format photographs taken on set alongside poetic, intimate excerpts from the actor’s personal diary
  • Dansaekhwa IV: Internal Rhythm, presented by SM Fine Art Gallery, highlights artist Kim Tae-Ho’s richly layered paintings whereby dense accumulation of paint reveals color hidden beneath rhythmically comes alive within the structure
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2019
  • 127 galleries/13 participating museums/arts organizations
  • Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity host was actress Kate Beckinsale and Art Ambassador was Gavin Rossdale
  • Working with individual curators from institutions around the world, DIVERSEartLA features special programming to include installations, videos, and ground-breaking performances that connect directly with the audience
  • CCK, Buenos Aires, Argentina presents renowned artist Marta Minujín by showcasing two of her most emblematic art works: The Parthenon of Books and Rayuelarte; and also staged a participative installation, Memorable Mud, by Andrés Paredes
  • LACMA offers a glimpse of the future with Virtual Reality, a series of VR experiences as seen by four different creative innovators exploring the range and impact of technology on perception, communication, and creation
  • Eight galleries from China, Japan, Korea, USA and the U.K. highlight the importance and significance of ink painting as a longstanding art form by presenting the rich spectrum of ink painting styles
  • AAL (Arte AI Límite) exhibits the collective works of four artists in White Lies, which emerged from the dialogue of visual arts and politics to examine the manifestation of power that dominates and controls the masses
  • In a thought-provoking performance, Nodrissx/Narcissx, Dorian Wood challenges the artist-audience separation as a non-binary person of color and an autodidact
  • Australian Aboriginal Art Gallery presents Grandmother’s Country, an Aboriginal work by one of Australia’s premier female Aboriginal artists from the Central Desert, Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi
  • In You should wear your revolution, French visual artist Sarah Trouche uses her body to focus attention on women’s emancipation, radical and collective
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2020
  • LA Art Show celebrates its 25th Anniversary
  • 126 galleries/11 participating museums/arts organizations
  • Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity host Sofia Vergara
  • For the first time ever, Danubiana Museum of Bratislava presents work, featuring monumental sculptures entitled “The Birth of Niemand” by Viktor Freso
  • Academy Award winner and hyperrealist sculptor Kazu Hiro showcases his three-dimensional sculptures of legendary, historical figures
  • The largest and rarest collection of works by M.C. Escher on view includes lithographs, woodcuts, engravings and mezzotints
  • Special tribute to Hollywood fashion designer and style icon, Sue Wong, features gowns worn on the red carpet
  • Sogen Chiba’s 3:11 Requiem and Revival transcribes newspaper reports of the Great East Japan Earthquake and presents the new work created specially for the LA Art Show
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2021
  • LA Art Show was rescheduled as a summer event, the first arts exhibition to be hosted as an in-person show and the first major event to return to the LA Convention Center post-pandemic
  • Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti addressed the community in his speech at the LA Convention Center and attended the show pre-opening
  • Former Governor of California, well-known Hollywood celebrity and art collector, Arnold Schwarzenegger, visited the show
  • To stage a safe yet successful show, capacity was reduced by 50% to accommodate just over 80 galleries/participating museums/arts organizations
  • Art sales doubled over previous shows despite the reduced size and shorter show run
  • DIVERSEartLA returned with a curatorial focus on the presence, contributions, research and documentation of women and non-binary artists at the forefront of work at the intersection of art, science and technology
  • NFT (non fungible token) made its debut at the show, via a special presentation by Vellum LA, the first physical gallery for NFT-backed digital art, to be launched this September in Los Angeles, and SuperRare, the leading and most trusted NFT marketplace for digital art
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2022
  • LA Art Show returned to its usual schedule with a five-day in-person event, kicking off the Los Angeles winter art season
  • Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity host was International model and actress, Kaia Gerber
  • Over 90 galleries/participating museums/arts organizations, including many international exhibitors from Europe, Asia, and South America
  • Attendance was up by 20% from the 2021 summer show, attracting some 45,000 visitors
  • Citi returned with its second successful series of LA Art Show Gallerist Talks Presented by Citi
  • DIVERSEartLA sharpened its ecological lens with a curatorial focus on advancing the dialogue about the global climate crisis and potential solutions
  • NFTs (non fungible token) continued to have a strong showing with an expanded presence at the show, introducing attendees to this new phenomenon in digital art
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2023
  • LA Art Show welcomed over 120 galleries/participating museums/arts organizations from around the world
  • The show set a new record with the highest number of Asian galleries, including 14 from Korea
  • DIVERSEartLA broke new ground with the inaugural edition of the Museum Acquisition Award for Emerging Artists, created by Spain’s La Neomudéjar Museum with the support of the LA Art Show
  • Opening Night Premiere Party celebrity host was the multi-talented actress, singer-songwriter, producer, and beauty founder Ashley Tisdale
  • Attendance was up by over 30% from the previous year, attracting more than 60,000 visitors
  • Citi returned with another successful series of LA Art Show Gallerist Talks Presented by Citi
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2024
  • Over 100 galleries/participating museums/arts organizations, including many international exhibitors from Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa
  • Began a new partnership with the American Heart Association as our beneficiary by supporting the Association’s Life is Why™ Campaign
  • Opening Night Premiere celebrity host was award-winning actress and singer, Lucy Hale
  • Citi returned with another successful series of LA Art Show Gallerist Talks Presented by Citi
  • DIVERSEartLA explored the complex and evolving relationship between memory, humanity, and AI through installations, interactive experiences, and thought-provoking artworks
  • In honor of Black History Month, acclaimed artist Robert Vargas created a mural on site inspired by one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s last books, The World House
  • Renowned multimedia artist Choi Sori presented a special live art performance that mesmerized through drumming and manipulation of metal surfaces
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