A Two-Sexed Deity and the Weight of Grief: Unexpected Highlights of Frieze Los Angeles 2026
Frieze Los Angeles 2026 has concluded. Its four-day run featured more than 100 galleries from 24 countries. The fair reported to have seen over 32,000 visitors from more than 45 countries. On the ground, I saw bustling multicultural and multimedia presentations from artists at all different stages in their careers. Among the booths, two artists stood out to me: Ebony G. Patterson at Monique Meloche Gallery and Ren Light Pan presented by Lyles & King, in the Focus section. The grandiose nature of Monique Meloche’s booth drew many visitors in, while Pan’s use of reappropriation of old master artworks led art-historically minded visitors to linger. Fun fact, the participants from New York had quite a trek this year due to the blizzard, which caught us all off guard. One fair participant said that, due to flight cancellations, all the New York art juggernauts were seated in the back of the plane because their tickets had to be quickly rebooked. Which is a far cry from their usual comfort of first class or business class for the frugal.
Frieze also publicly condoned anti-ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) sentiments by prominently featuring two of Patrick Martinez’s neon signs “Deport ICE” and “Nobody is illegal” at the entrance of the fair. ICE activity is felt in the city as raids and detentions escalated in Los Angeles in the summer of 2025 and again at the beginning of this year.
Unlike the typical whitewalls that backdrop art, at Monique Meloche Gallert Patterson strategically uses a repeating image of a deep-violet flora wallpaper (created by the artist) to contrast her brightly colored, ornate works. Creating an environment that’s vividly rich and full of intrigue. Viewers must visually peel the multilayered construction to understand the narrative in each piece. Patterson is Jamaican-born; her practice addresses the Black diasporic experience and challenges viewers to ponder class, power, visibility, and care within “postcolonial” spaces. In this particular series, she addresses loss and the way it’s carried. Across mediums, tapestry, drawing, photography, and installation, she weaved a carefully constructed tale of “loss, personal and collective, and the ways it is carried, obscured, and encoded,” as stated in the press release.
Seen above is the diptych, …in the swallowing…she carries the whole…the hole (2021 – 2022). The large two-part work is beyond the word “opulent;” its fullness cannot be contained as it drips onto the floor. Through her multimedia approach, she recreates a lush forest that hypnotizes viewers. That was my first impression of her work. After exploring the artist’s intention, I began to uncover elements within the piece that echoed its heavier sentiments. Throughout the diptych, snake skin is present, and a fully black vulture hangs on the far right side of the diptych. Body parts are skewed throughout, and within the dense vegetation, mushrooms are present. What first appeared as a lush forest now seems a burial ground, and the richness it presented has feasted on the sorrow beneath the leaves. The title, ..in the swallowing…she carries the whole…the hole, illuminates this undertone. The work has buried sorrow and allowed these things to grow from it, which, at first glance, appear luscious and rich, but the collision of these elements leaves visitors questioning the true nature of grief. Next, I look forward to seeing Patterson’s work at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, as selected by the late Koyo Kouoh.
In Lyles & King’s presentation of Ren Light Pan, a body rests leisurely in different angles across canvases throughout the booth. My first impression of the work was to liken it to David Hammons’ Body Prints, given the visual similarity of a body pressed onto canvas. But as I further engaged with the booth, it became clear that Pan based her bodies on historical artworks from Bernini, Rubens, and Giovanni Susini depicting Hermaphroditus. Sisini and Rubens both created marble works titled Sleeping Hermaphroditus, and Rubens also created a drawing titled Hermaphrodite. Fittingly, this single artist booth was included in the fair’s Focus section reserved for thematic solo presentations from galleries that have been running for 12 years or less. The section was curated by Essence Harden, co-curator of Hammer Museum’s Made in LA in 2025 and formerly curator at California African American Museum. Lyles & Kings was founded in 2015, and this is their seventh time presenting with Frieze. Reportedly, all works sold and some were placed in a major museum.
Pan is Chinese-American and transgender; she identifies with Hermaphroditus, a two-sexed child of the Goddess of Beauty, Aphrodite, and the God of Commerce, Hermes. The deity’s name is the compound of his divine parents and the origin of the term hermaphrodite. The care within the works’ execution, which multiplies Hermaphroditus’ places of reverence and rest, allows us to glean the artist’s sentiments surrounding their identity. At the center of the booth, is the work, Sleeping Hermaphroditus, Louvre. Unknown sculptor, likely Imperial Roman copy after lost bronze original, 100-500 CE. Mattress by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, 1620 II, 2026. Ink, water, infrared light and canvas, Pan uses a unique ink-transfer process that imposes images onto a surface. The image used is the statue on display at The Louvre. Spectators can be seen on the work’s edge, once again venerating his form. Pan has hoisted this deity from the art world’s periphery to its center with her display at Frieze. Giving both Hermaphroditus and trans-bodies overall a place of worship and reprieve within the fair’s bustling walls.
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