Editor’s Note: This story is part of Newsmakers, an ARTnews series featuring conversations with the figures shaping how the art world is changing right now.
This year sees the introduction of two new major fairs: Art Basel Qatar earlier this month and Frieze Abu Dhabi in November. Those enterprises will almost certainly have an important impact on the market, both in the Gulf and globally. But this week in Los Angeles, one collector is thinking through how a smaller fair can also have big influence.
Founded by collector R Parmar, Enzo Art Fair opens on Wednesday afternoon in Echo Park. It joins Frieze Los Angeles (at the Santa Monica Airport) and Felix LA (at the iconic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel), now both in their seventh editions, and Post-Fair, which also takes place in Santa Monica and launched last year.
Enzo, which will be staged at Parmar’s warehouse-size space Alabaster Projects, will feature nine galleries from New York. Enzo runs February 26–28, from 2 p.m.–8 p.m., with a VIP preview on February 25, from 2 p.m.–8 p.m. at 1634 West Temple Street, Los Angeles. The galleries include Margot Samel, Magenta Plains, ILY2, Bank, Laurel Gitlen, and Silke Lindner.
To learn more about the impetus for Enzo and what visitors will expect, ARTnews spoke with R Parmar by phone last week.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and concision.
ARTnews: What was the impetus behind starting a new fair during Frieze Week in LA?
R Parmar: Last summer, I was in New York, and I was popping into some of the galleries in Chinatown and Lower East Side. It seems like there is a kind of contraction in the art world, and in having conversations with gallerists and artist friends, I’ve heard how it’s been a tough time over the past several years. So, the conversation [for a new fair] came up very organically with some of the gallerists. I said, “Hey, I’ve got this idea. Would you be interested in an art fair on the East Side of LA?” Margot Samel is a friend, and I love what she did with the art fair Esther [during Frieze Week in New York]. I told her, “You should do this in LA. This fair in incredible.” That’s also kind of where it started.
There hasn’t really been an art fair on the East Side. I have this pseudo–exhibition space called Alabaster Projects, which is the warehouse where Enzo will be taking place. And I was like, “What if we did something a little bit different and made it a little bit more of a collaborative, cooperative project?” The idea was to bring together some downtown New York galleries and take the financial side out of a fair out as much as we could. So, I proposed that this fair could be free for attendees and for gallerists. Since many of the participating galleries are friends, I asked if they would be inclined to consolidate shipping costs. I’m a bit nervous to try to start something new. Though it’s quite small, it’s a little bit more experimental. But after chatting with several of the gallerists, everyone’s excited about something new and hopefully interesting. I don’t want to say it’s “disruptive” in any way, but maybe just a different model, something that’s more of a European approach.
Can you say more about the European approach? What will the experience of walking around Enzo be like?
I’ve been going to art fairs for maybe the past 13 or 14 years now—mainly to ones in the US, but some international ones as well. I remember, whether it was the Basel Social Club or Liste, or any other satellite fairs I’ve been to in Europe, how cool and freeing and slightly avant-garde those fairs were. It was a lot more casual, and it seemed more social than a Basel or a Frieze fair. I hope people can come through Enzo and have a bit more of a slow experience, a laid-back experience. There are only nine galleries, and the building is roughly 5,000 square feet. We typically have a dividing wall between the two gallery spaces, but we’ve [taken that wall down] to unite them to make one large, communal exhibition space. I just hope it’s a little bit more slow-paced [than other fairs]. I love all the galleries taking part in the fair, so I hope this is an alternative to some of the chaos that is associated with other fairs.
Radek Szlaga, Untitled, 2026.
Courtesy the artist and Wschód
Are there traditional booths for each gallery?
No. The building is relatively long and linear, with the two units, side by side. What I had in mind was leaning into this idea of how downtown New York are all quite close to one another. Not having booths or dividing walls between the galleries leaves it a little bit more free flowing. There’ll clearly be delineations, breaks between different galleries’ spaces, so one will clearly be able to tell that this is a new gallery, or this is another “booth.” But the idea was to make it as harmonious and organic as possible. Not that this is presented as one large exhibition or presentation, but I’m hoping it will feel nice and open and airy.
Going back to what you said earlier, why did you feel it was important to have an art fair on the East Side of LA?
There hasn’t really been a fair on the East Side, but there are a lot of artists, creatives, and cool younger folks on the East Side who maybe don’t want to drive an hour to Santa Monica and pay for parking to go to Frieze. So, to have a fair in the south Echo Park area will be quite convenient for a lot of people. We’re close to Echo Park Lake. There are tennis courts and cafes down the street. February in New York and London is cold, so to have Europeans and New Yorkers coming to LA this fair can be more of a laid-back experience where they might have a coffee and walk around Echo Park Lake after popping into the fair.
Kris Lemsalu, Booty Call 911, 2024.
Courtesy the artist and Margot Samel
Would you say that’s part of what you’re hoping entices people to come to Enzo?
I hope the idea of that it’s fire and that all that’s required is an RSVP will entice folks. I also think the caliber of galleries we have on board should entice folks. I hate to say it but maybe sometimes we [Angelenos] are just lazy. I live on the East Side, and there have been times where I have thought, Do I really want to go back to Frieze and drive 1 hour and 20 minutes in traffic and then 1 hour and 10 on the way back? It’s also out of convenience. This is something cool that’s going on here. Folks should definitely go to Frieze, Felix, and Post-Fair—those fairs are incredible. This is just a little bit more convenient and laid-back, and I don’t mean the work is less serious or the galleries are less serious.
Why did you feel it was important not to require participation fees for the galleries? Do you see this as a new type of collector-funded model for a fair?
I’m not sure if it’ll be a future model, but maybe. We’ll see how it goes over the next few weeks. But it’s just fun to be a little more experimental. I think I’m lucky that these wonderful galleries are willing to take the risk and say, “Hey, we’re going to be a part of this new fair.” I’d love to answer your question maybe three weeks from now. It would be cool if there were more fairs. But I’m keen to explore some of these smaller fairs, like Chart in Copenhagen or Untitled Houston, which was a really cool fair. If I had asked you 5–10 years ago, do you think Houston would have a contemporary art fair? You might have said, I don’t know about that. There are some great museums there. We’ll just have to kind of wait and see if this is successful, but hopefully there are more experimental fairs internationally.
mars ibarreche, Gay Spirituality, 2026.
Courtesy the artist and ILY2
The art fair calendar has gotten so crowded. It’s interesting to hear you’d like more fairs.
It does feel that every month there’s a new art fair. It seems like a lot. Let’s say if you’re a new collector stepping into this world, you probably have no perspective of how hard these galleries work, in terms of taking part in these fairs: logistics, shipping, hotels, fair fees, transportation, dinners, lighting. It’s a lot. Over the past, 6–7 years, I’ve just become much more aware of all of these parts that are associated with art fairs that most people don’t speak about. So, my thoughts were, Hey, is there anything I could do to simplify things, both from a financial point of view, and make it easy on gallerist. Though we’ve tried to make it easy in some ways, for the galleries, everyone still needs accommodations, to book a flight, to figure out their transportation. But, I am very thankful that the galleries were even down to take this risk.
If I had more time [to plan it], there’s so many more things we would have loved to do, like collaborate with a hotel to get a good rate for the galleries, and maybe do a cool after party there. I would have loved to do a talk, maybe about the art market or the art fair circuit, or even just cool artist talks. I thought about getting a shuttle bus service that could take folks from Enzo to the west side, or even from Enzo to Felix, but financially, we couldn’t do it. I hope we can do bigger things next year.
A past exhibition held by Alabaster Projects.
Courtesy Alabaster Projects
How does Enzo relate to Alabaster Projects?
Alabaster started out because I put an exhibition together a couple years ago. That was the first show I curated. I don’t have an art history background, but it was a great experience. Since then, I’ve done several more exhibitions after that, and I also started working with guest curators. Recently, we had a group show that an artist friend of mine, Joachim Castaneda, curated. Sorry, And the last exhibition we had, I cocurated with Hiroko Maruyama, a Japanese curator who is a friend and has a small gallery [Soot Tokyo] about four or five blocks away. The goal for Alabaster Projects in 2026, and over the next several years, is turning it into a curatorial project space where I can be quite hands off and young curators could come in and put exhibitions together. The goal is to target emerging, up-and-coming curators, including from abroad, and give them carte blanche in terms of what they want to show. Right now, I’m focused on the fair, and then once that’s done, I might take a little bit of a break and then get back to it.
