Twice a year, The Other Art Fair comes to Los Angeles. If you don’t live here, it also tours through Brisbane, Brooklyn, Chicago, Dallas, London, Melbourne, and Sydney. The February edition lands during LA Art Week, which gives people a way to dip into the energy of the week at much more approachable price points.
If you’re still training your eye and figuring out what you actually love, The Other Art Fair is one of the best places to start. The barrier to entry is lower for both the artist and the buyer. There’s no gallerist standing between you and the work. You can walk up, talk to the person who made it, and buy it if it moves you. That kind of directness is so special to start to connect with not just the art, but the artist as you start to collect.
This time around, five artists caught me. Here’s who they are, what I’d buy from each, and why.
Vanessa Valero
Bogotá, Colombia · Tapestry, embroidery, watercolor, sculpture
I’ve featured Vanessa before, I own one of her watercolor-and-embroidery pieces, and I’ve placed her work for clients, so yes, I’m biased. But I’m biased because she’s exceptional.
Vanessa studied law before pivoting to textile design at Aalto University in Helsinki. She now creates hand-tufted tapestries, embroidered works, and sculpture that draw from the Colombian Andes. Her color work is wild in the best way, often layering 30-plus shades into a single piece. She’s designed a carpet for the Van Gogh Museum and shows at fairs around the world.
What I’m most excited about right now are these sculptures. She didn’t bring them to the fair, but I’ve been following their development closely, and they feel like a real evolution in her practice. The same sensitivity to texture, line, and form that defines her textile work is now moving into three dimensions.
What I’d buy: Bird 2
One of the hardest things about getting a large room right is varying texture, scale, and shape so the space feels composed and lived-in rather than stiff and overly arranged. Bird 2 does that beautifully. It feels totemic to me — part body, part knot, part talisman — with extraordinary craftsmanship and a form that feels both organic and architectural. You’re also getting in on a new chapter from an artist whose trajectory keeps building.
Four more artists I love below for paid subscribers only.
