Ari Emanuel went on buying spree at his celebrity packed Frieze Los Angeles art fair

Ari Emanuel went on a buying spree at his Frieze Los Angeles art fair on Thursday.

On the opening VIP day, Emanuel and his designer wife Sarah Staudinger picked up works by Sam Gilliam and William H. Johnson from Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, a 1989 Keith Haring from Gladstone Gallery and three tapestries by artist Yvonne Wells from Fort Gansevoort — which was showing for the first time at Frieze and had a plum spot right by the fair’s entrance. (The tapestries were of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson, we hear.) 

Also spotted perusing the booths were industry power players including Mike Ovitz and Scooter Braun as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers rocker Anthony Kiedis, “Heated Rivalry” star François Arnaud, Joe Montana,  Emma Watson, Timothy Olyphant, Christoph Waltz and director Todd Phillips.

The night before the opening, Emanuel — who now owns Frieze via his company Mari — and Staudinger hosted a reception at the Chateau Marmont for guests including Orlando Bloom, Rachel Sennott, Dree Hemingway, Winnie Harlow, Bill Maher, Scout Willis, Devandra Banhart, Nick Kroll, Brian Grazer and more.

Staudinger’s fashion line, Staud, unveiled a limited edition bag collaboration at the event with artist Merikokeb Berhanu.

Emanuel was also seen at the fair powwowing with Jeffrey Deitch — his art advisor and the former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles — whose booth was showing works by Sharif Farrag, UCLA’s hottest MFA student just a couple years ago.

Deitch told us this week that in Los Angeles, it’s difficult to get some collectors out to the city’s galleries because they don’t want to leave their beautiful homes in Brentwood, Holmby Hills or Malibu.

But for Frieze, “Everybody comes out it’s like a big party… you will have more of the major art collectors in Los Angeles — and they want to see each other. It’s the one time of year you can say hello to all the big collectors. It’s an important social function,” he said. 

As more of a local affair, the price points can be lower than Art Basel rivals. One art advisor mused at Frieze, “Here, the most expensive work is something like $10 million. At Basel, you can have Picassos going for $50 million.”

Gagosian gallery reported brisk sales of works by Ed Ruscha, Frank Gehry, Jonas Wood and a very timely painting, “Paramount Pictures,” by Alex Israel. 

The people-watching was as good as the art, and attendees hung out at picnic tables chowing down on food from Roberta’s, Kismet Rotisserie, Sunday Gravy and other spots while they rubbed elbows with artists.

Popular painter Oliver Clegg could barely make it to the fair’s entrance at the Santa Monica Airport, he was so besieged by friends and fans at the outdoor tables. The artist had just put on a fun book event at Arman Naféei‘s West Hollywood newsstand-turned-gallery Are We On Air?, where Clegg also sold instantly collectible T-shirts with the Erewhon logo that said “Erehead” — plus other clever riffs on popular LA brands like In-N-Out and the Chateau Marmont. 

Are We On Air? has a block party tonight before it closes and moves to a new location next door. Naféei was also seen at Frieze on Thursday.