Artist and the local football club help fairgoers with soccer skills at Frieze Los Angeles

On Frieze Los Angeles’s VIP preview day, a mix of exhibitors, attendees and several children kicked off the afternoon with a two-hour football clinic organised by the non-profit Art Production Fund and the reigning Major League Soccer champions Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) as part of the Frieze Projects programme.

Held onsite at Santa Monica Airport, members of the LAFC Street Team guided fair-goers through a series of stretches, football drills and even a scrimmage. Some participants were more prepared than others; while much of the group had changed into matching workout sets and running shorts, others dribbled the ball in long dresses and ballet flats.

Attendees used footballs printed with a design by the Los Angeles artist Alake Shilling, whose ceramics and paintings feature colourful characters inspired by her childhood love of designer Lisa Frank. Buggy Ball (2023) shows one of her recurring characters, a pink bear, wearing a blue cowboy hat and holding a flower.

Lovers of art and football will have another chance to take to the pitch at Frieze on Sunday (19 February).