Frieze has appointed Christine Messineo as the director of its Los Angeles and New York fairs, bolstering the company's somewhat thinned-out US senior team.
She replaces Loring Randolph, the former director of the New York fair who left in August last year to direct the Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger collection of art, and Bettina Korek, who was the executive director of Frieze Los Angeles but departed to become the chief executive of London's Serpentine Galleries in 2019.
Messineo, who is based in Los Angeles, starts on 29 November and the first fair she will oversee is Frieze Los Angeles early next year (17-20 February) in its new location at 9900 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills. Frieze New York then follows, once again at the Shed, from 18 to 22 May.
Messineo has worked in the art world for over 15 years—she was a partner at the New York-based Bortolami gallery and a director at Hannah Hoffman in Los Angeles. She is politically engaged too: in 2020, Messineo founded Plan Your Vote, in association with Vote.org, to encourage US citizens to use their right to vote. It saw more than 200 artists and organisations take part.
Messineo says: "As a former exhibitor, I understand the commercial, educational and creative dynamics that make Frieze a unique place for discovery. I’m excited to embark on this venture in both cities, places I love and have called home."
Victoria Siddall, Frieze's board director, adds that Messineo's "experience of working with galleries, and of running the ground-breaking Plan Your Vote initiative, along with her deep knowledge and commitment to both New York and LA make her the perfect person to take these fairs into the future".