The Masterpiece of Frieze LA Is… Brad Pitt
For years now, Leonardo DiCaprio has been the unofficial mascot of Frieze, the enormous art fair that takes over Randall’s Island each May in New York. The first edition of Frieze LA, on the other hand, already has one of its own: Brad Pitt, who could be found prowling the booths at the fair’s VIP preview at Paramount Picture Studios on Thursday, alongside noteworthy names like Jane Fonda, Amber Heard, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Sylvester Stallone.
Oh, and DiCaprio.
Yes, that means that DiCaprio was there to witness his Frieze-related defeat, though there’s a chance he relished in doing so, seeing as he’s undergone some trolling at the fair as of late. (In 2017, for example, the artist Dora Budor decided to re-incept, if you will, DiCaprio’s most beloved roles by letting döppelgangers of characters like The Wolf of Wall Street‘s Jordan Belfort and The Revenant‘s Hugh Glass loose to prowl the booths.) There was only one Pitt at this fair, but he seemed to be everywhere. At least, as artnet News, master of the Brad-Pitt-at-Frieze beat, has noted, on Instagram, where he could be found in a newsboy cap of the sort his soon-to-be co-star typically favors to ward off cameras, engaging in the very un-DiCaprio-esque activity of posing with fans for selfies. (Even those who’d put a filter over his lips.)
However briefly, Pitt even obliged to chat with artnet News about his thoughts on the fair, which he hopes will become an annual affair. “I really enjoyed it! I’m just happy for L.A.,” he said, before astutely adding, “There’s a big movement here, and this is a big fair.” And while he didn’t buy any works, he did see “lots” to inspire his own practice. (In case you weren’t aware, the Hollywood god is not only also a human, but a newly minted sculptor.)
Even amidst all the best of the art world’s wares on display, no one, it seemed, was immune to his charm. Take it from Matt Carey-Williams of the gallery Victoria Miro, who eagerly outed himself as one of the selfie-takers: “Taking photographs of clients on one’s art fair stand is an absolute no-no in my opinion. But not today,” he captioned a photo of himself talking with Pitt that he Instagrammed. Others (fruitlessly) attempted to be a bit less shameless, like Ralph Nauta, of the collective Studio Drift, who shared a photo of himself explaining his work to Pitt with an otherwise ordinary caption, sans the hashtag “#bradpitt.”
We can’t exactly blame them; it was, after all, Valentine’s Day. (And a newsboy cap, it seems, is nowhere as effective in warding off admirers than going by the name William.)
Related: Brad Pitt Is Out There Flirting with Real People Under His Real Name
