Butter fine art fair announces West Coast exhibition in 2026

Indianapolis-based creative advocacy agency GangGang announced Thursday that it will expand its fine arts showcase for Black artists to Los Angeles with Butter LA, which will feature artists from Indiana as well as California.

The event marks the first full staging of GangGang’s signature Butter fine art fair—which collects no entry fees or sales commissions from artists—outside of Indianapolis.

Butter LA will take place Feb. 26-March 1 in conjunction with Frieze Los Angeles, an international art fair launched in 2019 that focuses on contemporary art.

“We’ve grown an incredible model and experience in central Indiana and are thrilled to see it expand to benefit the artists and community of LA,” GangGang co-founder Mali Bacon said in a written statement Thursday. “We’re connecting the industry and the voices within it, spreading our geographic reach, but more importantly our mission, which means more perspective, more learning, more ownership, authorship and preservation.”

GangGang announced the expansion on Thursday at the preview night for Butter’s fifth edition at The Stutz in Indianapolis. This year’s exhibition, which runs through Sunday, features works from 50 artists of color from Indiana, California, Illinois, Michigan, Texas and other states as well as Washington, D.C.

Butter LA intends to showcase what GangGang called “an intentionally curated lineup of independent, emerging, mid-career and established artists, highlighting the creativity of the African diaspora.”

Since its founding in 2021, Butter has generated more than $1 million in sales for its artists. GangGang says its goal is to maximize artist earnings by working to sell or loan 100% of the exhibit with all proceeds going to the artists.

Nakeyta Moore, founder of ArtLoudLA, which connects art collectors with emerging and established artists, will lead the curation of the Butter LA exhibit with help from Jacqueline Forbes as well as Mali and Alan Bacon. Moore is a previous curator for Butter in Indianapolis. Forbes operates an art gallery in Malibu, California, that focuses on Latin, Black and indigenous artists.

“Los Angeles has been waiting for something fresh like Butter,” Forbes said in a written statement Thursday. “There’s a hunger here for innovative cultural events that not only cultivate community, but also economic equity. Butter is a proof of concept globally that centers care and pushes us all into the future of fairs.”

GangGang said that 50% of Butter LA’s artists will be based in California, 25% will be artists from Indiana and the remaining will be selected from other places in and outside of the United States.

Programming for Butter LA will include an education day meant to connect students to creative talent and the Conversation Stage that is a part of Butter in Indianapolis and features presentations and discussions about culture and creativity. Butter LA will also include DJs and a performance stage with live music.

In July, GangGang took a pop-up version of Butter to the Context Projects gallery in View Park, California. In collaboration with California-based art collector Khalil Kinsey—who is chief operating officer and chief curator of the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection developed by his parents—the pop-up was meant to introduce the Butter model to top collectors, institutions and galleries, GangGang said.

The show included work by four California artists and four Indiana artists—Gary Gee, Samuel Levi Jones, Ashley Nora and Samuel Levi Jones—and resulted the sale of 10 pieces totaling $28,700.

GangGang said Butter will also make an appearance at the Taste of Soul festival in Los Angeles in October and kick off its Collectors Club 2026 programming through a private dinner during NBA All-Star Weekend Feb. 13-15 in Los Angelas.

GangGang has additional pop-up versions of Butter planned for Chicago in October and Miami in December.