Why the LA art scene is falling behind the rest of the world

As Art Basel’s flagship fair in Switzerland kicks off June 18, the blue-chip art market has made a comeback for top galleries and their ultra-wealthy collectors. We recently reported that today’s SpaceX IPO will only keep the good times rolling.

But away from the overall rebound, LA’s art market is headed in a much different direction, we’re told.

One famous gallerist told us that he can’t get clients to come to his art space, while one young art adviser told us at LA’s Frieze fair that price points at the booths were vastly below the sums being fetched at fairs in Miami, London, Basel and beyond.

We heard an even more dire forecast this week from one of LA’s top collectors, who said that they’ve recently heard that some of the town’s top dealers are totally giving up hope and focusing their attention on their other global gallery spaces — as no one’s buying art in LA.

Meanwhile, the same dealers can’t keep inventory in NYC.

Said an insider, “It’s the same reason homes aren’t selling in LA.” The well-known name even went one step further saying, “Look, LA is a sh—y place to live right now. There’s no social life, the entertainment community has its head in the sand and people aren’t working… There are a lot of big hats with no cattle. You don’t want all hat, no cattle. In Silicon Valley, they’ve got big hats and lots of cattle right now.”

A disgruntled art insider huffed, “LA’s a disaster!”

But at the same time, a report earlier this year by Art Basel with UBS showed public and private art sales went up by 6% in 2025, hitting $25 billion, and reversing two consecutive down years. And JPMorgan Private Bank’s art-financing portfolio grew 90% in the past three years, as clients are “using fine art-backed lending to diversify liquidity,” a senior lending specialist at the bank told Business Insider in April.

Christie’s, Phillips and Sotheby’s made $2.2 billion in sales last fall at auctions, as a number of estate collections went up for grabs from families like the Lauders and the Pritzkers.