All posts tagged: Megan Mulrooney

Dealers Doing Brisk Business at ‘More Intentional’ Fair

Dealers Doing Brisk Business at ‘More Intentional’ Fair

Published by Jenni Sidey

Tears of joy are not the first thing you expect to hear about at art fairs, but that was the order of the day for Tennessee artist Annie Brito Hodgin at Thursday’s VIP preview at the thirteenth edition of Expo Chicago (April 9–12), where she is showing her paintings with Red Arrow Gallery. “It’s the artist’s first time showing outside Nashville and her first time showing at an art fair, and she’s here with us,” gallery director Ashley Layendecker told ARTnews. Raised in a Southern Baptist fundamentalist Christian culture, the artist paints surreal modern interpretations of Biblical passages, populated entirely with versions of herself. “She works out of her kitchen and is raising three children,” Layendecker added.  Related Articles The tears came when it was revealed that one of her paintings went to the Bennett Collection (founded by Steven Alan Bennett and Elaine Melotti Schmidt, retired from careers in corporate law and education), which created a fund to buy works from the fair by women-identifying artists painting women in a realist style; acquisitions will go …

Heading Into Frieze, Los Angeles Is Poised Between ‘Grief and Hope’

Heading Into Frieze, Los Angeles Is Poised Between ‘Grief and Hope’

Published by José Betancourt

As the art market looks ahead to its next major tentpole event, the 2026 edition of Frieze Los Angeles this week, LA is marking just over one year since devastating wildfires ripped through parts of the city.  “There was really a point where we thought the whole city was going to burn down,” said lifelong Angelena Megan Mulrooney, who opened her eponymous gallery there in 2024, in a phone conversation. “I had two clients whose homes burned to the ground along with their collections,” said adviser Irene Papanestor, who divides her time between New York and LA. “It was such a profound loss.” Related Articles “The town is kind of on its ass in ways that worry even us locals,” said one longtime LA dealer, who didn’t want to be named. “The fires were really traumatizing in so many ways,” said dealer Anat Ebgi, who has a gallery on Wilshire Boulevard and another in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood. Afterward, she said, “The city was in a big depression, whether or not people realized that. We’re …