Installation photo credit: Dawn Blackman

Vielmetter Los Angeles presents a solo booth featuring new works by Los Angeles-based artist April Bey for the 2025 edition of Frieze Los Angeles.

Bey’s two-dimensional mixed media works and installations are part of her ongoing Atlantica series, a manifestation of the artist’s alternate universe, where glitter is currency, and visitors travel through plant portals. The concept of Atlantica originated from a conversation with Bey’s father, who used the language of science fiction to describe experiences of otherness and racial oppression. Drawing inspiration from fantasy, sci-fi, and popular culture, Bey incorporates glitter, beads, and textiles — to craft icons that celebrate figures from her community. Her multimedia installation reflects themes from American and Bahamian culture, feminism, generational theory, social media, Afrofuturism, Afrosurrealism, and post-colonialism.

For this presentation, Bey has created an all-encompassing installation that envelops viewers in fur-covered walls, intricately layered woven tapestries, and exuberantly embellished wallworks. This presentation brings to life the ethos of Atlantica—an imagined universe where resilience meets softness, and queerness flourishes without apology.

On a planet (Earth) that often equates strength with hardness, Bey challenges the notion that softness is a form of weakness. Instead, she asserts that gentleness, care, and love are radical forces of survival.

“But we will never show fear. Even in my eyes. I will always rise. In Wildfires. I ain’t never been scared. Even through my tears. I will always care, In Wildfires.”

Sault’s song Wildfires reminds us that tenderness is not passivity—it is resistance, a quiet yet unshakable defiance against systems built on brutality. Bey’s works visualize this ethos, depicting Atlanticans of all genders with their animal companions and exemplifying their harmonious relationships.

April Bey (b. 1987) grew up in the Bahamas (New Providence) and now resides and works in Los Angeles as a visual artist and art educator. She is currently a tenured professor at Glendale College. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at The Nevada Museum of Art, Reno NV; The Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA; The California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA, among others. She has been included in group exhibitions at The Modern Forth Worth, Fort Worth, TX; The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ; Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA; The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas, among others. Her work is in the public collections of California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT; Escalette Collection, Chapman University, Orange, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, The Bahamas; Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA; Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA, among others.