{"id":2341877,"date":"2026-03-23T11:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2341877"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:02:20","slug":"just-outside-joshua-tree-this-art-fair-set-in-a-desert-motel-is-building-something-you-cant-get-in-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/just-outside-joshua-tree-this-art-fair-set-in-a-desert-motel-is-building-something-you-cant-get-in-l-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Just outside Joshua Tree, this art fair set in a desert motel is building something you can’t get in L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh is headlining a much-anticipated Saturday night event in Pioneertown. But this isn\u2019t a music festival. It\u2019s an art fair.<\/p>\n

Now in its fifth year, the High Desert Art Fair transforms the rooms of the historic Pioneertown Motel into exhibition spaces for 20 galleries and publishers, while expanding into a broader mix of programming \u2014 something akin to a mini Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. This year\u2019s edition includes an opening night party with a DJ set by street artist Shepard Fairey, panel discussions, guided meditation and even a sound bath.<\/p>\n

Mothersbaugh\u2019s performance, just weeks before Devo is set to play at the actual Coachella, captures the weekend\u2019s experimental tone: When he takes the stage at the iconic honky-tonk roadhouse Pappy & Harriet\u2019s, he won\u2019t be joined by his band. Instead, he\u2019ll perform with \u201cThe General,\u201d described as \u201cpart instrument, part sculpture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event reflects the ambitions of its founders \u2014 veteran Los Angeles art dealer Nicholas Fahey and artist manager Candice Lawler \u2014 who launched the fair in 2019, hoping to cement the high desert\u2019s growing status as a cultural destination.<\/p>\n

Fahey\u2019s vision is unapologetically big: He wants the region to become the \u201cMarfa or the Hamptons of L.A.\u201d \u2014 wealthy enclaves where art and tourism converge. Long term, the pair hope the fair will expand beyond visual art to include film and other media, becoming a permanent fixture on the desert arts calendar alongside events like Modernism Week and Desert X.<\/p>\n

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Rooms at the Pioneertown Motel are temporarily transformed into gallery spaces during the High Desert Art Fair, now in its fifth year outside Joshua Tree.<\/p>\n

(High Desert Art Fair)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

The fair\u2019s growth has surprised even its organizers. What began with roughly 50 people gathered in Lawler\u2019s living room is expected to draw between 2,000 and 3,000 visitors per day this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we\u2019d be this size five years [from now],\u201d Lawler said during a recent interview at Fahey\/Klein Gallery, the La Brea Avenue space Fahey\u2019s family has operated for four decades. The fair\u2019s rise mirrors a broader shift in the high desert, which in recent years has attracted not only artists and musicians but a wider influx of new residents \u2014 including those who arrived during the pandemic<\/u><\/a>, drawn as much by lifestyle as by creativity. Fairey was among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe high desert has a fascinating blend of hippie and libertarian sensibilities,\u201d he wrote in an email. \u201cIt\u2019s more affordable [than L.A.] and a peaceful, inspiring environment for creative work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The area has long drawn artists seeking space and solitude. Twentieth century painter Agnes Pelton created luminous abstractions in nearby Cathedral City, while assemblage artist Noah Purifoy spent the final decade of his life building the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Museum of Assemblage Art in Joshua Tree.<\/p>\n

For Fahey and Lawler, the fair emerged from years spent persuading friends and collectors to visit the region. Both purchased second homes in the desert in the mid-2010s and found themselves frequently extolling what Lawler calls the \u201cmagic of the desert.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to give them a reason to come here,\u201d Fahey said.<\/p>\n

The event paused for a few years because of COVID-19. When it returned in 2023, it occupied several Airbnbs before settling into its current home at the Pioneertown Motel.<\/p>\n

Opened in 1946 by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry as part of a western movie set town, the motel is now owned by brothers Mike and Matt French. Art will be hung on the walls of the \u201ccowboy core\u201d rooms named after stars including Autry, Rogers and Dale Evans. Exhibitors often remove the western-style furniture to make room for the art.<\/p>\n

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The main office at the Pioneertown Motel, which is opening its doors to the High Desert Art Fair for a three-day event featuring a performance by Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh and a DJ set by street artist Shepard Fairey.<\/p>\n

(High Desert Art Fair)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

This year\u2019s exhibitors lean toward younger Los Angeles galleries, including Megan Mulrooney, John Doe Gallery, Gross! Gallery and curatorial platform Wienholt Projects, alongside Mothersbaugh\u2019s MutMuz Gallery and local organizations such as BoxoPROJECTS and Yucca Valley Material Lab.<\/p>\n

The programming extends well beyond the gallery rooms. Panels on collecting and arts institutions in the desert will feature speakers including Jenny Gil, executive director of Desert X, the biennial exhibition of large-scale artworks installed across the Coachella Valley and in AlUla, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

VIP tours will take visitors to notable works of art and architecture in the region, including Rachel Whiteread\u2019s \u201cGhost Cabins\u201d and architect Arata Isozaki\u2019s \u201cDesert Rooms,\u201d both major installations. A benefit dinner will support Andrea Zittel\u2019s High Desert Test Sites, an artist-run platform offering residencies, housed on her 80-acre compound. Fairey and Mothersbaugh will appear in an artist talk Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it adds a very interesting layer to creating a destination,\u201d Gil said of the fair.<\/p>\n

Gallerist Mulrooney, who is participating for the first time, summed up the event\u2019s appeal. \u201cThey\u2019re creating a cultural experience,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can dip a toe into art or music, do yoga or go to Palm Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Schneider moved from New York to Joshua Tree with his wife in 2015. The decision to relocate spurred a shift in his practice from painting to sculpture.<\/p>\n

He has shown his work in galleries in Los Angeles, New York and Copenhagen, but the High Desert Art Fair marks the first time he has exhibited in his adopted hometown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope [the fair] can provide an alternative where local artists can show alongside more established ones,\u201d said Schneider, who will be speaking on the panel, \u201cArtists in the Desert,\u201d as well as manning a room at the fair with artist Ry Rocklen featuring the work of high-desert artists.<\/p>\n

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A piece of art is installed in a room at the Pioneertown Motel during the High Desert Art Fair, which is returning to the area for its fifth year.<\/p>\n

(High Desert Art Fair)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

For Heidi Schwegler, co-founder of Yucca Valley Material Lab<\/u><\/a> \u2014 a nonprofit residency and creative compound \u2014 the fair has already proved its value.<\/p>\n

Last year, Fahey offered the organization a complimentary room to display work. \u201cIt was incredible,\u201d she said, noting that about 40 people filled the space continuously throughout the fair. This year, the organization returns as a paying exhibitor.<\/p>\n

BoxoPROJECTS founder Bernard Leibov moved to Joshua Tree in 2012 \u2014 well before property values shot up in the area \u2014 and runs artist residencies as well as the Joshua Treenial, a program of installations, performances and community events.<\/p>\n

Leibov, who previously was deputy director of the Judd Foundation, welcomes the visibility the fair brings to the region. But he cautions against easy comparisons casting the high desert as the next Marfa \u2014 the tiny Texas town that minimalist artist Donald Judd helped transform into a global arts destination.<\/p>\n

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A painting on the wall of the Pioneertown Motel during the High Desert Art Fair, which is bigger than ever \u2014 drawing thousands of visitors to the small town near Joshua Tree.<\/p>\n

(High Desert Art Fair)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Joshua Tree remains \u201cmore independent,\u201d he said, in part because it is an unincorporated community. At the same time, rising real estate prices have made affordable studio space harder to find.<\/p>\n

Leibov believes the added exposure the fair provides is exactly what the region needs, but hopes the area can retain its affordable, underground ethos.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe area is lacking in professional platforms for serious artists,\u201d he said. \u201cCommerce is not a dirty [word] in the art world.\u201d<\/p>\n

That mix of artistic experimentation and economic opportunity is exactly what Fahey and Lawler say the fair is meant to support.<\/p>\n

The desert has always drawn people looking for space, inspiration and escape. The fair is a bet that whatever draws artists to this landscape can sustain something larger without consuming it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we didn\u2019t do it, someone would,\u201d Fahey said.<\/p>\n

The desert, it seems, is no longer waiting.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh is headlining a much-anticipated Saturday night event in Pioneertown. But this isn\u2019t a music festival. It\u2019s an art fair. Now in its fifth year, the High Desert Art Fair transforms the rooms of the historic Pioneertown Motel into exhibition spaces for 20 galleries and publishers, while expanding into a broader mix […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2341878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2341877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Just-outside-Joshua-Tree-this-art-fair-set-in-a.com2F872F7c2Ff5f9846c4439b4a300f8f537.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2341877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2341879,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341877\/revisions\/2341879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2341878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2341877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2341877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2341877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}