One of the staples of California’s Bay Area is the annual San Francisco Art Fair,a vibrant event that contributes to the city’s vitality through more than 80 local, national and international galleries alongside important regional art collaborations.
Alasdair Lindsay, San Francisco Street, 2026, acrylic on canvas, 43 x 32 in. Courtesy Quantum Contemporary Art.
Formerly known as Art Market San Francisco, exhibitors at the 2026 fair include Gefen Gallery, Billis Williams Gallery, SMITH Contemporary Andrea Schwartz Gallery, John Natsoulas Gallery, Perseus Gallery, Melrose Gallery, Peter Fetterman Gallery and many more.
“What really sets the San Francisco Art Fair apart is how rooted it is in the community,” says fair director Kelly Freeman. "We’re not just parachuting in for a few days—we’re in constant conversation with the galleries, artists, collectors and cultural leaders who make the Bay Area what it is. That gives us a real understanding of the ecosystem here and how to support it in meaningful ways. San Francisco has always been a place that embraces experimentation and new ideas, and we see the fair as an extension of that spirit. It’s a platform where local voices can stand alongside leading national and international artists, creating dialogue across generations and geographies.”
Terran Last Gun, Cosmic Transformation Of Land And Sky, 2025, ink, colored pencil on antique “cash” ledger sheet (dated 1905), 13.63 x 24 3⁄4 in. Courtesy COL Gallery.
This year’s fair will also include a special focus on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voices, uplifting artists whose work reflects the Bay Area’s deep immigrant legacies and the cultural contributions of communities who continue to shape the region’s identity.
“I’m especially excited about the emphasis on AAPI voices in the Bay Area,” Freeman adds. “Through both programming and gallery presentations, we’re highlighting artists whose contributions have been central to the region’s cultural fabric. It feels like an important and timely moment for collectors to engage more deeply with that history and its ongoing impact.”
Coinciding with the AAPI focus is a variety of public programming including The Red Chador: Becoming Rogue,a participatory performance and installation by internationally acclaimed artist Anida Yoeu Ali; a large-scale abstract mural by Good Mother Gallery’s Chad Hasegawa painted on the iconic shipping containers outside the fair’s entrance and more.
José Basso, Luna Creciente al Calor de la Tarde, 2025, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in. Courtesy CK Contemporary.
“I’m excited about Good Mother Gallery’s solo booth of paintings by Chad Hasegawa, who we’ve also commissioned to create work for the shipping containers that are at the entrance of our fair. His work leans into minimalism and form, but there’s a real emotional undercurrent to it. The compositions may feel spare at first glance, but they hold a lot of tension and subtlety—the kind of work that really rewards time and attention,” says Freeman.
Other programming at the fair includes 500 Capp Street who will present a booth reimagined as a domestic retail hybrid space that feels truly “lived in,” by working with artists deeply connected to the Bay Area.
Bright and bustling energy at a past edition of the San Francisco Art Fair.
“I’m also really looking forward to the solo presentation of Terran Last Gun with COL Gallery. His bold, geometric abstractions are visually striking, but they’re also deeply rooted in Indigenous tradition and the landscape of the American West. There’s a balance of precision and energy in his work that feels both contemporary and grounded in something much older,” Freeman says. “What’s exciting overall is that these presentations show the range of what’s happening right now, within the context of living artists actively shaping the conversation.”
The San Francisco Art Fair will be held at the city’s waterfront Fort Mason Festival Pavilion from Thursday, April 16, to Sunday, April 19, with a VIP and press preview on April 16 from 4 to 6 p.m. —
San Francisco Art Fair
April 16-19, 2026
Fort Mason Festival Pavilion
2 Marina Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94123
www.sanfranciscoartfair.com
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