Except for specialized work like photographs or prints, art fairs seem to do best when at least one of two factors is present: The host city has a modest or meager gallery life, or the display venue is unusual. In both cases an art fair becomes distinctive -- an event with a special quality and style.

Neither factor is in play for the Fine Art Dealers Assn. 15th Annual Los Angeles Art Show, which is about halfway through its four-day run at the cavernous L.A. Convention Center. Toss in a tough economy and abysmal weather, and the moderate crowds I encountered in a few hours at the fair on Friday are no surprise.

The L.A. Art Show is hosting about 90 galleries, plus a dozen that specialize in fine art prints. There are also some curated shows -- graduate students from area art schools, for example, or a citywide documentary photography display on video monitors, sponsored by a local foundation.

The main show includes an abundance of traditionalist dealers, who sell plein-air landscapes and genre paintings, such as the sentimentalist picture of a Millet-style peasant girl by 19th century Philadelphia painter Daniel Ridgway Knight (at Rehs Galleries). There are also the expected gimmicks -- gigantic celebrity portraits made up of tiny pictures, such as one of Andy Warhol composed from a grid of thousands of little Mao Tse-Tungs (ChinaSquare Gallery).