Paris+ par Art Basel - first view

Art FairsArt Business2022

21 Oct

The inaugural edition of Art Basel in Paris takes place this weekend and it is certainly worth a visit. And yes, it is worth the ticket price.

The fair takes place at the Palais Ephemere in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

If you have been to other Art Basel fairs then this one is noticeably smaller but has the benefit of being visited comfortably in one day rather than feeling rushed. The Paris edition presents 156 galleries compared to the Miami Beach edition which expects to show over 280 galleries.

On arrival, the visitor is greeted by the booths of galleries at the top end of the market including David Zwirner and Gagosian all showing different work to that seen the previous week at Frieze.

The fair is spread over two halls and at the back of the first hall is the Emerging Gallery section made up of 13 emerging galleries from around the world. It was great to learn that Seventeen gallery from London had sold out their booth on the first day, and many others were reporting strong sales. The Galleries in the Emerging section each had solo presentations. One of my favourites was Chris Sharp showing work by Sophie Barber.

Both dealers and visitors at the event were in buoyant moods excited about the new event. The audience for the fair - and i ran into people i knew- were excited to discover new art and artists and see new work by established artists. The art buying audience certainly arrived in Paris for this event and were ready to take in all it had to offer.

The artist audience - because many artists visit these events to see art up close by those artists who they look up to and are inspired by, found it hugely rewarding. Also learning the spectrum of an artists oeuvre especially if they only knew pieces from museum shows, here they could see and experience smaller pieces in the marketplace.

I really feel this fair is a huge win for Paris as the city became a cultural hub. New exhibitions opened the same week at the Pompidou Centre, Bourse du Commerce and Louis Vuitton Foundation.