Art Basel Paris welcomes a wave of new galleries

Thirty new galleries from all over the world will be making their debut in the Galeries sector of Art Basel Paris this year. The 2024 edition takes place in the legendary Grand Palais and the program will be rich: from an exploration of the young Saudi scene, to a floral solo presentation by Jill Magid, as well as tie-ins with Paris museums, via Surrealism and Arte Povera.

ATHR Gallery, Riyadh, AlUla, Jeddah

Athr Gallery was founded in 2009 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Responding to a burgeoning young art scene, the gallery aimed to lend a hand to the still timid local presence of museums. Today, Athr has two other spaces – in AlUla and Riyadh. At Art Basel Paris, the gallery is highlighting four young artists based in the country: Sara Abdu, Asma Bahmim, Mohammad AlFaraj, and Muhannad Shono. Each of them has recently made their mark on the art scene, with the first two participating in the 2024 Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale. A recurring trait in all of their work is the narrative charge of the materials they use: soaps or grains of sand awaken both mythical and modern narratives, evoking mourning, reinvention, and the cycles of life.

Di Donna, New York

In 2024, Surrealism is 100 years old and the tributes are multiplying. Nowhere, however, more so than in Paris – the birthplace of the movement. Di Donna is well aware of this, and for its participation in Art Basel Paris, the New York gallery has fine-tuned its presentation. ‘Terre Sacrée (Hallowed Ground): Tanguy, Lam, Penalba, and Cárdenas’ has all the makings of a museum exhibition, and brings together four historic artists who shared in the Surrealist adventure: a Breton (Yves Tanguy), two Cubans (Wilfredo Lam, Agustín Cárdenas), and an Argentine (Alicia Penalba), all of whom left their homeland to try their luck in Paris.

Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, Johannesburg, London, New York

David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, and El Anatsui are among the great masters of our time. Their current visibility attests to the inescapable importance of artists from the African continent, and recounts the rise of the historic Goodman Gallery. Founded in 1966 in Johannesburg, the gallery now has further spaces in Cape Town, London, and New York. This year, for the first time, the gallery will be at Art Basel Paris, carrying the torch for the African continent. Its stand will feature documentary photographs by the South African Goldblatt (who passed away in 2018), a bronze horse by his compatriot and master storyteller, William Kentridge, and one of the Ghanaian artist, El Anatsui’s, famous thousand-piece metal murals. The younger generation dialogues with the behemoths through Kapwani Kiwanga, a Parisian by adoption, who is currently representing Canada at the 60th Venice Biennale.

Labor, Mexico

This summer, Labor celebrated its 15th anniversary. The gallery has distinguished itself by supporting artists engaged in long-term research processes, such as Irene Kopelman, Pedro Reyes, and Santiago Sierra. American Conceptual artist Jill Magid is among them, reflecting themes in her practice which are dear to the gallery such as work, power structures, and extractivism. For her solo show with Labor at Art Basel Paris, Magid explores the biological manipulation of flowers by humans intent on increasing their value. To this end, she has decided to fill the space with fresh flowers from Paris’s largest flower market, while adding other neon ‘flowers’ – the mathematical formulas of bio-hacked roses or chrysanthemums.

Misako & Rosen, Tokyo

From the outset, Misako & Rosen’s aim was to promote Japanese contemporary art abroad. Then a second philosophy was added: to develop cooperation within the art world. At Art Basel Paris, Misako & Rosen is presenting four Japanese artists – Naotaka Hiro, Reina Sugihara, Motoyuki Daifu, and Trevor Shimizu – in a joint show with LambdaLambdaLambda from Pristina, Kosovo. Although the two galleries have joined forces in the past, they are now preparing to open a shared space in Paris this year.

Lia Rumma, Milan, Naples

As early as the 1960s, a young collector couple, Lia and Marcello Rumma, had already made a name for themselves by presenting exhibitions, events, and publications focusing on a young movement on the rise: Arte Povera. Then, in 1971, the Lia Rumma gallery opened its doors in Naples with an exhibition by Joseph Kosuth – whom it still represents. With spaces in Naples and Milan, the gallery has accompanied the rise of most of the major contemporary movements – Minimal art, Land art, and Conceptual art. It continues to work with leading artists, including Michelangelo Pistoletto and Haim Steinbach.

Sprovieri, London

Sprovieri’s Italian name evokes its rich cross-border history. The current gallery was founded in London in 2000, while inheriting a family history that began in Rome in 1913. Today, it represents leading international artists, including Pedro Cabrita Reis, Jimmie Durham, and the Estate of Jannis Kounellis. At the same time, Sprovieri has retained its roots in Italian Postwar art, as evidenced by the recent exhibition dedicated to Emilio Prini, the Italian exponent of Arte Povera who died in 2016, and who, incidentally will be included in the ‘Arte Povera’ exhibition on during Art Basel Paris, at the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection.

Vitamin Creative Space, Beijing, Guangzhou

Of late, the Chinese artist Shao Fan (b. 1964) has painted rabbits. He has traced every hair on their coats or immersed their silhouettes in a vaporous mist. The grisaille series ‘In the Name of the Rabbit’, begun in 2020, was exhibited at Vitamin Creative Space in Guangzhou last spring. Whatever the subject, his practice retains its repetitive character: whether in ink or oil, on rice paper or silk, it is a profound meditation. Vitamin Creative Space was founded in 2002 and counts among its artists other creators of imaginary worlds including Cao Fei, Ólafur Elíasson, Firenze Lai, and Koki Tanaka. With its solo presentation by Shao Fan in Paris, the gallery hopes to recreate the immersive quality of his work.