El Anatsui, Diedrick Brackens, Toyin Ojih Odutola
Jack Shainman Gallery (Galeries)

In the hands of three artists, metal, thread, and paper will come alive on Jack Shainman Gallery’s booth. El Anatsui assembles fragments of metal and aluminum into monumental draperies, shimmering and fluid, whose form adapts and unfolds according to the space. Diedrick Brackens weaves cotton and pigments, infused with tea, wine, and bleach, to tell poignant stories inspired by his heritage and identity. Toyin Ojih Odutola transforms paper through charcoal and pastel, drawing skins and faces with a hypnotic precision that tells an intimate narrative. Through folding, weaving, and drawing, these artists transform their materials into compelling narratives. Y.S.

Jimmy DeSana & Paul Mpagi Sepuya, ‘Labyrinths of Desire’
Document (Galeries)

In the corner of Document gallery’s booth, the work of two Queer photographers from different generations – Jimmy DeSana (1949–1990) and Paul Mpagi Sepuya (b. 1982) – will be presented together. DeSana and Mpagi Sepuya have each captured the body, both as object of desire, and as desiring subject. Faces are absent, gender also fades: The artists have chosen to focus on the body's shapes, volumes, curves, and possibilities. In this velvety labyrinth, eros delicately stimulates the imagination – with a touch of mischief, too. J.A.

Binta Diaw
Galerie Cécile Fakhoury (Galeries)

Galerie Cécile Fakhoury will dedicate its booth to Binta Diaw, a rising Senegalese-Italian artist based between Milan and Dakar. Diaw's work evokes themes of memory and displacement, drawn from her experiences navigating African and European contexts. The installation will bring together works from 2023 alongside new pieces created specifically for the fair. An installation made with her distinctive medium – synthetic hair interwoven with iron wire – will form the centerpiece of the booth, complemented by a large pastel on pigment print, digital impressions on paper, and silicone sculptures representing body parts. P.S.

Conversations, curated by Edward Enninful (Public Program)

This Paris edition marks a milestone for Conversations. For the first time in the history (20+ years) of Art Basel’s flagship talks program, a cultural leader from outside the visual arts will curate one full day: celebrated fashion editor, EE72 co-founder and all-around creativity champion Edward Enninful OBE. Conceived as a prelude to his forthcoming exhibition ‘The 90s’ at Tate Britain (2026), his program will feature one-on-one interviews led by Enninful himself with four artists who defined the decade: Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Sonia Boyce DBE RA, Mark Leckey, and Juergen Teller. These talks – as with all the Conversations program – are free and open to all upon registration. C.M.

Rei Naito
Taka Ishii Gallery (Galeries)

At Art Basel Paris 2025, Taka Ishii Gallery will present a solo project by Japanese artist Rei Naito, known for her meditative paintings and spatial works of glass, thread, and beads, combined with natural elements such as light and water. Naito conceived the paintings as ‘matrix’ spaces, where colors reveal the light and air within them. Together, the paintings and sculptures form a single entity that evokes the indivisibility of life and death, as well as spirituality. P.L.

Salle Principale (Galeries)

Salle Principale has been one of the core French galleries participating in Art Basel’s Paris fair since its inception in 2022. Located in the capital's’s vibrant 19th arrondissement, just a stone’s throw from the picturesque Canal Saint-Martin, it has carved out a subtle yet important place among the generation of galleries that emerged in the French capital over the past 20 years. Its focus lies on artists with unusual trajectories. Among them are Pierre Creton, whose primary activity is farming; the Viennese Land artist Loïs Weinberger, known for his vegetal interventions in public space; and Claude Closky, who has conceived museum websites as artworks. All three will be presented at Art Basel Paris 2025. K.C.

Lee ShinJa
Tina Kim Gallery (Premise)

Tina Kim Gallery’s booth will offer a rare chance to encounter Lee ShinJa’s works in France. The presentation by this seminal Korean artist, who has reimagined fiber art over five decades, will feature geometric abstract works, atmospheric landscapes, and sculptural experiments made between the 1950s and today. Lee has been a teacher and mentor to many, but has only started gaining international recognition a few years ago. Recent retrospectives at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in the US have underscored her quiet yet adical role in shaping the language of contemporary abstraction. J.F.

Jala Wahid
Sophie Tappeiner (Emergence)

Since its launch in 2017, Vienna-based gallery Sophie Tappeiner has leaned into a female-centric program with bite. Participating in Art Basel Paris’s Emergence sector, she remains true to form, presenting British-Kurdish artist Jala Wahid’s Stealth Technology. In this new body of work, the London-based multimedia artist assembles several sculptures – blindfolded abstracted horses, a camping mattress, and a helmet among them – all of which evoke pressing themes from the past and present, like military invasion and forced migration. All the while, material contrasts, pastel hues, and allusions to love suggest nurturing and vulnerability, echoing the artist’s lived experience. K.B.