In 2024, Art Basel Paris was held for the first time in the Grand Palais, and the fair was able to expand its list of galleries and celebrate the richness of the contemporary art scene from around the world. For its new edition, the fair will welcome to the same setting no fewer than 206 exhibitors from 41 countries and territories, including 29 participating for the first time. Among them, visitors can discover galleries that have come up in recent years like Lodovico Corsini as well as more established names like David Nolan Gallery. Here we look at nine newcomers located in the main sector.

Stevenson 

The influential Stevenson gallery, which opened in 2003 in Cape Town, has played a major role in the development of South Africa's contemporary art market. Participating regularly in the biggest international fairs, the gallery will arrive at the Grand Palais with a stand of six artists whose work has been greatly affected by the cultural transformations of South Africa in the 1990s, and who have since made names for themselves in the art world. Among them, Penny Siopis will present incandescent, haunted paintings, and Jo Ractliffe will show several poetic black-and-white photographs.

Lodovico Corsini

Founded by one of the co-directors of Clearing gallery (now closed), Lodovico Corsini opened last year in Brussels. Within its stable are several artists who showed with its predecessor, including American painter Calvin Marcus. In Paris, the gallery will present new canvases by Marcus, which at first appear abstract, but in fact are close-up details of the painter’s skin. Peter Wächtler will show two large volcanic landscapes which spark a dialogue with three intriguing kinetic hybrid sculptures by Meriem Bennani, who will open a major solo exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations during the fair week.

Crèvecœur

Parisians know Crèvecœur for its attractive space in the heights of Belleville, as well as its left bank galleries, where one can appreciate a program as sharp as it is playful. Crèvecœur will make its debut at Art Basel Paris with a presentation that seeks to bridge European and Japanese cultures. Landscapes from the 1950s by Morikazu Kumagai will meet the dreamlike paintings of Yu Nishimura and Inès di Folco Jemni, as well as the copper ‘objects in the making’ of Miho Dohi. Together these works evoke a sense of gentle and joyful nostalgia inspired by the Japanese concept of ‘mono no aware’, or the sensitivity to the transitory nature of life.

Jan Kaps

Jan Kaps has been one of the key players in Cologne over the last ten years, with its cutting-edge international program of contemporary art, including several artists well known in France, such as Jean-Marie Appriou and the duo Daniel Dewar & Grégory Gicquel. In Paris, the gallery will show South African mutlimedia artist Helena Uambembe and Ethiopian painter Selome Muleta. The sculpted statuettes by Uambembe from her installation ‘Ars viva. Where will we land?’ (2025) evoke the psychological impact of displacement on populations, drawing inspiration from the experience of many Angolans – including the artist – who fled the civil war to South Africa. Muleta’s intimate canvases show female bodies no longer performing, but at rest, caught in moments of reflection, regaining agency.

The Approach

Since 1997, The Approach has been a stalwart of the East London galleries, showing internationally recognized artists in its iconic venue above the eponymous pub in Bethnal Green. A regular of Art Basel in Basel, the gallery will present a rich and varied selection of artists at the Grand Palais. Collages by John Stezaker, a wall ceramic by Paloma Proudfoot, and a totemic wooden sculpture by Anderson Borba will come together in a multi-media presentation that focuses on the many forms bodies can take.

47 Canal

Starting out in Chinatown and now based in Soho, New York’s 47 Canal counts Anicka Yi and Josh Kline among its key artists. In Paris, they will present new dye-sublimation works by Michele Abeles that depict farm animals in intimate rural settings, an ambitiously scaled multi-panel painting by Mickael Marman, who is known for his energetic and colorful abstractions, alongside works by younger artists, including Emmanuel Louisnord Desir and Cici Wu. Paintings will sit side by side, filling the walls in a presentation that will recall the great 18th-century salons of the French capital.

Soft Opening and Chapter NY

While many art galleries opt for street frontage, Soft Opening first opened in 2018 in the corridors of London’s Piccadilly Circus underground station. Since relocating to Hackney in East London, it has established itself as one a key player for emerging artists in the British capital. Across the Atlantic, Chapter NY has been breathing life into Lower Manhattan for the last 12 years, showing the 20 artists on its roster, from Jesse Darling to Mary Stephenson, as well as many guests.

At the Grand Palais, the two galleries will join forces to share a stand and present the work of three artists. Represented by both galleries, Gina Fischli will bring four amusing plaster dogs and cats, while Stuart Middleton (Chapter NY) will show fascinating graphite drawings reproducing the insides of meat-cutting machines, and Olivia Erlanger (Soft Opening) will present an installation of steel arrows that will perforate the walls.

David Nolan Gallery

With nearly 40 years in the business, David Nolan is the oldest gallery among the new arrivals at the Grand Palais. Located first in Soho, then on the Upper East Side, the gallery has promoted numerous European artists (particularly German) in the Big Apple, from Georg Baselitz and Gerhard Richter to Rosemarie Trockel. In Paris, the plan is to introduce fair visitors to this rich history with a presentation of museum-scale works on paper by the likes of Chakaia Booker, William Copley, Willem de Kooning, and Ellsworth Kelly.