Art Basel Paris Guide: Can’t Miss Booths and a new James Turrell!

Art Basel Paris returns for its third annual edition, marking a significant evolution with a new name and a prestigious venue. From October 18-20, 2024, the fair will welcome art enthusiasts to the recently renovated Grand Palais in the heart of Paris. This year's event boasts an impressive roster of 195 exhibitors from 42 countries, including 53 newcomers and 65 Paris-based galleries.

Highlights include Cadet Capela's showcase of Blake Daniels, whose work echoes Marie-Chloe Duval's "Bouquet of People" series. The fair also reflects current art trends, such as the innovative use of fabric in artworks, exemplified by Leslie Martinez's pieces at the Commonwealth and Council booth. For those seeking whimsy, Lars Friedrich Gallery presents Nuri Koerfer's playful animal furniture designs.

The Cadet Capela booth (0.16) is drawing well-deserved attention with Blake Daniels' compelling work. Their forthcoming solo project at The Salon delves into the intricacies of unrequited love, mortality, and temporal suspension, adeptly revealing the limitations of language in articulating desire, grief, and our existential quandaries. Daniels, a recipient of the prestigious Edward L. Ryerson Fellowship from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where they earned their BA in Fine Arts (2013), further honed their craft at The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, obtaining an MFA in 2017. Their artistic journey, spanning continents and prestigious institutions, has cultivated a unique perspective that resonates profoundly in their current body of work.

The Francois Ghebaly Gallery (Booth J07) presents a compelling showcase of Ludovic Nkoth's oeuvre, a testament to reclamation and cultural resilience. Nkoth, a Cameroonian-born artist now based in New York, crafts visual narratives that seek to restore the pillars of identity, power, and pride to his people. His thickly impastoed portraits serve as portals to a vibrant realm of chromatic and textural exploration, each brushstroke imbued with the nuanced complexities of the Black diaspora. Nkoth's work resonates with an emotional profundity that echoes the depths of his heritage and the contemporary Black experience. His artistic journey, shaped by a BFA from the University of South Carolina and an MFA from Hunter College NYC, has cultivated a unique visual language that speaks volumes about identity, history, and the power of artistic expression.

The Lars Friedrich Gallery showcases Nuri Koerfer's playfully provocative animal sculptures—glossy, vividly hued chimeras that seem to observe visitors with equal parts curiosity and mischief. These social sculptures explore language through semiotic structures, with animal motifs serving as unspoken conduits between artist and viewer. Koerfer invites spectators to inhabit her creations, orchestrating a rare confluence of vulnerability and sentiment. This gesture of hospitality, more commonly found in nature's embraces, imbues her work with an intimacy that challenges traditional art-viewer dynamics, offering a unique space for reflection and connection rarely encountered in gallery settings.

The Dina Vierny Gallery (Booth P6) presents a captivating selection of works by the late André Bauchant, a luminary of French naïve art. This self-taught master, who balanced horticulture with painting, created enchanting depictions of flora, mythology, and landscapes. Bauchant's unique style, characterized by figures frozen in time and enshrined in foliage, evokes a poetic, mysterious quality reminiscent of medieval art. His piece "Les oiseaux sur les arbres" exemplifies this charm, inviting viewers into a world where nature and imagination intertwine with beguiling simplicity. Bauchant's presence at Art Basel Paris offers a delightful contrast to contemporary works, showcasing the enduring appeal of naïve art in the modern art landscape.

Commonwealth and Council (Booth H11) showcases Leslie Martinez's captivating works, where celestial gradients dance across intricately textured canvases. Martinez's signature style blends vibrant hues with tactile surfaces, eloquently demonstrating abstraction's power for radical imagination. Their no-waste ethos transforms discarded materials into sublime compositions, embodying sustainability as both practice and artistic expression. Martinez's work invites viewers to explore new realms where color, texture, and resourcefulness converge in a transformative visual experience.

James Turrell's latest luminous creation graces Almine Rech's Matignon space, a testament to his enduring mastery of light and perception. This new addition to his "Glassworks" series, initiated in 2004, showcases a unique form through which LED-powered light and colors evolve in mesmerizing gradations. Turrell's work, driven by a computer program orchestrating continuous variations in lightemitting diodes, challenges our understanding of light itself.

Concurrently, Gagosian presents the most expansive Turrell exhibition Europe has witnessed in decades at their Parisian outskirts venue. This comprehensive showcase features two monumental installations, two projected works, and plans for Turrell's long-anticipated desert monument, Roden Crater. Together, these exhibitions offer an unparalleled opportunity to immerse oneself in Turrell's transformative exploration of light as both medium and subject.

Art Basel Paris unveils two intriguing additions to its repertoire this year, elevating the fair's already impressive offerings. The "Premise" sector makes its debut, featuring nine galleries presenting "highly singular curatorial proposals" that push the boundaries of contemporary art dialogue. This innovative sector even reaches back in time, incorporating works created before 1900, offering a fascinating juxtaposition of historical and modern artistic expressions.

Adding a dash of excitement and exclusivity, the fair introduces "Oh La La!" – a captivating initiative that invites galleries to showcase rarely seen works for a fleeting 48-hour window on Friday and Saturday.

With these enticing new features complementing the fair's established excellence, Art Basel Paris beckons art lovers to immerse themselves in a world of creativity and innovation. Don't miss this opportunity to experience the cutting edge of the art world – secure your visit to Art Basel Paris and be part of this extraordinary artistic journey.