Very early previews of the inaugural show from the Art Basel group in Paris and the smaller fair Paris Internationale are coming in and I’m excited for the action to begin on October 18th. Some highlights are below.
Portraits of young women are ubiquitous; emerging artists taking on this subject matter most successfully are American Michelle Rawlings who might be addressing her own adolescence in Texas at Chapter gallery at Paris Internationale and Romanian artist Marius Bercea, who draws inspiration from both Mary Cassatt and Czech writer Milan Kundera’s protagonists, at Francois Ghebaly at the main fair. Animals are also commonplace in painting these days and Sophie Barber’s focus on famous artists with dogs (or their depiction of dogs) playfully satirizes the white, male geniuses of Modernism (most of whom became famous in Paris) at Chris Sharp.
Andrew Kreps is presenting work by Raymond Sanders, a Black artist who incorporates detritus from his native Bay Area into his works but also nods to many summers spent in Paris – a city that has arguably been hospitable towards Black artists over the years – starting when he opened a studio there in the 1980s.
Much more to come!