ART PARIS : 25 years

Art Paris is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an edition that will bring together some 134 galleries from 25 different countries at the Grand Palais Éphémère from 30 March to 2 April 2023. Art Paris - which was founded in 1999 - is organised by France Conventions, a French family-run business. Thanks to the efforts of its owners, Julien and Valentine Lecêtre, together with fair director Guillaume Piens, in the space of 25 years, Art Paris has become a leading spring arts event, an innovative art fair that fosters discovery, setting out to explore in depth the world of modern and contemporary art.

A regional, national and cosmopolitan fair, Art Paris has put the spotlight on many countries or continent's art scene: Russia (2013), China (2014), Singapore and Southeast Asia (2015), Korea (2016), Africa (2017), Switzerland (2018), Latin America (2019) and the Iberian Peninsula (2020). In parallel, Art Paris is committed to supporting the French scene. Since 2018, it has been asking an exhibition curator to turn a subjective, historical and critical eye on a selection of specific projects by French artists from among the participating galleries. A specific theme is chosen and the focus is accompanied by a text presenting their work. In 2018, François Piron considered those artists whom history had passed by. This was followed in 2019 by A Gaze at Women Artists in France curated by Camille Morineau and her association AWARE, Common and Uncommon Stories by Gaël Charbau (2020), Portraiture and Figuration by Hervé Mikaeloff (2021) and Natural Histories by Alfred Pacquement in 2022. This year's theme is Art & Commitment with Independent exhibition Marc Donnadieu.

The Covid-19 pandemic marked a turning point in the fair's history. Art Paris was the world's first post-lockdown ''physical'' art fair in September 2020 and, in 2021, it went on to become the first event to inaugurate the Temporary Grand Palais on the Champ-de-Mars. Six months later, in April 2022, it was also the first fair to adopt a sustainable, life cycle analysis-based approach to its organisation. Its recent themes are totally in tune with those that are omnipresent in both society and contemporary creation: art and the environment in 2022 and commitment and exile in 2023. These strong convictions and commitments contribute to the originality of this leading spring arts event and set it apart on the art fair calendar.



The 2023 selection: a strong and renewed list of exhibitors
Boosted by the success of its previous editions, the 2023 selection pursues the fair's development with a list of exhibitors renewed at 33% (i.e., 44 new galleries compared to 2022) and the continued presence of a number of international heavyweights: Almine Rech, Continua, Lelong & Co., kamel mennour, Perrotin, Templon and Nathalie Obadia. 60% of the exhibitors are domestic galleries and 40% internationally-based. This deliberate choice enables the fair to showcase the wealth of the French gallery ecosystem that includes leading modern and contemporary art galleries and galleries based in towns all over France, while providing support to emerging structures with ''Promises'', the sector for young galleries.

Noteworthy returning exhibitors include galleries such as Derouillon, Dina Vierny, Catherine Putman, Maria Lund and Anne-Sarah Benichou, whereas Maïa Muller will be taking part for the first time. As far as other countries are concerned, the list gains some new names with the first participation of a Chilean gallery (AMS), a Ugandan gallery (Afriart), a Romanian gallery (Gaep) and a Lebanese gallery (Saleh Barakat Gallery). Turkey will be represented this year by two galleries (Martch Art Project and The Pill), as will Morocco with the Comptoir des Mines and Atelier 21. Korea boasts four exhibitors: H.A.N. Gallery, Gallery Woong, Simon Gallery and 313 Art Project. A Palazzo (Brescia), Baronian (Brussels), Sébastien Bertrand (Geneva), HdM Gallery (Beijing), Francesca Minini (Milan), Poggiali (Florence) and Nosbaum Reding (Luxembourg) are making their first appearance to the fair. The number of exhibitors showcasing modern art continues to progress with the return of galleries such as Ditesheim, Zlotowski and Repetto and first-time exhibitor Retelet (Monaco). The same goes for photography with new exhibitors Bigaignon and Fisheye Gallery and returning exhibitor Camera Obscura.



Art Paris 2023, two themes focusing on the questions of commitment and exile
Art & Commitment
Independent exhibition curator Marc Donnadieu shares his perspective on the French scene with a selection of 20 artists from different generations exhibited by this edition's galleries. This focus explores these artists' approach to the concept of commitment, whether a commitment to art and artworks, or to the world, its history and what is happening today. According to Marc Donnadieu: ''If art doesn't change the world, some works of art do resist and, in their own way, counter the attacks to which the world is subjected. Such works make us more clairvoyant; they foster empathy and emancipation, obliging us to open our eyes to art and the world, to their history and current events. It is this commitment made by artists and their art that I want to put in the spotlight and contrast with the obscurity that is darkening the outlook today.''

Marc Donnadieu (born 1960, Jerada, Morocco)) is currently curator in chief at Photo Élysée (Musée Cantonal pour la Photographie, Lausanne), after previously working as curator of contemporary art at LaM Lille Métropole Musée d'Art Moderne, d'Art Contemporain et d'Art Brut (2010-2017) and director of the Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain de Haute-Normandie (1999-2010). He has curated or co-curated a number of major exhibitions, both solo shows and themed exhibits in the field of contemporary photography, drawing practices, present-day representations of the body in art, identity processes at work in society today, the relationship between art and architecture and between photography and art brut. He has been a member of the Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art (AICA) since 1997 and has contributed to numerous French and international periodicals, including Art Press with which he has been working since 1994. He has also taken part in the elaboration of several dozen catalogues, monographs and themed publications in the fields of the visual arts, architecture, design and fashion.

Selected Artists:
Paz Corona, Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire / Sépànd Danesh, Praz-Delavallade / Damien Deroubaix, Nosbaum Reding / Angèle Etoundi Essamba, Galerie Carole Kvasnevski / Jacques Grinberg, Galerie Kaléidoscope / Laura Henno, Nathalie Obadia / Alain Josseau, Galerie Claire Gastaud / Kubra Khademi, Galerie Eric Mouchet / Randa Maroufi, Paris-B / Agathe May, Galerie Catherine Putman / Hassan Musa, Galerie Maïa Muller / Prune Nourry, Templon / Agathe Pitié, Michel Soskine Inc. / Rakajoo, Danysz / Paul Rebeyrolle, Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger / Apolonia Sokol, The Pill / Nancy Spero, Lelong & Co. / Hervé Télémaque, Galerie Rabouan Moussion / Thu Van Tran, Almine Rech / Duncan Wylie, Backslash


Exile: Dispossession and Resistance
This theme has been entrusted to independent exhibition curator and founder of the Beirut-based TAP (Temporary Art Platform), Amanda Abi Khalil. It shines a spotlight on a selection of 18 international artists chosen from the exhibiting galleries whose work addresses questions in relation to exile.

According to Amanda Abi Khalil: ''Leaving a place does not necessary mean we are no longer there. Whether exile is chosen or forced upon us, it is always something to be endured. Exile highlights our ties with the very people and places that give rise to the feeling of dispossession and transforms the remains of this other place into a condition of survival. These remains anchor us in the non-places we are trying in vain to reach. In the current context of tensions caused by migration, which is exacerbated by wars, economic and climate crises amongst other reasons, this theme sets out to address the complex, porous and highly personnel character of exile and understand it above and beyond purely geographical and identity-based connotations. Highlighted in artistic practices dealing with notions of hospitality, our relationship to others and feelings of strangeness, in an art world that often celebrates the mobility of artist this theme allows ''accents'' to have the floor.''

Amanda Abi Khalil is an independent curator who shares her time between Paris, Beirut and Rio de Janeiro. She founded the TAP (Temporary Art Platform) in 2014. This curatorial platform is active in the contextual, public and social practices of contemporary art. It runs artist-in-residence programmes and manages public art commissions and research projects on art in the public space, while focusing on mediation between the art world, geographic regions and society in general.

Selected Artists:
Majd Abdel Hamid, gb agency / Anas Albraehe, Saleh Barakat Gallery / Iván Argote, Perrotin / Taysir Batniji, Galerie Eric Dupont / Roberto Cabot, Galerie Anne De Villepoix / Leyla Cardenas, Dix9 - Hélène Lacharmoise / Nabil El Makhloufi, L'Atelier 21 / Leylâ Gediz, The Pill / Tirdad Hashemi, gb agency / Zarina Hashmi, Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger / Aung Ko, A2Z Gallery / Nge Lay, A2Z Gallery / Boris Mikhailov, Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève / Myriam Mihindou, Galerie Maïa Muller / Estefanía Peñafiel Loaiza, Galerie Alain Gutharc / Laure Prouvost, Nathalie Obadia / Christine Safa, Lelong & Co. / José Ángel Vincench, 193 Gallery


Solo Show and Duo Show
Fourteen solo shows spread throughout the fair allow visitors to discover or rediscover in depth the work of modern, contemporary or emerging artists:

Arcangelo, Galerie Tanit / Louise Barbu, Galerie Françoise Livinec / Jérôme Boutterin, Marc Minjauw Gallery / Robert Couturier, Galerie Dina Vierny / Jean Dewasne, Galerie Patrice Trigano / Andrea Galvani, Fabienne Levy / Alain Josseau, Galerie Claire Gastaud / Yann Kebbi, Galerie Martel / Yann Lacroix, Galerie Anne-Sarah Benichou / Nabil El Makhloufi, L'Atelier 21 / Luc Ming Yan, Apalazzo / Alexandre Benjamin Navet, Galerie Derouillon / Jean-Pierre Pincemin, Dutko / Gérard Schneider, Alexis Lartigue Fine Art

In addition, ten or so galleries have opted to put on duo shows that establish a dialogue between artists of the past, for example by juxtaposing the work of two Belgian surrealists, René Magritte and Marcel Mariën (Galerie Retelet) or between different generations. Examples of the latter include: Dix couples d'œuvres with Vincent Beaurin and Antony Donaldson, a historical figure of British Pop Art (Galerie Strouk) and Acts of resistance with Mircea Stănescu and Damir Očko on the stand of Romanian gallery Gaep.


''Promises'': a sector supporting young galleries and emerging artists
''Promises'', a sector focusing on young galleries created less than six years ago, provides a forward- looking analysis of cutting-edge contemporary art. Participating galleries can present up to three emerging artists and Art Paris finances 45% of the exhibitor fees. International galleries are largely represented in this sector that is constantly renewing its exhibitors from one year to the next (67% in 2023). This year Promises plays host to nine galleries:

Baert Gallery (Los Angeles), Anne-Laure Buffard Inc. (Paris), Enari (Amsterdam), Gaep (Bucarest), Galerie Felix Frachon (Brussels), Hors-Cadre (Paris), La Galería Rebelde (Guatemala City), The Spaceless Gallery (Paris), This Is Not A White Cube (Lisbon).

Paris - the place to be for contemporary art!
Paris is in the midst of an exceptional period of cultural and artistic renaissance illustrated by the opening of new galleries and venues, the renovation of existing cultural institutions and the inauguration of new ones. The activities on offer as part of the VIP programme, reserved for invited collectors and art professionals, bear witness to the rebirth of Paris as the place to be for contemporary art.


Art Paris: the first sustainably designed art fair
Art Paris is a regional art fair that gives pride of place to proximity, drawing local visitors and favouring local transport solutions. Since 2022, the fair has undertaken to develop a sustainable approach to organising an art fair based on a life cycle analysis (LCA), which is a first for an art fair. This pioneering approach entrusted to Karbone Prod in partnership with Solinnen has been renewed for 2023.

*The life cycle assessment (LCA) takes into account a multitude of criteria to provide an overall view of the environmental impact of a product or process, listing and quantifying the materials and energy used throughout a product's entire lifetime. Whether the subject of consideration is a product, a service or a process, every stage of its life cycle is considered to establish an inventory of the relevant inputs and outputs from cradle to grave: extraction and processing of raw materials (including energy sources), manufacturing, distribution, usage and end-of-life disposal, not forgetting the various phases of transport.