BRUSSELS.- Art Brussels, one of Europe’s most original and established art fairs, returns for its 38th edition with a strong and international line up and a unique mix of established and emerging talent. Reporting an increase of 23% in applications to this year’s edition, as well as an increase in SOLO gallery presentations, Art Brussels is highly curated and more appealing than ever.
Anne Vierstraete, Managing Director of Art Brussels says: “Participants at the fair this year have shown a commitment to Art Brussels at a local and international level. Brussels continues to be a cultural hub with major exhibitions from Sean Scully at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, John M Armleder at KANAL - Centre Pompidou and Wolfgang Tillmans at WIELS during the run of the fair.”
159 galleries are presented across the fair’s four sections: 98 in PRIME, 41 in DISCOVERY, 12 in REDISCOVERY and 10 in INVITED, as well as 31 presentations in the fair’s SOLO sub-section.
Returning Belgian galleries in the PRIME section include Baronian Xippas (Brussels), dépendance (Brussels), Xavier Hufkens (Brussels), rodolphe janssen (Brussels), Tim Van Laere (Antwerp), Maruani Mercier (Brussels, Knokke, Zaventem), Greta Meert (Brussels), Sorry We’re Closed (Brussels), Axel Vervoordt (Hong Kong, Wijnegem) and Zeno X (Antwerp). International returning galleries including Almine Rech (Paris, Brussels, London, New York, Shanghai), BATON (Seoul), Bernier Eliades (Brussels, Athens), Blain|Southern (Berlin, London, New York), Ceysson & Bénétière (Luxemburg, New York, Paris, Saint-Etienne), Gladstone (Brussels, New York), The Hole (New York), Lelong & Co (New York, Paris), New Art Centre (Salisbury), Nino Mier (Cologne, Los Angeles), Michel Rein (Paris, Brussels), Pietro Sparta (Chagny), SMAC (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Stellenbosch) and Filomena Soares (Lisbon).
Newcomers of note include Andersen's (Copenhagen), C L E A R I N G (Brussels, New York), Vera Cortês (Lisbon), Central Galeria (São Paulo), Laurent Godin (Paris), Lia Rumma (Milan, Naples), Night Gallery (Los Angeles), SKOPIA / P.-H. Jaccaud (Geneva) and Galerie Thomas Fischer (Berlin).
The fair shows its dedication to a curated display with an increased number of 31 SOLO presentations this year. Highlights include vast drawings by Jérôme Zonder (Nathalie Obadia, Brussels, Paris), installations by Maarten Vanden Eynde (Meessen De Clercq, Brussels), works by American artist Linn Meyers (Jason Haam, Seoul), works by Stefan Vogel (Jahn und Jahn, Munich), bronze casts from Israeli sculptor Ella Littwitz (Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels), Leon Vranken’s radically simple sculptural installations (mariondecannière, Antwerp), São Paulo-based Lucas Arruda’s abstract landscapes and seascapes (Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, New York, São Paulo) and in-situ installations comprising of drawing and writing by French-Algerian artist Abdelkader Benchamma (Templon, Brussels, Paris).
Now appointed Co-Director of Art Brussels, Nele Verhaeren, previously Head of Gallery Relations says:
“Art Brussels is known for its strong and loyal gallery network who always display what the visitor expects; a surprising booth. From Discovery to Rediscovery, the fair also offers an important platform for young and daring galleries. It is rewarding to see many of the INVITED galleries from last year step into the DISCOVERY section.”
The INVITED section is back in force following great success last year, addressing emerging galleries that are transcending the typical gallery format and have not previously exhibited at the fair. The 10 newcoming galleries in this section include the research hub and gallery Jaqueline Martins (São Paulo) and SUPRAINFINIT Gallery (Bucharest).
Discoveries from emerging artists will be made in the reputed DISCOVERY section with a new format this year. Galleries must either present one single artist or an interesting dialogue between two artists. Highlights include Swedish painter Henni Alftan (Galerie Claire Gastaud, Clermont-Ferrand), Venezuelan artist and graphic designer Dayana Lucas (LEHMANN + Silva, Porto), Yuji Agematsu with La Maison de Rendez-Vous (Brussels) for their first time in the section after a participation in the INVITED section in 2019, Swedish contemporary artist Jonas Lund (The RYDER Projects, Madrid, London), Emily Ludwig Schaffer’s colourful cartoon landscapes (PACT, Paris), South-African sculptor Chris Soal who uses toothpicks in his craft (WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape-Town) and the stop motion animations of Phoebe Boswell (Sapar Contemporary, New York).
Highlights from the REDISCOVERY section include an impressive presentation of Greek-born Gretta Sarfaty whose works from the 1970’s focus on body art and feminism with Central Galeria (São Paulo), works by Enzo Cocchi and Mimmo Paladino with Galerie Klüser (Munich), Italian artist Umberto Mariani known for his monochrome lead draperies with Progettoarte-Elm (Milan) and female Sardinian artist Maria Lai, whose textile works recently regained traction at Documenta 14 and the Venice Biennale in 2017.
