As Art Paris finally makes its return to the Grand Palais, the 27^th edition of the fair is more than ever committed to supporting young galleries and emerging artists. No less than 25 galleries founded in the last 10 years have been selected by independent curator and Art Paris selection committee member Marc Donnadieu for the Promises sector, which will occupy a new location along the Grand Palais balconies. The fair supports 45% of participating galleries’ exhibitor fees and each gallery can present up to 3 artists. Galleries come from all over the world – this year 59% of the exhibitors are international galleries and there are 17 first-time exhibitors from France and abroad.

22,48 m² (Romainville) For its second participation at Art Paris, the gallery is presenting a Marco Emmanuele solo show. Italian painter Emmanuele combines figurative and abstract elements in his work, while experimenting with different materials, such as sand, glass powder and rabbit-skin glue that allow him to bring new textures and lighting effects to his landscape paintings.

Afronova Gallery (Johannesburg) For its return to Art Paris, the South African gallery is presenting works by three influential artists from the country’s art scene - Vuyo Mabheka, Dimakatso Mathopa and Mashudu Nevhutalu – whose practice uses archive material as a tool for cultural resistance. The innovative Johannesburg-based gallery tackles the complex nature of existing intersectional narratives, embracing such questions as subjective identity, the colonial subconscious, urban memories and perspectives for the future.

C+N Gallery CANEPANERI (Genoa, Milan) has chosen to present a solo show of works by French artist Gillian Brett, who was awarded the Prix Révélations Emerige - Villa Noailles in 2022 for her exploration of the relationship between nature, culture and contemporary technology. Brett’s works mainly produced using waste from electronic equipment underline the way in which, above and beyond their supposed immateriality, digital ecosystems actually have a lasting effect on the world around us.

Camille Pouyfaucon (Paris) is showcasing this new generation of artists who, while drawing inspiration from the past, bring a resolutely contemporary dimension to their practice of figurative painting. Complementary but uniquely individual, the works of Lara Bloy, Léa Toutain and David Mbuyi explore the human condition, social interactions and domestic life, while fostering an atmosphere of contemplation in which each detail is an invitation to enjoy a moment of introspection.

Chiguer art contemporain (Montreal, Quebec) is presenting a solo show of works by Inuit artist Pitseolak Qimirpik. Introduced to carving by his father, Kellypalik Qimirpik, he came to the notice of the Canadian art scene at the age of just 13 thanks to his exceptional craftsmanship and drawing skills. His sculptures are more often than not an illustration of the concept of shamanic transformation, a traditional belief according to which some people are able, when required, to take on animal form in order to make the most of the creature’s specific abilities to survive in the harsh Arctic environment.

Cuturi Gallery (Singapore, London) is devoting its stand to Singaporean artist Israfil Ridhwan, whose paintings are a subtle marriage of an emotional narrative, personal introspection and a wider panel of artistic influences from the Renaissance masters to Frida Kahlo. Themes such as day-to-day life, pleasure and melancholy are expressed in his portrayal of simple, personal moments offered to the viewer’s gaze without artifice.

EDJI Gallery (Brussels) was founded in 2022 and has been celebrating the diversity of present-day BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ voices and campaigning for the implementation of more open and inclusive professional practices even since. For its first participation at Art Paris, the gallery is showcasing the art of Chinese painter Killion Huang with a monumental installation in which 25 works on paper alternate with 25 mirrors. As such, the gallery’s stand underlines the performative nature of social media that sees supposed personal moments – which are more often than not meticulously staged – shamelessly shared with the whole world.

Felix Frachon Gallery (Brussels) juxtaposes works by Mano Penalva, Arnaud Rochard and Shine Shivan – respectively from Brazil, France and India – in a unique exhibit that illustrates the diversity of contemporary cultures and means of expression. The presentation creates a utopian country where visitors can escape from the fast pace of our divisive, media-led world and immerse themselves in a profound and inclusive world of the senses. The exhibit is emblematic of an approach that the gallery has defended since its creation, focusing as it does on the discovery (or rediscovery) of art scenes and contemporary art forms on the margins of what is traditionally accepted as art.

Anne-Laure Buffard (Paris) is presenting three artists in a show that sets out to address present-day geopolitical, feminist and environmental issues. Incorporating photography, painting and installation art, Ilanit Illouz places geography at the heart of a visual language open to multiple mediums. The art of Pauline-Rose Dumas combines pictorial, artisanal and digital approaches by pairing forged metal sculptures with textile images created from photos. Finally, Australian artist Gregory Hodge, who has been living in France since 2019, is currently endeavouring to study how tapestries made at the Manufacture des Gobelins influenced the paintings of Bonnard, Vuillard and Denis that are part of the Musée d'Orsay collection.

Écho 119 (Paris) creates a bridge between East and West. For the gallery’s first participation at Art Paris, it has decided to present a unique perspective on the world seen through the prism of drawing, sculpture, embroidery and photography. Intimités bichromatiques is a black & white visual exploration that showcases the work of three exceptional women artists: Maryam Khosrovani (Iran), Rieko Koga (Japan) and Sakiko Nomura (Japan). Finding inspiration in the concept of “wishing trees”, Koga will even be asking visitors to Art Paris 2025 to share a wish or message, which she will then embroider and incorporate into a textile sculpture. As a result, her creation will evolve throughout the fair gaining in spirituality

Galerie Idéale (Paris) opened in 2023 in a location just a stone’s throw from the Fondation Pernod Ricard. Its first participation at Art Paris entitled Leurs mondes is designed to represent the meeting of Western, Native American and Asian cultures. The monumental tapestry by Mona Cara (who was acclaimed at the last Biennale de Lyon), draws its inspiration from the game of snakes and ladders that is popular in the Middle East. Dimensional Middle Time, a painting by Edgardo Navarro, evokes the confrontation between present-day Mexican society and the traditions of the Huichol indigenous people. Finally, the brutalist sculptures of Mengzhi Zheng explore the materiality of everyday life in China in the context of globalisation.

Valerie Delaunay (Paris) places figuration art at the heart of the gallery’s events programme alongside other key themes. For Art Paris 2025, it has devised a transatlantic meeting of minds featuring French painter Barbara Navi and Argentinean artist Sergio Morabito. Each in their own way, Navi and Morabito implement a magician-like approach as they strive to satisfy an overwhelming desire to captivate the viewer and draw them into fascinating and enigmatic situations and locations. The overall design, construction and vision of their compositions participates in a surprising redefinition of forms and figures.

Hunna Art (Kuwait). For its second participation at Art Paris, Hunna Art is exhibiting the work of three of the gallery’s women artists. In their practices, Raya Kassisieh, Razan AlSarraf and Nour Elbasuni all adopt a critical standpoint vis-à-vis their respective political, cultural and social contexts and what lies beyond. Questioning the production of art from the angle of hybridity, revealing the fluidity of origins, gender-related constructions and spatiotemporal boundaries, each of them destabilises the normative frameworks of form, belonging and embodiment in works situated at the crossroads of personal and historical memory.

Kanda & Oliveira (Chiba) has decided to juxtapose the production of two artists whose approaches resonate with each other, despite being from different generations. Yozo Ukita (1924-2013) was one of the pioneers of the Gutai movement (which remains relatively unknown outside Japan), whereas Natsuko Sakamoto (b. 1983) is one of the key representatives of contemporary Japanese abstract art. Each after their own fashion, the methodological experimentations of their respective bodies of work set out to portray a “world that does not yet exist”, as it was so aptly described by Sakamoto.

Galería Rebelde (Guatemala City) is devoting its stand to Costa Rican painter Luciano Goizueta. Focusing solely on landscapes, Goizueta plays with colour and light, realism and abstraction, geography and the specific nature of time when travelling. Rather like illustrations in a journal intime, each of his paintings bears the traces of a place he has visited, a moment remembered and his various peregrinations: their titles specify the precise distance between his studio and the place in question.

La peau de l’ours (Brussels) is putting the spotlight on “The Dreamer” by French artist Yoann Estevenin, a series he began in 2024 and which has developed to include monumental ceramics, pastel drawings and paintings on engraved, painted and sometimes carefully burnt pieces of wood. The artist’s works create a bizarre impression. It is as if we were balancing on a tightrope, all the while observing people who were only passing by, figures walking along the edge of a flat world, ready at any moment to let themselves fall in order to escape our gaze and preserve their aura of mystery.

LABS Contemporary Art (Bologna) is orchestrating a unique, in-depth exchange between two women artists: Elisabeth Scherffig (b. 1949, Düsseldorf) - who has been living in Milan since 1971 - and Giulia Marchi, who was born in Rimini in 1976 where she lives and works today. The former’s approach focuses on the urban space that she sees as a constantly metamorphosing organism. Marchi will be presenting her project Mutter ich bin dumm that is based on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Madness Letters. The latter were twenty-one letters written by the philosopher in Turin (after partially recovering from a nervous breakdown) and sent to people who were of importance to him.

Michèle Schoonjans Gallery (Brussels). For its first participation at Art Paris, the gallery is questioning to what extent an artistic practice grounded in reality can draw in the viewer and foster contemplation by putting the accent on slowness, both in the creative process and the perception of the finished artwork. Three artists, Jérôme Bouchard, Nicolas Delprat and Natacha Mercier, create a space of doubt in which the image comes face to face with the material world, thereby leaving viewers free to interpret it as they wish and imagine their own narrative.

Panis (Rouen). This new Rouen-based gallery is presenting a show with three of its artists, Sosthène Baran, Olivier Kosta-Théfaine and David Roth. In works in which the poetry of the real world emerges, a poetry that words alone cannot express, each explores in turn the notions of land, memory and utopia. Their vision of the landscape is expressed through seemingly banal details that precisely convey what is at stake today in our complex contemporary environment.

Prima (Paris). The gallery founded in 2024 has chosen to present a duo show with two of its artists, each of whom explores in their own way their attachment to figuration and the symbolic aspects of water. Villa Arson Nice graduate Bryce Delplanque looked to “Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass”, a series produced by Ed Ruscha between 1968 and 1976, as a way of revisiting the imaginary world of the swimming pool. Finding the perfect balance between narration and ornamentation, La Cambre graduate Héloïse Rival uses enamelled wall tiles in her tribute to the movement and reflections of water.

Salon H (Paris) is committed to defending the Brazilian art scene. To this end, it is focusing here on the work of Felipe Rezende. Rezende (b. 1994, Salvador de Bahia) received an award from the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in São Paulo and is today a key figure in Brazilian contemporary art. The starting point for his work is the flow of unqualified migrant workers, which is the result of their mistreatment by agribusiness and the violence of land-grabbers in the Northeast Region of Brazil. However, far from opting for a naturalist treatment, Rezende elaborates subtle hybrid narratives in which figures from religious iconography, pop culture and comics mingle.

Soho Revue (London) is showcasing the work of two emerging women artists, Joana Galego and Nooka Sheperd, who endeavour, each in their own way, to portray the human figure using the mediums of painting, drawing and ceramics. The works of the former are particularly delicate and illustrate the most personal aspects of everyday life. The latter’s works are more vibrant, colourful, dreamlike and poetic possessing an almost mythological essence.

The Bridge Gallery (Paris). For its first participation at Art Paris, the gallery is presenting three South African artists, Hugh Byrne, Dale Lawrence and Bulumko Mbete. The latter is a newcomer to the gallery, whose programme is striving to build bridges between France and the emerging South African art scene. Byrne’s powerful and colourful works redefine our idea of landscape, whereas those of Mbete delve into the memories of South African textile traditions. Finally, in his practice, Lawrence endeavours to forge moments of intimacy at the very heart of language, daily rituals and familiar stories.

Tomas Umrian Contemporary (Bratislava) specialises in the emerging art scene in Eastern Europe. For Art Paris, it is highlighting the work of Slovakian artist Lucia Tallová, whose installations incorporate old photos in pieces of antique furniture on which she makes her mark by subtly adding fragmentary details and small splashes of colour. By editing these images, she modifies their original meaning, bringing a new lease of life to the photograph and evoking a feeling of renaissance both in terms of time and identity.

Wamono Art (Hong Kong) is juxtaposing the work of three prominent Japanese women artists, Kei Hasegawa, Shiori Kaneko and Yuki Onodera. While using different mediums - bamboo, ceramics and photography – each of them apprehends the question of form in the same profound and sensitive manner, one that has allowed them to break free from preconceptions about the physical nature of natural materials and express their incomparable vision and unique aesthetic.

Selection 2025:

22,48 m² (Romainville)
Afronova (Johannesburg)
Galerie Anne-Laure Buffard (Paris)
The Bridge Gallery (Paris)
C+N Gallery CANEPANERI (Genoa, Milan)
Chiguer art contemporain (Montreal, Quebec City)
Cuturi Gallery (Singapore)
Valerie Delaunay (Paris)
Galerie Écho 119 (Paris)
EDJI Gallery (Brussels)
Felix Frachon (Brussels)
Hunna Art (Koweit City)
Galerie Idéale (Paris)
Kanda & Oliveira (Funabashi, Chiba)
Camille Pouyfaucon (Paris)
LABS Contemporary Art (Bologna)
La peau de l’ours (Brussels)
Panis (Rouen)
Prima (Paris)
La Galería Rebelde (Guatemala City)
Salon H (Paris)
Michèle Schoonjans Gallery (Brussels)
Soho Revue (London)
Tomas Umrian Contemporary (Bratislava)
Wamono Art (Hong Kong)