Art Basel Paris Makes Splashy Debut at Grand Palais

PARIS — Lines stretched around the block for the preview opening of Art Basel Paris on Wednesday, reflecting the buzz around the rebranded fair’s move to its new home, the recently renovated Grand Palais.

“We are here to buy,” proclaimed a VIP pass holder waiting for the doors to open.

Within an hour of opening, the light-filled glass-and-steel building was thrumming with activity. Leading collectors were joined by VIPs including Natalie Portman, Raf Simons, Chloë Sevigny and Queen Rania of Jordan, and artists such as Kaws, Marc Quinn and Miles Greenberg.

Among notable deals on the first day, White Cube sold Julie Mehretu’s “Insile” for $9.5 million, while Hauser & Wirth also logged several seven-digit sales, led by Mark Bradford’s “Not Quite in a Hurry,” which went for $3.5 million.

Lorraine Kiang, cofounder of the Kiang Malingue gallery, noted a “great influx of visitors and collectors” throughout the day at its booth presenting four female artists that resulted in higher first-day sales.

Lauding the “highly differentiated selection” brought by major galleries, fashion executive David Kang pointed out the return of collectors from Asia — China, South Korea and Japan in particular — as well as the presence of artists such as Lee Ufan and Lee Bae.

“Having them here is important as Paris is where conversations continue and conclude around major acquisitions,” he said.

On the Balcony of Honor, a 15-foot-long Frank Gehry fish sculpture broadcast the presence of Louis Vuitton, returning as associate partner of the fair for the third consecutive year.

The French luxury brand celebrated its longstanding collaboration with the architect by showcasing some of their projects, including his scale models for the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which is marking its 10^th anniversary this year.

In an interview with WWD, Gehry — a lifelong Francophile — shared his excitement at being invited to show at the Grand Palais.

“In Paris, you are surrounded by history, by these magnificent structures, but the city uses them in modern and surprising ways. Having the chance to showcase a little of my work inside this great building is an extraordinary honor,” he said via email.

“The Grand Palais is one of my favorite places to see art in Paris. The space invites you to be bold and daring, and the shows that I have seen there reflect that ethos. It is inspiring that a building can be as relevant, modern, flexible and exciting across a century. That is a feat,” he added.  

Fish are a recurring motif in his work, symbolizing movement. At the Vuitton stand, they also appeared on some of his custom Capucines handbag designs, initially unveiled at Art Basel Miami Beach in December.

“I thought that the fish would look beautiful under the glass curves of the Grand Palais,” Gehry said. The mobile sculpture is surrounded by a large arch of wooden slats arranged into geometric patterns.

“The arch is made of standard lumber. It’s not fancy or expensive material, but when you put it together in such a way, you can get something quite beautiful,” he mused.

For architect Harry Nuriev, this edition gave the impression of a new era, with a profusion of new signatures, galleries and artists alike.

“Since we were last here for Fiac, the world has changed so much, art has changed so much and the creative landscape is different,” he said. “It’s very interesting how the same space can make you feel so different.”

The Art Basel Shop Partners With DSM

Alongside 195 exhibiting galleries, the fair featured the first Paris edition of the Art Basel Shop, curated by Sarah Andelman, the former creative director of concept store Colette and founder of consultancy Just an Idea.

Alongside AB by Art Basel-branded products and a capsule collection by art collective Claire Fontaine were goods specially selected to reflect the French capital’s fall calendar: the “Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &…” exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, or the “Surrealism” show at the Centre Pompidou, for example.

“I try to make sure there are products you can’t find in every museum gift store,” said Andelman, who also plans to curate a customized selection for the upcoming editions of the fair in Miami Beach and Hong Kong.

For the first time, the Art Basel Shop will host an off-site pop-up at Dover Street Market Paris, open to the public from Friday to Oct. 27.

“Art Basel is clearly a brand with huge potential and it doesn’t yet have an e-shop, so it’s important to also have a presence off-site. DSM is an ideal partner and we were thrilled that they accepted,” she said.

Parley for the Oceans Gets Arty

Among the items on display were a set of limited-edition scarves launched by Parley for the Oceans, with designs from artists Marcel Dzama, Nathalie du Pasquier and Claudia Comte, to benefit its global waterway clean-up programs.

The environmental non-profit has long joined forces with art, starting with its Julian Schnabel-designed logo, to raise awareness about oceans and the pileup of shoreline trash and pollution.

The scarves are made in Italy from 60 percent upcycled plastic recovered from the ocean and 40 percent silk. They feature Comte’s abstract blue-and-white wave design, Dzama’s sunrise over swimmers in the sea and du Pasquier’s symbolic waves and alphabet design.

At 450 euros each, the signed and numbered scarves are available in Art Basel’s official shop for the duration of the fair before moving to Dover Street Market Paris as the foundation strengthens its partnership with the concept store.

Parley also partnered with German artist Rosemarie Trockel on a series of limited-edition works titled “The Computer Is in the Garage” that combine AI-generated images with painting and sketching. The prints are available at gallery Cahiers D’Art in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.

Miu Miu’s “Tales & Tellers”

The art spilled out into the street in front of the Grand Palais, which was dotted with large-scale sculptures including Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin (L)” and John Chamberlain’s glittering green aluminum “Balmywisecrack.”

It was part of this year’s expanded program of free public events, supported by Miu Miu as public program official partner. The brand staged its own exhibit at the city’s Palais d’Iéna, where it holds its fashion shows each season.

Titled “Tales & Tellers,” it combines Miu Miu’s fashion with its decade-old short film anthology series “Women’s Tales” for some provoking performance art, under the direction of artist Goshka Macuga and curator Elvira Dyangani Ose.

They devised a series of vignettes, unspooling clips from the brand’s short films alongside 150 live performers rotating in and out of scenes, dancing, contorting, making sculptures, doing standup comedy and even proposing marriage as models walk through decked out in recent collections.

“Miu Miu proposes a project that also reflects an important aspect of Art Basel Paris’ mission, that is to reach beyond borders that separate creative disciplines,” Art Basel Paris president Clément Delépine said at the opening Tuesday. “The borders that separate visual arts from fashion, from cinema — I feel like all of that is not so relevant as it used to be.”

Miu Miu also convened two days of panel discussions with creative talents including Ava DuVernay, Catherine Martin, Chloë Sevigny, Hailey Gates, Zoe R. Cassavetes, So Yong Kim and Crystal Moselle, among others.

“There is a variety of experience. And of course, with the talks and the possibility of meeting the filmmakers in person, it’s a complete experience of this heritage of 10 years of ‘Tales & Tellers,’” Ose said. “Our principle was to really bring the characters back to life and to blend them into reality again.”

The Truthless Times newspaper distributed at Miu Miu’s spring fashion show is available at the venue, with printing presses running along the ceiling. The exhibit will be open to the public until Sunday.

Chanel Brings Young Chinese Artists to the Pompidou

Across town, Chanel and the Pompidou hosted a breakfast to celebrate the museum’s exhibition of contemporary Chinese artists, in tandem with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and China.

In addition to supporting the “China — A New Generation of Artists” show, Chanel helped the institution acquire 21 new works, expanding its permanent collection of Chinese contemporary artists by more than 20 percent, including the addition of seven women artists. 

“This follows in the spirit of our enduring work to enhance the representation of women at the Pompidou,” said Yana Peel, global head of arts and culture at Chanel.

“Over the past five years, we have helped over 150 works by those who identify as women find a home in the Pompidou collection. Seen by millions of visitors, we can, together, champion art for all, by all,” she added.

Peel noted that house founder Gabrielle Chanel was a collector of Chinese art, including the Coromandel lacquer screens famously displayed in her Rue Cambon apartment.

“Building bridges is core to our cultural mission,” she added, noting that the brand recently inked a long-term partnership to create the first public library dedicated to contemporary arts in China.

— With contributions from Lily Templeton