The muffled, almost earth-shattering hum of the cosmopolitan crowd. The fresh, penetrating scent of new canvases mingling with the heady aroma of a vintage wine with three zeros, like a fleeting promise. The discreet flash of a phone, overhead, capturing the imposing silhouette of a monumental sculpture. Art Basel is not a fair, but a living, vibrant organism, an ephemeral metropolis where every meticulously laid-out aisle transforms into a labyrinth of desires and every booth into a time capsule or, even more exciting, a portal to the future of art.
Sarah Crowner: Tactility as a Manifesto
Art is sometimes a matter of patience, deconstruction, and humble reinvention. This is the masterful lesson offered to us by the work of Sarah Crownerpresented with elegant rigor by the gallery Luhring AugustineRecognized for her almost mystical commitment to line, form and materiality of the painting-object, Crowner uses her canvases not as surfaces to be saturated, but as fields of tectonic experimentation.
The painted fragments are cut with surgical precision, then assembled by sewing, a gesture that emphasizes the physical act of fabrication, the craftsmanship behind conceptual art. The artist thus confers a palpable materiality, a tactility A new approach to the medium. Inspired by both natural geometry and art history (which she herself considers a raw material, a medium in its own right), Crowner creates compositions where the line is no longer drawn by the brush, but arises from the encounter, the joining, even the confrontation of forms. She describes this approach as "pragmatic," comparing the assembly of her canvases to laying tiles.
© Sarah Crowner; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York. Photo: Genevieve Hanson.
Kyle Dunn: Liquid Eroticism and Intimate Scenes
At PPOWthat's the American Kyle Dunn which captivates the eye. His recent works, such as Parlor et Salon (both dated 2025), dissect with stark clarity and unsettling emotional complexity the growing permeability between public life and private sanctuary in the age of constant sharing. Dunn's canvases are not mere illustrations: they are psychological dramas, capturing scenes of chosen isolation or intense romantic connection.
These scenes are often imbued with a diluted, one might say "liquid," eroticism, enhanced by a distinctive theatrical lighting, almost that of a staging cinematic. Despite this visual and thematic intensity, his paintings are rooted in a meticulous observation of everyday life and are permeated by a discreet humor, a latent irony.
Tschabalala Self: Identity in Mosaic
The gallery's booth Pilar Corrias radiates with formal audacity Tschabalala SelfBased in the Hudson Valley, Self is an artist of major importance, recognized for her singular, almost iconoclastic, approach to figuration. Born in 1990, she creates complex representations, primarily of women, by combining, layering, and weaving together the techniques of painting, screen printing, and sculpture.
We were particularly struck by its 2025 coin, Bayou Bather, which encapsulates this fusion of textures and narratives. Its impact is already widely recognized, as evidenced by the presence of its works in prestigious global collections, from the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris to the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Jessie Makinson: Myths, Anger, and Ecofeminism
At Brigitte Mulholland, the London artist Jessie Makinson unfolds a pictorial universe akin to a personal mythology. His work is a furious syncretism where drawing and painting merge to construct resolutely ecofeminists. His canvases, brimming with chromatic energy, are populated by mysterious and familiar figures amidst objects which, symbolically, abandon their function, reflecting a permanent state of renegotiation between the human and the non-human.
Using vivid and bold colors, Makinson stages erotic rituals and intrigues where his characters are active and dangerous participants, asserting their sexual power to thwart the viewer's expectations.
The Tashkent CCA: A Gateway to Central Asia
Finally, our favorite was a project, an architectural and cultural ambition that goes beyond the simple framework of the fair: the Tashkent Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA), whose bronze model, presented simply, symbolized the launch of a new chapter for culture in Central Asia.
This flagship project of the ACDF, led by Gayane Umerova and revitalized by Studio KOThe Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) is the first permanent institution in the region dedicated to contemporary art and research, housed in a former tram depot dating back to 1912. Under the enlightened leadership of Dr. Sara Raza, the center is committed to fostering a dialogue between Tashkent's complex history and the city's future ambitions. The CCA demonstrates that urban transformation can preserve historical identity while serving as a dynamic platform for art, revealing in the process the richness of Tashkent's 20th-century cultural foundation, which has thus far been curiously "hidden" in the West.
Raphaël Barontini ©Noée Feval
Amoako Boafo ©Noée Feval
Art Basel Paris 2025
24-26 October 2025
Grand Palais
