Up-And-Coming Galleries and Artists at Art Brussels
This year, more than half of the galleries at Art Brussels, nicknamed the “Discovery Fair,” are showing emerging and younger generation artists—so it’s safe to say the Brussels fair, featuring over 2,000 artists under a single roof, is an ideal place for collectors to encounter new artists. Daunting as the offer may sound, the fair is divided into curated sections—First, Young, Solo, and Curator’s View—which can serve as a roadmap through seemingly infinite avenues. Here, we focus on First and Young, two sections solely devoted to the up-and-comers:
Welcoming the first-timers—galleries who have never before participated at Art Brussels—this section features 16 galleries scouted by a committee of curators (among them, Palais de Tokyo curator Daria de Beauvais, Staatliche Kunsthalle director Johan Holten, and Art Brussels artistic director Katerina Gregos). At Berlin-based gallery DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM, you’ll find panoramas by Swiss photographer Julian Charrière that, though they mimic the snow-covered Swiss Alps, are actually small-scale replications—chalk-covered construction sites—photographed in Berlin. Also exhibiting for the first time, Paris-based Galerie Emmanuel Hervé shows sculptural installations by Canadian artist Derek Sullivan and paintings by Brazilian-born artist Camila Oliveira Fairclough.
Collectors seeking on-the-rise artists should make a first stop at Young, which features 75 galleries showing works by emerging and mid-career artists. The galleries were hand-picked by a committee which includes Art Brussels artistic director Katerina Gregos and gallerist Rodolphe Janssen, among others, and offers the Karen Renders Award as a carrot for the best young talent. From Antwerp-based galerie mariondecannière, look for works by Dutch-born photography duo WassinkLundgren from their “Tokyo Tokyo” series, featuring diptychs taken of strangers on the streets of the Japanese capital. At Dubai-based Green Art Gallery, you’ll find work by Iranian painter Kamrooz Aram and Pakistani artist Seher Shah, among others; and at Berlin-based Christian Ehrentraut, the gallery presents stone-carved sculptural works by German artist Andreas Blank, including a briefcase and pressed white shirt made of marble, basalt, and alabaster.
