Liste Art Fair 2022: Five Artists to Watch

Nova Jiang at Union Pacific

Nova Jiang's practice is a new discovery for us, and one that we were immediately drawn to.

Born in Dalian, China, Nova Jiang grew up in New Zealand before completing her MFA from UCLA in Los Angeles in 2017, where she now lives and works. With a practice traversing sculpture, painting, installation, and public art, Jiang brings seven delicately choreographed still lifes to Liste for her presentation with London-based Union Pacific.

Deftly painted in oil onto intimately sized wooden panels, her still lifes are the product of staged arrangements in her studio that she has photographed and then painted in a realist, yet subtly surrealist sleight of hand.

Gabriele Beveridge at Seventeen

Gabriele Beveridge brings bulbous glass forms and lustrous sculptures made of synthetic hair extensions to Seventeen's booth at Liste.

Coupling I is a wonderful example of Beveridge's series of organic, delicate glassworks, having begun experimenting with the material in 2014. Continuing her exploration into the cosmetic aspects of consumer culture, these glass sculptures share a fragile quality that is similar to her photography—a medium that has defined her practice up until this point.

With an institutional show at the Kai Art Center, Tallinn under her belt earlier this year, and an upcoming solo exhibition with Seventeen opening in September, there's much for the Slade graduate to celebrate this year.

Adrian Geller, A token of gratitude (2022). Oil on canvas. 130 x 97 cm. Courtesy the artist and Super Dakota. Photo: © Augustin Jacob.

Adrian Geller at Super Dakota

Beaux-Arts de Paris graduate Adrian Geller is the focus of Super Dakota's Liste presentation this year.

Creating poetic paintings of animals and individuals in remote, faraway lands, Geller's paintings dive into the complex relationship between the male psyche and the modern world. Often depicting suited men, his characters personify the archetype of labour while manifesting all-consuming feelings of melancholy.

Geller had a successful first solo exhibition at the Brussels-based gallery last year, and this sell-out the presentation at Liste spells an exciting road ahead for the young artist.

Martin Aagaard Hansen at Union Pacific

This russet-toned painting by Copenhagen-based Martin Aagaard Hansen makes up the other half of Union Pacific's strong dual presentation, alongside Nova Jiang.

Included in his solo exhibition at the gallery earlier this year, this 2021 work encapsulates the spiralling and organic patterns that are characteristic of Hansen's abstract realms.

Hansen's paintings reflect his experiences foraging in the forest of Hareskoven on the outskirts of Copenhagen, with their dream-like surfaces embodying his wanderings, while his education in printmaking shines through as he builds up and scrapes back the multiple layers of oil paint.

Graduating from his MA in Fine Arts from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2015, Hansen has had solo exhibitions at galleries including Salon 75, Magasin lotus, and Kunsthal Rønnebæksholm in Copenhagen, as well as galleri Jacob Bjørn in Århus.

Tosh Basco at Company

Tosh Basco's drawings, made by pressing her makeup and paint-covered body onto paper, are reminiscent of the iconic 'body prints' by influential postwar American artist, David Hammons.

Improvisational mark-making on paper was a new direction that Basco adopted from the underground drag scene in San Francisco. Adopting the technique as a means of reflecting on the 'nonverbal and affective realms of grief', a series of the paper pieces were presented at Zurich's Karma International last year.

It could be said that 2021 was Basco's breakout year, with three impressive (and debut) solo exhibitions at Karma International, Carlos/Ishikawa, and Company Gallery. Last summer, the artist presented a 21-hour performance at London's Serpentine Gallery, entailing a simple meditation on Etel Adnan's poem 'No Sky'.