Art Genève 2025 an Unexpected Microcosm of Optimism

Spotlight / Photolog Art Genève 2025: In Photos

Set against the backdrop of the Swiss Alps, this year’s edition of Art Genève (30 January–2 February 2025) featured around 80 modern and contemporary art galleries largely from Europe and the U.S., with representation from Asia and the Middle East, hosted in the fair’s longtime venue, the Palexpo convention centre.

Emerging and established Swiss galleries shared a strong presence. The booth of Blue Velvet, a Zurich project space founded in 2021 by Pier Stuker Alvarez, felt achingly timely for the recent death of artist-filmmaker David Lynch, whose 1986 film of the same name saw him nominated for an Academy Award. (The image of Lynch himself featured in a mirror-aluminium print by Swiss artist Julian-Jakob Kneer.)

A few hours into preview day on 29 January, Blue Velvet had sold works by Marie Matusz and Mónica Mays. ‘We’ve brought almost 70 percent of our programme,’ Stuker Alvarez told Ocula. ‘We wanted to make a presentation to the western part of Switzerland, since we’ve never done the fair [Art Genève].’

Another first-time participant was Contemporary Fine Arts (Berlin/Basel), whose booth opened with a heel-wearing resin limb sculpture by Sarah Lucas. Director Katharina Hajek was positive about the receptiveness towards sculpture in the city. ‘That’s what Geneva is known for—materiality,’ Hajek said.

A painting by young Swiss painter Louisa Gagliardi was the face of Galerie Eva Presenhuber‘s booth. Presenhuber noted being ‘very happy’ about visitors’ responses to Gagliardi’s works, and noted that Ugo Rondinone‘s new small-scale lake paintings and mountain sculptures were ‘very well received among collectors and curators alike’.

Rondinone’s work also featured in the group presentation of Paris gallery Mennour. Sales director Xaver von Mentzingen cited strong interest in the works of Rondinone, Petrit Halilaj, and Alicja Kwade, with Kwade’s work placed within the first few hours of preview day, along with a work by Tadashi Kawamata. ‘It’s quite a dynamic start,’ von Mentzingen said.

A five-metre-long embroidered work by Barthélémy Toguo dominated the booth of Galerie Lelong & Co. (Paris/New York). Managing director François Dournes told Ocula: ‘We have noticed a very good quality of presentations in the fair.’

Asia-based galleries were represented by the likes of Tang Contemporary and Busan gallery LEE & BAE. Kelvin Lee, global director of LEE & BAE, reported sales of an oil painting by Jinwook Yeom for 54,000 USD and an engraved glass piece by Sangmin Lee for 23,000 USD. ‘We’re definitely seeing many collectors who are interested in Korean art,’ Lee said, noting he was ‘very optimistic’ for the gallery’s first participation in the fair.

Willa Yip, director of Tang Contemporary’s Hong Kong outpost, emphasised the gallery’s aim to promote Chinese artists in Europe, both emerging and established. On preview day, Tang had placed works by Jade Ching-yuk Ng and Woo Kukwon in the range of 18,000–75,000 EUR.

Prix Solo, the fair’s prize for the best solo exhibit, was awarded to Richard Saltoun’s presentation of paintings by the late Algerian artist Baya, with works by Baya acquired by Geneva’s Musée d’art moderne et contemporain. Director Niamh Coghland told Ocula: ‘It’s the first time that we’ve ever shown her work, so we wanted to give a particular focus on her works spanning several decades to show the way that she progressed as an artist.’

Founded in 2012 in Switzerland’s second most populous city, Art Genève has become an established event in the European winter art calendar. In 2016, Art Genève launched the annual summer French Riviera fair, Art Monte-Carlo, which this year is set to take place from 7 to 9 July. —[O]

Main image: Art Genève (30 January–2 February 2025). Courtesy Art Genève. Photo: Julien Gremaud.