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Viewing Art Basel Paris 2025 at the Grand Palais

The Wick Culture - Art Basel Paris. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Art Basel Paris. Courtesy of Art Basel

The Wick Culture - Gagosian, Pierre Paul Rubens. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Gagosian, Pierre Paul Rubens. Courtesy of Art Basel

The Wick Culture - Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Ugo Rondinone. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Ugo Rondinone. Courtesy of Art Basel

The Wick Culture - Sprüth Magers. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Sprüth Magers. Courtesy of Art Basel

The Wick Culture - Tima Jan Gallery, Lee Shinja. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Tima Jan Gallery, Lee Shinja. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Art Basel Paris. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Gagosian, Pierre Paul Rubens. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Ugo Rondinone. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Sprüth Magers. Courtesy of Art Basel

Above Tima Jan Gallery, Lee Shinja. Courtesy of Art Basel

Art Basel Paris 2025

Grand Palais
Paris
October 24 – 26, 2025

From 24–26 October 2025, Art Basel Paris continues the European marathon of fairs under the historic glass roof of the Grand Palais, gathering 206 galleries from 41 countries—an affirmation of both global reach and Paris’s local artistic vitality. The main “Galeries” sector continues to feature blue‐chip names and major works spanning modern, post-war and contemporary art, while the “Emergence” section gives visibility to younger galleries and emerging artists. Head to “Premise” for thematic curatorial projects.

The fair’s Public Program extends beyond the fair halls: large-scale installations and art interventions appear around Paris in venues such as Avenue Winston-Churchill, Place Vendôme, the Cité de l’architecture and more. A highlight this year is the “Oh La La!” initiative, curated by fashion documentarian Loïc Prigent under the theme “À la mode”, blurring the boundary between art and fashion that Paris is famous for.

Standout booths for 2025’s edition include Tina Kim Gallery’s rare presentation of Lee ShinJa (Korea) whose five-decade practice of fiber-based abstraction is only now gaining broader recognition outside East Asia, bridging textile tradition and contemporary abstraction. Also see Jala Wahid’s sculptures referencing blindfolded abstracted horses, a camping mattress and helmet — exploring themes of military invasion and forced migration – at Sophie Tappeiner in Emergence. For the headliners, see Thaddeus Ropac in the “Galeries” sector, where a cross-generational includes Louise Bourgeois, Tracey Emin, Charline von Heyl, Mark Manders and Cecilia Vicuña.

Viewing Electric Kiln at Rajan Bijlani

The Wick Culture - Rajan Bijlani, Electric Kiln. Photo Credit Rich Stapleton. Courtesy of Rajan Bijlani

Above Rajan Bijlani, Electric Kiln. Photo Credit Rich Stapleton. Courtesy of Rajan Bijlani

Electric Kiln

Rajan Bijlani
By appointment only
10 October – 16 November 2025

Rajan Bijlani is a collector and dealer of 20th century art and design, who last year opened his home and collection to the public for the first time, with an exhibition of artists and designers of South Asian heritage. In time for Frieze week, Bijlani is extending this invitation once again with a new exhibition at his London base, originally designed as a studio for the ceramic artist Emmanuel Cooper.

Electric Kiln pays homage to this history of the space, exploring into the ceramic works of Cooper and Lucie Rie, juxtaposed with charcoal drawings by Frank Auerbach, presented on Chandigarh tables and desks, and amidst a collection of modernist furniture pieces by Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier. It is a stunning, three-floor show with a synergy of tones, textures and materials between these approaches, made immersive in this intimate setting overlooking Primrose Hill.

And at the centre is the electric kiln – both a tool and a metaphor, a machine for firing clay but also the site of transformation. This spirit is what guides the exhibition – as the title suggests – positing the idea of London itself as a kiln, a place where the creative practices of Cooper, Rie and Auerbach, who all arrived in the city early in their careers, flourished and forged new ideas. It’s a poignant, timely love letter to London and to the pursuit of beauty that happens here.

Viewing The Land Sings Back at The Drawing Room

The Wick Culture - Manjot Kaur, The Convocation of Eagles (detail), 2025, Gouache and watercolour on wasli paper, 60 x 90 cm, Courtesy of the artist and mor charpentier, Paris, © Manjot Kaur

Above Manjot Kaur, The Convocation of Eagles (detail), 2025, Gouache and watercolour on wasli paper, 60 x 90 cm, Courtesy of the artist and mor charpentier, Paris, © Manjot Kaur

The Wick Culture - Lado Bai Peeple ka ped (Peepal Tree), early 1980s, gouache on paper, 71.5 x 50.8 cm, courtesy Rob Dean Art

Above Lado Bai Peeple ka ped (Peepal Tree), early 1980s, gouache on paper, 71.5 x 50.8 cm, courtesy Rob Dean Art

The Wick Culture - Charmaine Watkiss The warrior exercises the right to dissent, 2025, coffee, water soluble graphite, pencil, coloured pencil, watercolour & shell gold on paper, 76 x 56 cm, courtesy the artist

Above Charmaine Watkiss The warrior exercises the right to dissent, 2025, coffee, water soluble graphite, pencil, coloured pencil, watercolour & shell gold on paper, 76 x 56 cm, courtesy the artist

The Wick Culture - Otobong Nkanga Subsidence, 2025, acrylic and carbon on paper, 28.8 x 21 cm © Otobong Nkanga; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery

Above Otobong Nkanga Subsidence, 2025, acrylic and carbon on paper, 28.8 x 21 cm © Otobong Nkanga; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery

Above Manjot Kaur, The Convocation of Eagles (detail), 2025, Gouache and watercolour on wasli paper, 60 x 90 cm, Courtesy of the artist and mor charpentier, Paris, © Manjot Kaur

Above Lado Bai Peeple ka ped (Peepal Tree), early 1980s, gouache on paper, 71.5 x 50.8 cm, courtesy Rob Dean Art

Above Charmaine Watkiss The warrior exercises the right to dissent, 2025, coffee, water soluble graphite, pencil, coloured pencil, watercolour & shell gold on paper, 76 x 56 cm, courtesy the artist

Above Otobong Nkanga Subsidence, 2025, acrylic and carbon on paper, 28.8 x 21 cm © Otobong Nkanga; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery

The Land Sings Back

The Drawing Room
25 September 2025 – 14 December 2025

If you want to get away off the beaten path this week, The Wick recommends a trip to Bermondsey to see The Land Sings Back, a special collaboration between the Drawing Room and Colomboscope – a contemporary art festival and creative platform for interdisciplinary dialogue in Sri Lanka founded in 2013.

The beautifully curated group show reimagines our relationship with our breathing planet, through the vibrant, enquiring and delicate works of thirteen artists from South Asia, Africa and the Carribean, who each delves into their ancestries and inherited wisdoms to consider environmental justice, and drawing’s potential as an active agent of social histories.

The vivid, contemplative and evocative works by artists including Shiraz Bayjoo, Otobong Nkanga, Rupaneethan Pakkiyarajah, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, and Charmaine Watkiss, disentangle drawing from its colonial uses and reinstate it as a tool for transference of indigenous knowledge, ecological and philosophical meanderings.