by Susanna Peredo Swap
April 8, 2025
Last week, the world’s arts community gathered in Paris, France for one of it’s most important modern and contemporary art festivals. Set in the city’s majestic Grand Palais, ART : PARIS welcomed seasoned art professionals, business and finance leaders, collectors and the greater community of novice culture-seekers. ART: PARIS 2025 was no sleepy stroll through contemporary art—it was a visceral, sometimes cheeky, often sublime collision of humanity’s contradictions. Bold, brilliant, and unforgettable.
In its boldest festival yet, this year ART: PARIS 2025 hosted 170 exhibitors from 25 different countries. According to the event website, the 27th edition of the fair is “more than ever committed to supporting young galleries and emerging artists.” The festival’s VIP program also included collector tours, prizes and panel discussions on two main themes: Immortal : A Focus on Figurative Painting in France by Amélie Adamo and Numa Hambursin and Out of bounds by Simon Lamunière – “exploring contemporary creation as seen through the prism of multiethnicity and the hybridisation of forms and cultures, while addressing questions such as origins, gender, kinship, history and geography.”
The main entrance to the festival was anchored by two MONUMENTAL mythological creatures: the Ladyhare and the Minotaur by French-British artist Sophie Ryder, represented by Gowen Contemporary in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 2009, Gowen Contemporary represents close to 20 emerging and well-established artists from all over the world. They also collaborate with other galleries, including their artists in curatorial projects. I had the pleasure of interviewing the Founder and Director of Gowen Contemporary, Laura Gowen.
“I was fascinated by the monumental dimensions of her work,” stated Gowen. “These two colossal pieces [by Sophie Ryder] are emblematic, and they are amazing here in this special place. The medium [wire] – they are completely hand-made by the artist. She also has a more conventional version in bronze shown here in our booth.”
According to Sophie Ryder‘s website, the artist famously “developed the Ladyhare as a counterpart to Ancient Greek mythology’s Minotaur.” Indeed, the two pieces provide a moment of whimsy and surprise despite their imposing size and the Minotaur’s traditionally violent nature referenced in ancient Greek mythology.
“I like to show who the artists really are and sometimes you cannot do this in a gallery because obviously, you are not a museum. So, festivals like ART:PARIS are a good opportunity because they are an intersection of many different worlds in art. You have an encounter with different actors: galleries, artists, museums and the financial world is here with advisors, collectors [to support large scale installations like this]; so, it’s a different dialogue and this I find very interesting.”
Gowen shared her firm belief in empowering emerging artists by showing their work alongside very well-known, established and mid-career artists at her gallery in Geneva. “I want to underline the idea that every artist has been an unknown artist. The walls are completely democratic. I don’t want the audience to be influenced by the idea of value.”
To make a further connection with the MONUMENTAL pieces on view at the entrance, Gowen Contemporary’s booth for ART:PARIS featured works that are mythological or at the intersection of animal and human. These included works by Pakistani artist Waseem Ahmed who uses the traditional medium for Pakistani miniatures (Gouache with pure gold leaf), reinventing references to mythology and his cultural heritage to talk about very contemporary themes.
Ahmed asserts that the artistic essence of Miniature Painting is “governed by the principles of perspective, pigment, technique, simplification, and natural elements.”
“The four works shown here represent the idea of victory” continued Gowen. “The symbol of victory is half black, and the victory character is holding a golden pen, suggesting that history is written by the victors. There are civilizations that are born from the ashes of other civilizations, so ‘are we condemned to repeat history over and over without learning anything?’”
Many of the works on view included investigations into human nature and our connection to the earth such as Sylvie Lambert’s haunting 2-D acrylic on canvas works as well as the colorful frogs, animals and “crochet paintings” of Joana Vasconcelos which take the concept of traditionally abstract paintings typically made by men and give them 3-dimensional, more feminine qualities. Certainly a standout collection of works.
I also had the opportunity to speak with the charming Director of Galerie Capazza, Laura Capazza-Durand about her booth’s visually-striking black and white, textural, and immersive installation by French artist Anaïs Lelièvre. Comprised of both paper and ceramic works, with print replicas set across the floor, viewers were treated to the sense of traversing a landscape of black volcanic stone and ice. The works were created as a result of Anaïs’ first artist residency in Iceland and her complete shock when encountering its surreal landscape. For ART :PARIS, the original large-scale installation was taken apart and reinstalled with a new configuration. Galerie Capazza’s booth was easily one of the most visually impactful at the fair.
“What is interesting about Anaïs Lelièvre’s work is that she mixes drawing and volume, mostly through ceramic works” stated Capazza-Durand. “For Anaïs’ time, it was very daring to mix ceramics and art. It was considered very edgy but now of course, it is much more accepted in the contemporary art world.”
Going from artist residency, to artist residency around the world, Anaïs focuses mostly on strong geological places of interest.
“Anaïs wants to be in relationship with the land where she is working and she found that the best way to do that is to work with the land itself—with the clay, experimenting with the stone, experimenting with fusions and the ground itself. So in a way, it’s a way to inhabit this world and to be present and to receive what the place has to give and to give it back through her art to the public.”
Located in the center of France, Galerie Capazza is among the region’s most respected institutions, representing 90 permanent artists including painters, draughtsmen, photographers, sculptors, glass artists, and silversmiths. Capazza-Durand is a second-generation galerist and director of her family’s cultural center. I asked how she selects the artists that are represented in their space and she immediately responded with a broad smile.
“Their common bond is the relationship between mind, heart and hand. It means that we show artists who of course, have a conceptual idea of their work but their expression is through their hands. Sometimes it could be obvious to say that but many artists nowadays, they think but they don’t do. They ask other people to do the work for them. For us it is very important that the artist is a total artist.
Working directly with the materials teaches you and it nourishes you” she continues. ” Especially through accidents. Such as Anaïs’ work here. For example the ceramic was not fully cooked which made it more porous and therefore she was able to infuse ink and have it be absorbed, creating a completely different effect.”
With such an expansive space in Nançay, France, Capazza-Durand has the luxury of showing a variety of artists at once but the challenge for art fairs like this is selecting an artist that is compelling enough, regardless of their popularity to intrigue audiences to explore the gallery’s larger mission and collection of artists.
“Showing in important fairs like this, of course there is a cost so when you show emerging artists, of course it is risky. But I always say, if you do not want to take a risk, you should be doing something else.”
I asked if the selection of this particular artist aimed to leave a broader message for the thousands of people who would interact with it throughout the weekend.
“Yes, a very strong one actually” Capazza-Durand shared. “I think it’s important to imagine that we are just one with nature you know, and if people can feel that looking at the works, maybe they can be a bit more respectful for what we have. For the earth, for the chance that we have to be here, I think that would be a nice message for people to take away from this exhibition.”
