This fall I have visited FRIEZE London, Art Vilnius in Lithuania and Artissima in Turin, but it didn’t get much better than October in Paris.  The city of love and now, I think, the European capital of art.

After many closed discussions and anticipation Paris + opened its doors to the public. While for me Grand Palais Éphémère is only the temporary home of Paris + it created a buzz like no other. Many international collectors came, some even sidestepped FRIEZE to prioritize the art markets’ newest adventure. Well, it did not disappoint, the halls were packed. International curators, advisors and collectors strolled through the busy aisles and the strong dollar helped turn conversations into sales. And then sales quickly turned into sold out booths and celebratory galleries.

The Éphémère was a difficult venue to manage, and the layout was less than optimal with too few café points, many long lines for water and even longer ones for VIP Room access, its gave me the taste of what was to come. Certainly an exciting new embarkment for the future editions.

The artwork might have been safe, but according to The Art Newspaper, galleries like David Zwirner made $11million in sales on the opening night. Sadie Coles apparently made $500,000 by the end of day one and Perrotin $450,000. In the emerging section, similar vigorousness was seen as well with Seventeen Gallery selling out their booth by 2pm to one collector from the USA.  Selma Feriani from Tunisia/London and Efremidis Gallery had similar results which were expected with their stellar presentations.

Across Paris too, all the major galleries presented some amazing shows. Mariane Ibrahim showed Yukimasa Ida, kammel mennour showed Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, Perrotin showed Genesis Belanger, Gagosian showed Jennifer Guidi, so you can see I was among the best of the best.

Of course,as always Paris is not just about the main course. I experienced other great fairs such as Asia Now, at its new location, Monnais de Paris, and in its seventh year. A fabulous historical building in the heart of Paris alongside the Seine. It was great to see many familiar VOLTA galleries there from Roya Khadjavi Projects, Artemis Art, Sardaripour Art Gallery, Pygmalion and Mark Hachem from Paris/Beirut and Bavan Gallery from Iran.

Paris was for sure a new highlight on the global calendar that will interrupt the current scheme of things, for sure. That being said, it has been a particularly busy fall with many eye-catching presentations. FRIEZE opened its doors to another strong and solid edition. The first day alone saw approximately 30,000 people walk through their doors. Art Vilnius in Lithuania really surprised me.  It was a fabulous fair filled with mostly local and regional galleries, but the art was high quality. This is definitely a visit I will be making again, especially since our VOLTA galleries, Meno Parkas and Arka were there.

Artissima was once again ver elegant and conceptual this year. This fair felt more regional than it has ever felt, but nevertheless expected with the global pandemic still lurking in the corner. That being said, seeing the beautiful exhibitions presented by past VOLTA galleries, Bavan Gallery (Iran) and  Doris Ghetta were refreshing to say the least.

This fall has only energized me to see what the piéce de résistance will be in Miami this year. If its anything like I assume, it will send 2022 off correctly and make way for an excellent year to come. First up for us is VOLTA NYC, alongside FRIEZE, May 17-21. Applications open now.