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Art Brussels Keeps Getting Better at Being Itself

The fair this year delivered a smaller, sharper edition that, according to managing director Nele Verhaeren, offered visitors "a clearer and more engaging journey, at a slower pace."

At this year’s slightly contracted Art Brussels, the welcome began before the booths. At the entrance, by the ticketing and information desks, Natasja Mabesoone’s site-specific commission Cher mouths Mary, Mary mouths Cher set the tone. Presented with Gallery Sofie Van de Velde (Antwerp), the work wrapped the arrival zone in pinkish wallpaper and a language of glittered makeup and coded femininity. It turned the fair’s self-contained world into a tongue-in-cheek stage propelled by desire, while exposing the mechanics that shape the art spectacle.

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Inside Hall 5, Observer met managing director Nele Verhaeren, whose enthusiasm matched the room. “More than 500 artists are shown at the fair, the majority of them living, with an important proportion of women,” she said. The fair’s 42nd edition attracted 139 galleries from 26 countries—65 percent of which were returning participants—and the preview and subsequent days felt steady, with Belgian collectors joined by visitors from neighboring countries and gallerists reporting plenty of sales to younger buyers. “We have a redesigned layout that offers a clearer and more engaging journey, at a slower pace.”

Among the five sections, “Prime” was the largest, with 83 galleries mounting booths of modern and contemporary masters alongside established names. Belgian galleries from Mendes Wood DM and Xavier Hufkens to Almine Rech and Galerie Greta Meert made a strong showing. Tim Van Laere Gallery, based in Antwerp and Rome, stood out, pairing Rinus Van de Velde’s poetic charcoal drawings with Dennis Tyfus’s commanding Two Head Dog. Nearby, Brussels-local Sorry We're Closed brought a surprise: a totemic ceramic sculpture by Senegalese artist Seyni Awa Camara, who died last January.

But it was the returning exhibitors that really gave the event its international pulse. “We’re glad to be back after some years of absence,” said Thomas Krinzinger........

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