Post-Fair Opens as Boutique Alternative Amid Paris Protest Closures
The invitation-only Post-Fair launches its Paris edition as Art Basel Paris shuts for weekend protests, featuring 35 galleries in historic venues with a truncated Saturday schedule prioritizing safety.
Post-Fair opens Saturday at 10 a.m. as a boutique, invitation-only alternative to conventional art fairs, closing at 1 p.m. instead of the evening. This inaugural Paris edition follows the fair's 2025 founding in Los Angeles by Chris Sharp, launching amid the closure of Art Basel Paris for weekend protests.
The fair features 35 galleries from 15 countries, with its first preview day on Monday drawing almost 1,000 attendees. It operates while the larger Art Basel Paris fair closes early on Friday, October 23, at 7 p.m. and remains shut for the weekend ahead of planned protests.
Venue and Layout Details
Post-Fair occupies a 17th-century hôtel particulier with vaulted stone ceilings and an Art Deco building across Rue du Temple. Exhibitors show one or two artists in open-plan layouts, with project spaces as small as a single wall.
Artist and Gallery Representation
The fair shows a mix of contemporary and historic works. Los Angeles gallery Nonaka-Hill presents works by Sawako Goda (1940-2016) and Kentaro Kawabata (born 1976). Goda's pieces include airbrushy Pop paintings and delicate Xerox photocopy prints of fish, while Kawabata creates porcelain hanging 'Spoon' sculptures with a marine or alien-life feeling.
A range of works on paper by New Zealand artist Susan Te Kahurangi King, who stopped speaking at age five and is described at 75 as the country's greatest living artist, are also featured. Parker Gallery shows paintings by Thornton Dial (1928-2016) and ceramic and collage crown sculptures by Sahar Khoury.
| Gallery/Artist | Work Type | Price Range |
|---|---|---|
| Susan Te Kahurangi King | Works on paper | $8,000 to $16,000 |
| Parker Gallery (Thornton Dial, Sahar Khoury) | Paintings, ceramic and collage sculptures | $8,000 to $75,000 |
| Aimée Parrot | Various works | £4,500 to £12,500 |
Safety Concerns and Protest Context
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu stated military forces from Operation Sentinelle will be deployed over the weekend. The Syndicat National des Artistes Plasticiennes pledged to protest outside Art Basel Paris on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Vincenzo de Bellis, Art Basel’s chief artistic officer, and Karim Crippa, the Paris fair’s director, issued instructions to galleries to keep representations intact until 7 p.m. on Friday. An anonymous gallerist confirmed that operations and dismantling instructions are still pending.
Robert Heald, a gallery owner from Wellington, New Zealand, showing at Post-Fair, stated that safety must come first. Post-Fair will close at 1 p.m. on Saturday amid these ongoing safety concerns.
