Credit: Philip Newton
With input from collectors, dealers, and fair directors, I rounded up these emerging galleries from three distinct regions: The Americas; Europe and Africa; and Asia and the Middle East. There is some range here—some are less than a year old or have just started to show at small satellite fairs; others have been around for a decade and have shown at one of the three Art Basel fairs—but all of these outfits share similar qualities. They have been started by former directors at larger shops; a trader at Goldman Sachs; critics who pivoted from reviewing shows to making them; and artists who converted studios to white cubes. These galleries bottle the energy of their distinct scenes and have founders ambitious enough to take their programs onto the global circuit.
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Mariane Ibrahim was raised in Somalia, and she’s used her connection to the continent to strengthen relationships with a crew of African artists who might not have received much exposure in the United States. While she’s brought Mariane Ibrahim Gallery to a number of fairs around the world—including ZONAMACO, Untitled San Francisco, and Frieze New York—she’s been based in Seattle, a city not particularly known for its African art scene. But earlier this year, Ibrahim announced she’d be making a move to Chicago, allowing her to insert herself into the city’s circuit of galleries.