Artissima (Turin, October 31–November 2, 2025) has just concluded, and we have selected for you some galleries that stood out in this edition for their choice of artists, the care of their stand, and the quality of their proposal. While this is certainly not a happy moment for the art market, the opinions recorded appear contrasting for the 32nd edition of Artissima, the fourth curated by Luigi Fassi. The title Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth is inspired by the work of the same name by Richard Buckminster Fuller from 1969.
The influx of the public at the fair appears reduced both on the preview day (October 30 by invitation) and in the following days. Yet, the collectors did not miss the appointment, and the week dedicated to Turin art does not chase away the enthusiasm. The city is animated by the Luci d’artista that light up the night, like the new installation by Chiara Camoni on the 43rd floor of the Regional Skyscraper: Sciami. Above all, it offers art lovers a bouquet of exhibitions that meet different tastes.
Very valid the exhibitions inaugurated at the GAM. First and foremost the photographic exhibition by Linda Fregni Nagler Anger Pleasure Fear and NIGHTS. Five centuries of stars, dreams, full moons.
At the Castello di Rivoli opens the solo exhibition Enrico David. Domani Torno while OGR pulses with the video and installations of the French artist Laure Provost WE FELT A STAR DYING. Not to be missed is the group exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Fondazione Sandretto Rebaudengo and the politically tinged exhibition at Fondazione Merz: PUSH THE LIMITS 2 la cultura si sveste e fa apparire la guerra. One might say finally there is no attempt to hide behind a finger!
Let’s now see which galleries to keep an eye on, not so much at the fair but in their annual journey.
Romero Paprocki and Monica De Cardenas
At Romero Paprocki there are four artists with different languages but who share elegance and refinement of language: the installations of the Brazilian Alexandre Nitzsche Cysne, the aluminum plates welded into thin opalescent strips by the Italian-French artist Matisse Mesnil born in Castiglion Fiorentino, the paintings of the Korean Kai Chun Chang that imprison rainbows with marble dust and the figurative ones with a surreal taste by Simon Pasieka.
From Monica De Cardenas the charcoal works of Emilio Gola and the refined drawings of Nikki Maloof.
Wentrup
We discussed with Lucia Longhi, director of the Venetian branch of Wentrup. The feedback was positive:
«WENTRUP is a German gallery founded 20 years ago in Berlin, we are participating for the second time at Artissima and for the second time we declare ourselves satisfied with the results we have obtained.
I have been attending Artissima for 13 years, and I have had the opportunity to explore it from different angles as a curator, advisor, and journalist. I am therefore well aware that, while on one hand, Artissima is distinguished by excellent opportunities for institutional meetings, on the sales front, it can sometimes present a rough edge.
This positive result therefore pleasantly surprises me, while being aware that it is the fruit of our two years of work in the Italian and Venetian territory, as well as the merit of the actual skill of our artists, who capture the attention.
We sold well, from the very first day of preview, both to our historic collectors, but especially to Italian collectors we met last year at Artissima, and also to new and foreign collectors. We will definitely do Artissima again next year!
We have sold:
David Renggli (Swiss artist) at 34,000 euros,
Gregor Hildebrandt (German artist of great stature) at 18,000 euros,
Nevin Aladag (Turkish, Venice Biennale 2017) at 28,000 euros,
Olaf Metzel (historical German artist) at 28,000 euros,
Desire Moheb – Zandi (young Turkish-French artist) at 7,500 euros
This year the fair is providing emotions and satisfactions, with a pool of extremely interesting and international collectors and a positive sales trend – from what I have found also by talking with different colleagues.
In general, the fair is going well on the sales front: several galleries have made the choice to bring works at a lower price range compared to last year.
Lower prices, more sellable works, between 2 and 20 thousand euros».
Alberta Pane
Identity and gender policies, memory and perception, science of the visible and the microscopic: the themes on which the booth of Alberta Pane focuses. The gallery based in Paris and Venice has focused on three artists.
Marco Godinho is the artist who immediately strikes us. On a stool, he has poured out the contents of the sugar packets he did not consume over the span of 10 years, drinking his coffee bitter.
Price range for artist of the works exhibited at the fair:
Marielle Chabal: from €6,000 to €12,000
Marco Godinho: from €4,500 to €18,000
Michelangelo Penso: from €3,500 to €4,800
Francesca Antonini
The Roman Francesca Antonini focuses on two historical artists from her stable. Works by both are sold already in preview. Alice Faloretti, whose fluid and cornucopian painting built through stratifications (almost geological overlays) of color manages to attract many collectors. Some works sold at the stand, range from 2,000 to 12,000.
The works of Simone Cametti brought to Artissima have a range from 3,500 to 5,500, the photographs capture the traces of an action located in the woods of Monviso. Cametti wanted to investigate the concept of albedo, a phenomenon that has to do with the refraction of bodies.
Gilda Lavia with Leonardo Petrucci and Marina Paris
The fair for the gallerist Gilda Lavia “opened discreetly with a good reception of the works presented by an interested audience, there was a good response in sales”.
Leonardo Petrucci in particular responds to this year’s theme with his paintings that connect micro and macro. A monkey is thus in contemplation of the starry sky and natural phenomena.
Traffic
At Traffic we also encounter this year the work of Daniele Di Girolamo. Thin metal rods have an abrasive brush at the upper end that some companies use for grinding, some of which rotate almost imperceptibly. Their head aesthetically resembles a thistle or a wildflower with a long, now dry stem. This installation aims to reflect on the upward momentum that now also characterizes cities with their skylines marked by skyscrapers. The sensation is that of an extreme cleanliness of the work often found in Di Girolamo. The installation composed of multiple stems is for sale at 10,000 euros but can also be purchased as a triptych of elements (3000 plus VAT) or a group of 4 (4000 plus VAT).
As the director of Traffic points out, the young artist manages to enhance the capacity of being poetic by acting in the field of contemporary art.
Galleria Umberto Di Marino
The stand of Umberto Di Marino stands out for the excellent selection of artists and their shared peculiar attention to the environmental theme. The vases shaped like a human face by Marco Giordano explode, welcoming the spontaneous plants that the soil has nourished.
The work of Marco Giordano, Asnatureintended, 2016 is offered at 3,000 euros + VAT.
Luca Francesconi creates a population of hybrid creatures: steel and iron stem and vegetables processed to remain intact for days. Untitled 6, 2025 by Luca Francesconi is offered at 13,000 + VAT while the work Tin Butterflies, 2025 by Guendalina Cerruti at € 6,000 + VAT.
Bliss
The Polish gallery Bliss brings a solo show of Ursula Broll, an artist not known to the industry audience. Her delicate watercolors evoke meditative spaces and the work of the recently rediscovered artist Hilma af Klimt.
ADA
Ada stands out for its booth characterized by works suspended between tension, emotional charge, willpower, and the ability to provide suggestions.
The selected artists are Lulù Nuti (Levallois-Perret, 1988, lives and works between Rome and Paris) and Alicja Pakosz (1996, Tychy, Poland). Nuti, also included among the artists of the Quadriennale in the section curated by Francesco Stocchi, is highly appreciated for her sculptural works. Serpentine bronze forms that twist, releasing an uncontrollable energy in the sharp extremities. A play of forces and soft lines, between tenacity and ductility, feminine and masculine characteristics that merge, a cry against stereotypes that overturn expectations.
The Polish artist Alicja Pakosz enchants with her imagery, the precision of her drawing, and her painting skill. Many of her works have indeed been sold.
Win win Vienna
A duo show for Vin Vin, a Viennese gallery that chooses to bring two artists: the sculptures of Lydia Ricci alternate with the canvases of Silvia Capuzzo. The price range starts from 2,000 up to 20,000 euros, excluding VAT. Vincenzo della Corte, founder of VIN VIN, states: “Satisfied with the sales. More international fair compared to previous years.”
Lydia Ricci (1973 King of Prussia, Pennsylvania) focuses her work on the human obsession with achieving happiness. She writes: “In this pursuit of joy, we often forget that much of life happens in the middle, in the small moments that connect our expectations to their outcomes”. The Letdown is a collection of tiny sculptures. They have been created over thirty years with scrap materials. In the stand, they are displayed on small suspended platforms, just below eye level.
The twelve small paintings by Silvia Capuzzo (1996, Merano) look at the theme of “creepy-cute”. In this way, ambiguity and the uncanny are rediscovered as forms of resistance to a standardized imaginary.
ArtNoble of Milan with the solo show
ArtNoble, a young gallery in Milan, represents artists such as Giulia Mangoni, Pietro Fachini, Luca Staccioli. The collector Andrea Vittoria Giovannini emphasizes how Matthew Noble (born in 1993) has a very rigorous selection and strongly believes in his artists. «He has a recipe that works. Artists, collectors, and dealers are of the same generation, thus sharing the same hunger and desire to grow. This leads to mutual support».
The stand at Artissima is a solo show by Jermay Michael Gabriel (Addis Ababa, 1997). The Italo-Abyssinian artist has a complex identity, divided in two by his roots. He undertakes an important historical recovery of the perspectives and narratives of both countries. For example, with the plaque-work “Via Ambara,” he problematizes an Italian saying by awakening the historical consciousness of the massacre. The same concept is shared in the plaque with the inscription “AOI,” an acronym for Italian East Africa: the artist crosses out the letter “I”.
It is a work of recovering words and expressions, a careful choice of terms, suitable to restore dignity to those who have been oppressed. For Andrea Vittoria Giovanni: «Talking about domination, presumption, and false superiority towards another people is a burning and current message, to be reiterated today more than ever. Despite its minimal, almost Northern European aesthetic, it appears less “appealing” compared to more explicit and seductive works, it has a lot of strength».
The gallery of Pescara A SUD
The gallery A SUD was founded in Pescara in 2021, co-founded by Sabrina Zimei and Massimiliano Scuderi.
For Artissima, the works of two artists who have had their solo exhibitions in recent years at the Pescara venue were presented: Gaelle Choisne and Adriano Costa. The first, born in the north of France but of Haitian mother, reconnects with her relationship with the traditional culture of origin, where the island becomes a privileged observatory on the world, addressing esoteric aspects or those related to post-colonial issues; Adriano Costa, born in São Paulo, where he lives and works, deepens his formal research through the relationship with materials, connecting rationality and spirituality. Artists like Hélio Oiticica or Lygia Clark have had a strong influence on him.
The two “attivisti” (2023) by Adriano Costa are offered at 10,900 euros each.
The Argentine gallery Rolf Art that rediscovers forgotten Latin American female artists
In the section Back to the Future we notice Rolf Art Gallery from Buenos Aires. The entire stand of the Argentine gallery is dedicated to Graciela Sacco (1956–2017) with the series Bocanada (1993–2013). Her works focus on political and social violence, observing human flows due to exiles and migrations.
Rosa Santos from Valencia and the Pipeline gallery in London
Rosa Santos from Valencia brings a stand entirely dedicated to the lyricism of Marina Gonzalez Guerreiro. The London gallery Pipeline focuses on the work of Giorgio van Meerwijk. The artist recovers the mythologies of the peoples and the use of medicinal plants in the distant and recent past.
The awards of Artissima
She has collaborated for many years with art magazines such as Artribune, XIBT Contemporary, ArtApp, Insideart and Espoarte, preferring contemporary art in its many facets and media drifts.
