At a time when international art fairs are reinventing themselves, Art Basel Paris is establishing itself as a space where creation, reflection, and commitment converge. With 206 exhibitions from renowned galleries, we met Aurélie Bernard Wortsman, director of the Andrew Edlin Gallery in New York, a researcher, curator, and visual artist whose work embodies a new generation of leading women in contemporary art: aware of the historical context, committed to invisible voices, and with a transatlantic perspective between the United States and Europe.
We spoke with her about the challenges of curating in the post-pandemic era, the evolving public response to increasingly political art, and her commitment to outsider art, a movement that celebrates authenticity and creative freedom.
“At Andrew Edlin Gallery, we have always been drawn to artists who challenge conventions and forge their own path,” explains Wortsman. “For years, we have championed works created outside of traditional frameworks, many of them linked to the history of art brut, a term coined by Jean Dubuffet in 1945 to describe art produced outside of academic or institutional settings.”
The gallery combines living and heritage artists, with a strong female presence: the estates of Beverly Buchanan and Paulina Peavy, alongside contemporary names such as Karla Knight and Esther Pearl Watson.
“Paris is the ville musée, a city steeped in art and history, and this cultural background gives Art Basel a special resonance. For us, participating here has particular significance because of the European roots of art brut,” says the curator.
The event, held at the Grand Palais, combines the heritage of the 1900 World's Fair with a new contemporary energy. “It's not just another stop on the fair circuit: it's an opportunity to situate our artists within a European intellectual heritage. The visibility is extraordinary: curators, collectors, and journalists from around the world gather, and the works enter a global conversation,” she says.
This year, the gallery presents a solo exhibition dedicated to Abraham Lincoln Walker (1921–1993), a self-taught painter from East St. Louis whose work was only discovered in 2024. “Walker embodies the spirit of the gallery: artistic autonomy, his own visual language, and overlooked histories. After the great reception in the United States, Paris offers the ideal setting to present his work to a European audience,” says Wortsman.