Artnet News editor Kate Brown hosts a podcast roundtable with three gallerists ahead of the 2025 edition of Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland. The fair features over 200 galleries and is set against a backdrop of a softening art market, with declining sales and cautious demand. The guests are Robbie Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick Gallery (who also founded the Art Basel Social Club), Lisa Offermann of LC Queisser (with spaces in Tbilisi and Cologne), and Freddie Powell of Ginny on Frederick (making its Art Basel debut). The discussion focuses on the challenges and strategies for emerging and mid-tier galleries selling works under $250,000.
This conversation matters because it shifts attention from the top-tier market to the vital emerging sector that discovers and nurtures new talent. In a contracting ecosystem, understanding how smaller galleries define success, adapt to uncertainty, and survive is crucial for the health and future diversity of the contemporary art world. The perspectives of these dealers offer a real-time, ground-level snapshot of the pressures and innovations shaping the market beyond the headline-grabbing blue-chip sales.