The Meridian Room, curated by Magalí Arriola, presents innovative proposals such as “Earth Play” by Korean Seung-taek Lee.
Art Basel Miami Beach opened its doors to the new and successful Art Basel Paris Inaugurated at the end of October. Due to the proximity of the dates, some predictions were ominous: there were fears that not as many collectors, especially Europeans, would come. However, the fair has regained its ability to create the desire to arrive and be the first to see and buy, having already achieved impressive sales. Some galleries have already confirmed their sales rankings, such as: Hauser and Wirthwho sold a painting by Philip Guston in 20 million USD, or Thaddeus Ropac which sold for $1.7 million per year Robert Rauschenberg. Also David Zwirner reported that it sold three Robert Ryman from the 1960s between 2 and 3 million US dollars each. But this is a big league, and some collectors say some galleries have already booked and pre-sold their doors well in advance of opening.
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This year, 277 galleries from around the world are taking part in the event, which is presented as a cultural but also commercial oasis that seemingly ignores wars, poverty and terrorism.
Art Basel Miami Beach It's a grand stage where connoisseurs and the general public come together to see the sophisticated alongside the amazing, the most technical alongside the kitschy. The fact is that art has long ceased to be sacred, but rather a very secular practice in which the objects of ordinary and everyday life can merge with the fiction of art. And what is there to see among so many artists whose works strive for privileged visibility? I always start by looking at the best galleries that deliver modern and contemporary artists Most prominent.
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They are predominantly North American. This year Aquavela And Helly Nahmad They brought some relevant works with them. I don't think this issue is their best effort, but they don't disappoint either. Nahmad brought with him a painting of the Great One Wassily Kandisky 1930, almost the last period, especially considering that the father of abstraction in Western art painted his first abstract watercolor in 1910. He also exhibits a huge work Francis Bacon 1990: Even if it is a late work, who wouldn't want to own a painting by the restless Brit, who painted portraits of his lovers and himself in a distinctive style and postulates a new figuration transfigured and deformed? But the one that gets the honor this year in the same gallery is a large mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder the sixties. There are several Calders at the fair, but this is the most important.
Alexander Calder's 1960s mobile sculpture stands out in the Helly Nahmad Gallery.
Regarding the gallery AquavelaThis year brought two small paintings of two large ones: a portrait of Henri Matisse and a female figure of Pierre Bonnard. Another highlight is a Jackson Pollock Medium from 1943, the year in which the collector Peggy Guggenheim – she became his gallery owner at the time – he commissioned him to create a large mural for his apartment. During these years, Pollock became the quintessential American artist and gained fame for his magnificent action paintings. Although we can see several at the fair Jean Michel BasquiatIn Aquavela There is a great painting by the artist that is very strange as it is quite a departure from the more graffiti paintings we are used to. In this 1986 work, the artist literally painted a duck on a background of blue and green areas, without any symbols, words or doodles. There was no way I would take this painting home. If you give me the choice, I'm a little more demanding.
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In the gallery Annely Juda Fine Artfrom LondonI saw a pendant (two pieces that fit together) from the Hungarian woman Laszlo Moholy Nagy. They are two large oil paintings on Formica from 1942, for which they asked me $1.25 million each. Nagy was there at the time Chicago He taught at his own design school, bringing his experiences and knowledge from the 1920s when he was a professor there bauhaus from Weimar. In the Chicago period, Nagy returns to the abstraction of his beginnings, but this time with a more vibrant color palette, like the one that fascinated me in these pieces.
Pendant of the Hungarian Laszlo Moholy Nagy from 1942, two oil paintings on Formica in the Annely Juda Fine Art gallery.
Another exquisite work I would take home is an African Mermaid, a small bronze sculpture by the emerging Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu. The piece on display in the gallery Carolina Nitsch from New York is a limited bronze edition of nine pieces and this is the last of them, for which they are asking $85,000. I also walked through the gallery Skarstedt and I fell in love with a self-portrait of Robert Mapplethorpe from 1980, a gelatin silver print that has already sold for $350,000. Photographs also take up a prominent place at the fair: two huge works by teenagers in a spa can be seen Rineke Dijkstra in the gallery Marian Goodmanor the brothers’ iconic silo images Bernd and Hilla Becher in the gallery Sprüth Magers.
Another work I would take home is a small oil painting of this Yayoi Kusama issued in Edward Tyler Nahem. Although it is the typical polka dot pumpkin the artist creates, it is painted in black and white. The small details make the work a delightful piece. But sometimes that doesn't work given the monumental size and is well illustrated by a large metal pumpkin by the same artist that can be found at David Zwirner.
Limited edition bronze by Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu at Carolina Nitsch Gallery at Art Basel Miami Beach.
The monumental invades the fair: it is impossible not to see scaled utensils and objects that stand out in the exhibition space. This is the case with a large red garden shovel by the well-known pop sculptor Claes Oldenburg exhibited in the gallery Paula Cooper. Another work of enormous dimensions is a male figure made of bronze patinated plaster by the renowned German artist Thomas Schüttethrough which Peter Freeman Inc. is asking $1.8 million. The work of Ai Weiwei It's not far behind either. This year there are several giant paintings made from Lego bricks. His works represent works of great masters such as “A Sleeping Venus” from the Renaissance. Giorgione exhibited in the gallery Keep going for which they are asking a whopping $863,000, or Washington Crosses the Delaware, which measures 383 by 651 centimeters and is on display in a gallery at Berlin.
If we go to section meridianthis year the space was curated by Magali ArriolaDirector of Tamayo Museum from Mexico. Among the works, I liked the work “Earth Play” by the Korean artist the most Seung-taek Lee. This is the photographic record of a performance by the artist in 1990, in which he moved a seven meter high inflatable globe in many locations around the world, which is also on display in the industry. In this direction, the world is losing air, fulfilling the metaphor of the fragility of our planet. Another more playful work is the Japanese installation Hyakki Yagho, Night Parade of 100 Demons from 2003 Masako Mikia series of colorful biomorphic sculptures for the public to interact with.
On interaction with the audience: “Hyakki Yagho, Night Parade of 100 Demons from 2003” by the Japanese Masako Miki at Art Basel Miami Beach.
I really enjoy coming to trade fairs as a spectator, exchanging tastes or differences of opinion, talking with friends and family about what I see: marveling or criticizing. But it's not just us Art Basel but many more parallel suggestions within it Miami Culture dressed in art during these six days.
Patricia Pacino has a degree in art and is the director of Maman Fine Art Buenos Aires.
Photos: Nacho Martin Films (@nachomartinfilms)