Always dynamic

Art Basel 24, Pace gallery

The art market is showing signs of an unusual level of dynamism. In times of growth, galleries with their structures of all sizes fearlessly strike out to conquer new territories, from China to the Middle East. And in times of recession, as is the case right now, they double down on their creativity to make themselves more glamorous and also more secure. At any rate this is what’s happening this week at the Art Basel fair in Basel, the multinational fair’s flagship show and largest event of its kind featuring 285 participants (See here the 2023 report about Art Basel).

Smaller galleries distress

Anna Udenberg (Meredith Rosen gallery)

We cannot dismiss the fact that in the world of today certain smaller galleries are in a state of great distress. Recently three of them announced their closure in the United States, Simone Subal, David Lewis and The Sigfrids, as well as in France, the contemporary photography gallery Réverbère in Lyon.

 Unlimited is remarquable

Miriam Cahn(Jocelyn Wolff)

In Basel, however, against all the odds, the idea has instead been to double down on the dynamism. The fair opened on 10 June with Unlimited, the huge space alongside the traditional fair intended to showcase large-format works, which are often less commercial. It’s been many years since we’ve seen such a spectacular display.

Noah Horowitz

The head of the Art Basel organization, Noah Horowitz, could hardly conceal his joy at the opening: “This year, Unlimited is characterized by works of an exceptional size with a historic character. I think, for example, that to date we have never hosted a work with dimensions comparable to the Haring shown this year.” (See here an other interview of Noah Horowitz)

Keith Haring

Keith Haring

He’s referring to the frieze brought by the Martos gallery in New York in collaboration with the Gladstone gallery. Composed of 18 panels and made by the talented American “street artist” Keith Haring (1958-1990) it was created in 1984 on New York’s East River Drive. In 1985 the panels marked with countless outlined figures were taken down. Today there are 18 left, spread across 47 metres (on sale for 22 million dollars).

Revisited pumpkin

Yayoi Kusama

At the opening, the famous dealer David Zwirner was himself present in front of a sculpture in the form of a black pumpkin with yellow dots revisited by Yayoi Kusama (born in 1929). As it happens the Japanese Pop artist created a flattened form extended over 5 metres in length and printed with undulating lines, as though the root vegetable had appeared in a dream. This large “screen” in painted bronze measuring 5.6 metres sold on the day of the opening for 5 million dollars.

Joan Mitchell

Joan Mitchell

When we ask David Zwirner if he’s been affected by the crisis he replies: “No. The start of 2024 was very satisfactory for us. The key is to offer quality. Which the auction houses didn’t do.” At his booth the New York gallerist sold a large-scale diptych for 20 million dollars by Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), the American painter who was the star of the New York auctions in May 2024 (See here the report about May 24 auctions).

Beetle by Christo

Christo

Gagosian, often considered to be the most powerful gallery in the world, specially brought to Unlimited a real Volkswagen Beetle. It was wrapped in 1964 by the most famous of the Bulgarian artists, Christo (1935-2020) (See here the report about the Christo retrospective at Pompidou).

Vladimir Yavachev

As his nephew Vladimir Yavachev, now head of the Christo & Jeanne-Claude foundation, reveals: “At the time Christo had wrapped this car, which he considered to be a symbol of freedom for all. But its owner very quickly rejected the fact that he couldn’t use it anymore and soon had it unwrapped. Of course he later bitterly regretted this act and once again asked Christo to wrap it. This was done in 2014.” (On sale for 4 million euros) (See here an other interview of Vladimir Yavachev).

Alicja Kwade

The Polish artist based in Berlin Alicja Kwade (born in 1979) often conceives hollowed-out metal structures studded with enormous stones, like on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum in 2019. At Unlimited she’s exhibiting a kind of giant double frame placed in the space upon which are placed two rocks in what looks like an off-balance position (See here an interview of Alicja Kwade in Paris).

Alicja Kwade

Surrealist political context

Alicja Kwade

One of the two, even more menacingly, seems to hang over a chair on which we are invited to sit. “It is about our position in society. We don’t feel reassured. We’re living in a surrealist political context,” explains the artist. (Presented, among others, by the Pace gallery and Kamel Mennour and on sale for 750,000 euros).

Dominique Fung

Talking of large formats, we can’t pass over the 28-metre-long painting by Canadian artist Dominique Fung (born in 1987) displayed by the Italian gallerist with an international presence, Massimo de Carlo (on sale for 650,000 dollars) (See here an interview of Massimo de Carlo). In its horizontal format it takes the idea from ancient Chinese imperial scrolls to tell the story of legendary creatures that explore earth and the seas. A spectacular epic journey in shades of yellow on black, between traditional Chinese drawings and surrealism.

Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin

In the “classic” space at the fair there are countless other high-quality works presented for millions of dollars, whereas ordinarily this price band is only sparingly made public so as to be presented in a targeted way. One of the stars of Art Basel 2024 is a painting marked with regular stripes in pale hues made in 1974 by the American painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004), displayed and sold on the first day by the multinational Pace gallery for an undisclosed sum (asking price: 12.5 million dollars).

Matisse, Kandinsky

Henri Matisse

In the same spirit we note the presence of a very harmonious still life by Matisse dating from 1949 from the American Acquavella gallery (on sale for 9 million dollars) (See here an interview of William Acquavella) and at the Canadian Landau gallery there’s a painting by Kandinsky from 1910 which was already displayed – we mentioned it – at the Tefaf Maastricht fair 2024 (See the report here), where it was listed for 50 million dollars.

Vassily Kandinsky

De Chirico

Giorgio de Chirico

The Tornabuoni gallery is exhibiting a series of paintings by Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), the Italian surrealist artist who spent his career repeating certain so-called “metaphysical” themes, with some variations. From the very first day, one of his paintings out of the five made between 1948 and 1960 was sold (on sale for between 1.2 and 1.7 million euros).

Surrealism

Joan Miro

The art world is impatiently preparing to visit the surrealist exhibition that will take place in September 2024 at the Centre Pompidou. In the meantime Mitchell-Innes & Nash from New York are showcasing a little gem, of which David Nash is a specialist. (See here an other interview of David Nash)

David Nash

It is a gouache made by Spanish surrealist Joan Miro (1893-1983) in 1956 for the American magazine Mademoiselle. “That year his studio was undergoing repairs. He didn’t make any paintings. The editor of the magazine, most likely a friend, commissioned an illustration from him.” He made this beautiful composition featuring three fantasy figures (on sale for around a million dollars).

Martin Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger

You could say the German contemporary artist Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997) is in some respects an heir to surrealism. At the booth of the Gisela Capitain gallery from Cologne, who represents the artist’s estate, we find one of his street lamps in which the lantern is placed in the middle of the post rather than at the top (on sale for 90,000 euros).

Gisela Capitain

“The idea of street lamps inspired him in the late 1980s because of the traditional images in which we see a drunk man leaning against a lamppost. He then created a lantern with bending forms that looks drunk. Then he designed a whole series in the same spirit. One of them is also being exhibited at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris,” explains Gisela Capitain.

The new big gap

Walking through the aisles of the largest fair of modern and contemporary art in the world, the impression that emanates is that there’s a growing gap between the dealers who trade artworks in the millions and the professionals with significantly more modest transactions who are struggling to keep business afloat. Both, however, are necessary for the art market ecosystem.

Maike Cruse

For Maike Cruse, the new director of the fair, “these challenges impact all categories indiscriminately and the initial results of the fair have been good at every level.”

Regardless, these changes undisputably play in favour of buyers who will now benefit from breathing room when negotiating prices.

Donald Judd ( Gagosian)

www.artbasel.com/basel?lang=en