Lynda Benglis, Pattee, 1981. Bronze screen, plaster, gesso, oil base paint, gold leaf 14 1/2 x 13 x 4 inches 36.8 x 33 x 10.2 centimeters. One of the sculptures with which art galleries lure collectors to Art Basel. Image Cheim & Read

Art galleries lure collectors to Art Basel with exceptional artworks by emerging and famous artists to improve art sales as in-person art fair season continues.  

BY KAZAD

BASEL, SWITZERLAND- Art galleries from across the globe are currently competing to win collectors at Art Basel in Switzerland. As with other art fairs, they are exploring multiple strategies to make sure to match collectors with works by important artists. While some are curating shows specific to particular artists, others are presenting new projects.  From paintings to sculptures, textiles, and mixed media works, these art galleries are trying to outdo each other to get the attention of art lovers and collectors. 

Since the return of in-person art fairs around the globe, art galleries have been making accommodations in order to make their post-pandemic outings more fruitful. In Berlin, for instance, art dealers had to accommodate a rescheduling for the city’s Galley Weekend to ensure works by emerging talents are presented to collectors before dashing to Art Basel.

From a business point of view, the objective of art galleries is not just to attract young collectors, but also to welcome young ones who are just stepping into collecting art. It is for these reasons that many of the participating art galleries have works suitable for different levels of collectors.  

Since the return of in-person art fairs around the globe, art galleries have been making accommodations to make their post-pandemic outings more fruitful.

Despite all the restrictions, there seems to be some excitement that people can experience art in person. Coming soon after The Armory Show, there are expectations that the excitement will carry on to other art fairs as the art fair season continues.

What to See at Art Basel as Art Galleries Lure Collectors

Gagosian Gallery

The Gagosian Gallery has on display works by famous and emerging artists. The list of artists includes Georg Baselitz, Glenn Brown, John Currin, Urs Fischer, Helen Frankenthaler, Titus Kaphar, Rick Lowe, Albert Oehlen, Sterling Ruby, and Mary Weatherford, among others.

Urs Fischer’s works are particularly stimulating. The artist uses different materials such as clay, steel, and paint, dirt, and produce to create works that are disorienting and bewildering.

In his sculptures, paintings, photographs, and large-scale installations, Fischer explores scale distortions, illusion, and the juxtaposition of common objects. The artist confronts themes of perception and representation while maintaining a witty irreverence and mordant humor.

For Fischer, art is something to enjoy. People seem to fear art. Art has always been a word for this thing that can’t be rationalized; when you see or hear something that you struggle to explain. But that’s its strength, of course, that’s what the word “art” is for,” he notes.

Urs Fischer studied photography at the Schule für Gestaltung in Zurich. He later lived in London and Los Angeles and shared a studio with Rudolf Stingel in both Berlin and New York.

Blum & Poe

Art Galleries Lure Collectors to Improve Art Sales

On view at Blum & Poe and Mendes Wood DM stand is a selection of works that art lovers will find engaging. The artists whose works are on display include Robert Colescott, Aaron Garber, March Avery, Mohamed Bourouissa, Theodora Allen, Tomoo Gokita, Julian Hoeber, Susumu Koshimizu, Yoshitomo Nara, Friedrich Kunath, Anna Park, Sam Durant, Mimi Lauter, Lonnie Holley, Eddie Martinez, Yukinori Yanagi, Yun Hyong–keun, Asuka Anastacia Ogawa, and  Zhu Jinshi.  

In this group, Zhu Jinshi is the artist to watch because his new works demonstrate how the artist has evolved and continues to evolve. Born in 1954 in Beijing, China, the artist interrogates the meaning of painting, abstraction, and the nature of reality itself. Over time, Zhu’s paintings have evolved into dense and expressive bodies of color and texture, commanding a near sculptural presence. His early exposure to the works of Wassily Kandinsky and Immanuel Kant serves as the gateway to modern art and theory.

The gallery is also presenting the work of Solange Pessoa during Art Basel Parcours.

 
Garth Greenan Gallery

Garth Greenan Gallery is presenting Howardena Pindell: Autobiography, an exhibition featuring four iconic paintings from the artist’s pivotal Autobiography series. They were created between 1985 and 1987. The paintings are appearing outside the United States for the first time. They reflect a difficult but formative period in the life of the artist. In 1979, a car accident left the artist with acute memory loss. That accident influenced Pindell’s subsequent creations. In her later works, the artist explored new ideas involving cutting and sewing strips of canvas into swirling patterns, before building up the surfaces in elaborate stages.

Cheim & Read

Cheim & Read has an exciting list of artists at this year’s Art Basel. It includes Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joan Mitchell, Lynda Benglis, Matthew Wong, Jack Pierson, Marco Pariani, Alice Neel, Sean Scully, Kimber Smith, Louise Bourgeois, and Lynda Benglis. Art lovers should watch out for  Lynda Benglis’s intriguing works. Benglis, who was born in 1941, rose to prominence in the late sixties, when her poured latex and foam works caught the attention of critics.  In her work, the artist explores the perception of the physicality of form and its impact on viewers. Her exploration of metaphorical and biomorphic shapes makes her unique.  The artist uses a wide range of materials to create metaphorical and biomorphic shapes that challenge viewers’ perceptions.

Lehmann Maupin

Lehmann Maupin is presenting a cross-section of the gallery’s program. Heidi Bucher, whose retrospective recently opened at the Haus der Kunst Munich, is at the core of the presentation. Also in the presentation are works by Kader Attia, who will curate the 12th Berlin Biennale in 2022. Major highlights of the gallery’s total display include works by McArthur Binion, Mandy El-Sayegh, Teresita Fernández, Shirazeh Houshiary, Lee Bul, Liza Lou, Arcmanoro Niles, OSGEMEOS, Angel Otero, Lari Pittman, Robin Rhode, Nari Ward, and Erwin Wurm.

Art lovers will find McArthur Binion’s work engaging. Born in 1946, Macon, MS, Binion lives and works in Chicago, IL. The artist combines collage, drawing, and painting to create autobiographical abstractions of painted minimalist patterns. Binion layers grid lines over an “under surface” of personal documents and photographs to create complexly layered works filled with messages. Binion holds a BFA from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI.

Gray

David Hockney’s photographic drawing titled Pictures at an Exhibition, 2018/2021, is at the core of Gray gallery’s presentation. Printed in a life-size scale for the first time, the works exemplify the artist’s embrace of new technologies in his artistic career.  The works on display reveal Hockney’s recent artistic direction of developing ‘photographic drawing’ by combining three-dimensional photography and modeling software. Pictures at an Exhibition is a meditation on the act of viewing art and the passage of time.

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery’s presentation includes works by artists working in different genres. They include Kelly Akashi, Martin Boyce, Sandra Cinto, Olafur Eliasson, Mark Manders, Ernesto Neto, Rivane Neuenschwander, Analia Saban, Tomás Saraceno, Thomas Scheibitz, Haim Steinbach and Gillian Wearing.

Read Also: Art Frair: Galleries, Artists and Rich Collectors Converge at Art Basel

One of the artists to watch in this group is Sandra Cinto, who uses a rich vocabulary of symbols and lines to create lyrical landscapes and narratives that hover between fantasy and reality. She begins her work with drawings, which are later transformed into illusionistic renditions of the universe. Cinto pushes the limits and possibilities of drawing with her work. Born in 1968 in Santo Andre, Brazil, Cinto currently lives and works in São Paulo. She studied art at the Faculdades Integradas Teresa D’Ávila, Santo André, Brazil, and later received fellowships from Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2000–01) and Civitella Ranieri Foundation (2005).

Green Art Gallery

Green Art Gallery is presenting a 2-person booth showing new works from Afra Al Dhaheri and Nazgol Ansarinia. Born in 1988, Afra Al Dhaheri lives and works in Abu Dhabi. She works across various mediums, including mixed media, sculpture, drawing, painting, installation, photography, and printmaking. In her work, she draws out notions of time and adaptation, rigor and fragility.

Born in 1979, Nazgol Ansarinia lives and works in Tehran. Ansarinia observes Tehran’s urban life, navigating and learning to recognize patterns within the chaos and order. Through careful notation, she has developed the ability to continuously deconstruct and reconstruct the unending semiotic rush into structures of order and meaning. Ansarinia’s observations are integral to her creations, which makes them unique.

With paintings, sculpture, ceramics and other exceptional works, art galleries lure collectors to Art Basel. What do you think about this year’s offerings at the art fair. Share your thoughts. Leave a comment.