AO On Site – Art Fair News Summary and final photoset: Art 42 Basel 2011 in closing
June 20th, 2011
Annette Schonholzer and Marc Spiegler, co-directors Art Basel 2011. All pictures by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.
This year’s Art Basel has been a profitable one, and indicates the stability of the current market. With approximately $1.75 billion worth of artwork to buy, million dollar works sold fast this year. Yet while money is liberally dispensed, it is conservatively directed, suggestive of a post-Recession desire to spend without erring. The high market is specified, but sale and aesthetic trends stay consistently upbeat.
Meyer Riegger Karlsruhe, Berlin
More text and images after the jump
Gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac
Art 42 Basel has hosted some highly successful sales, with profit return rates rivaling record-breaking numbers traditionally dominated by auction houses. As much as an 80% increase in sale price from 2008 and 2009 has been reported, notably from Philip Hoffman, Chief Executive of Fine Art Fund in London.
Conspicuously absent from the hype are Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, once fixtures of the art boom almost a decade ago. The departure is also indicative of the historical moment — although prices have been returning to pre-Recession numbers, the memory (and fiscal failure) of contemporary stars to endure is still fresh in longtime collectors’ minds.
The profits at Art Basel are in league with the top auction houses. The Fondation Beyeler is selling Ernst Beyeler’s (Beyeler founded Art Basel) private collection through Christie’s this week.
These big-money innovations stemmed not from artists, but from commercial ventures. Art.sy, the art-web service that opened in November, was the subject of a dinner hosted at the Fondation Beyeler. Gallerist Dasha Zhukova cohosted the event with Wendi Murdoch. Guests included dealers Larry Gagosian and Jay Jopling, auction house president Simon de Pury, actor Will Ferrell, American publisher Peter Brandt, and Brant’s teenaged son.
A similar dinner was held at the foundation in honor of Swiss-American artist Christian Marclay.
Pascale Marthine Tayou Les Génies Bamiléké (2008) Galleria Continua
Granted, the subsets of art fairs within Basel sponsor a prevalent more up-and-coming artistic sector, compared to the longstanding conservative presence capitalizing on returns. LISTE, the Young Art Fair in Basel, has showcased new and important artists since 1996. Regulation of LISTE requires that galleries have to be 5 or less years old, with artists typically under 40.
Anish Kapoor In Out (Red) (2010)
Another up-and-coming presentation is Art Unlimited, which has exhibited since 2000 as chosen by the Art Basel Committee. Art Unlimited is intended to reinvent the ‘booth’ format with sculptures, installations, performance art and video projects. Art Statements is another venue for emerging artists, featuring solo stands from global galleries.
The Swiss Art Awards ran concurrently to Basel this year, with 30 prizes of 27,000 Swiss Francs, awarded by the Federal Office of Culture to 32 Swiss artists this week. The highly selective process whittled down 536 submissions to 88 participants in the second round, and from there down to the final winners. The exhibition of these winners was at Hall 3, Messezentrum Basel for the duration of the fair.
Art Parcours experimented with the body’s response to physical counter-normativity in the face of social and political oppression on Thursday and Sunday. Art Parcours’ Thursday dance performance, Bodies in Urban Spaces complemented the ongoing exhibition of Henrik Olesen’s How do I Make Myself a Body (2009). Participants in Art Parcours were Ai Weiwei (who is currently detained in China), Janet Cardiff, Ugo Rondinone, Yinka Shonibare, and Gabriel Sierra among others.
Eccentric art was also at Basel, if not as dominant a presence as the traditional buys. Ghost Car by Kielnhofer was a large white van with hooded figures driving outside the fair, and the Bleifrei (which translates to Lead Free in German) Art Collective told Art Info: “Art is like Jesus; it died and it’s coming again.”
Manfred Kielnhofer, Ghost Car (2011) Basel, via Kielnhofer.com
Whimsy of over-sized, sparkling art made for a kid-friendly at atmosphere. Asif Khan, this year’s winner of the W Hotels Designers of the Future Award, installed a crowd-pleaser made to look like clouds, with soapy foam from pots rising into a fishing net. Khan’s ethereal work is intended to represent the future of architecture as light, airy, and simple. Childlike wonder continued with French artist and former Hugo Boss Prize winner Pierre Huyghe’s penguin at Marian Goodman Gallery, which shifted animatronically and fascinated children walking by.
David Hammons, Tilton Gallery
The combined allure of big sales, big shines, and a small glimpse of up and coming developing markets made for a fair that was exciting and approachable to the American and European upmarket. The success of the fair is exciting, because there’s hope in the air that big numbers just might be back for good.
Ashley Bickerton TITNW 4 (2010-2011), White Cube Gallery
Alexander Calder Orange Quadrilateral (1973) Andy Warhol Ladies and Gentlemen (1976), L&M Arts
Takashi Murakami Ponchi-kun Platinium (2010)
Paweł Althamer, Foksal Gallery Foundation
Wang Du, Baronian Francey
Robert Stadler Ardoise N°4 (2011)
Eva & Adele Polaroid Diary (1991-2005)
Jim Lambie Metal Box (Interstellar Overdrive) (2010), Sadie Coles HQ
Martin Honert Englischlehrer (2011) Johnen Galerie, Berlin
Paul McCarthy White Snow Dwarf (2010-2011)
Helly Nahmad Gallery, New York
Casey Kaplan, New York
Johan Creten Grande Vague pour Palissy (2011)
Xavier Veilhan Stabile n°4 (2010)
Loris Cecchini Gaps (drawing windows I) (2008), Galleria Continua
Baronian Francey, Bruxelles
Caroline Nitsch, New York
-A. Bregman
Related Links
Art Basel 42 [Main fair Website]
AO Art Fair Summary: Art Observed is On Site for Art 42 Basel 2011 [Art Observed]
AO on site Photoset Preview: Art 42 Basel – Art Unlimited and Art Statements at the Main Fair [Art Observed]
AO on site Photoset: Art Basel 42 Vernissage and VIP preview [Art Observed]
AO on site Photoset – Art Basel 42: the Liste 16 – The Young Art fair in Basel [Art Observed]
AO on site Photoset (2 of 3) – Art Basel 42: Art Basel 2011, The Main Fair [Art Observed]
AO on site (Photoset) Art 42 Basel 2011: Volta 7, A Basel Satellite Art Fair For New and Emerging Art [Art Observed]
AO on site – Art 42 Basel 2011: Francis Alÿs ‘Fabiola’ VIP reception [Art Observed]
AO on site – Art 42 Basel 2011: Art Parcours, contemporary art throughout the historic city of St. Alban Tal, Basel [Art Observed]
AO on site – Art 42 Basel 2011: a preview of the Swiss Art Awards [Art Observed]
Big Spenders Lift Contemporary Art Back to Peak at $1.8 Billion Basel Fair [Bloomberg]
The Art world flexes its muscles [The Art Newspaper]
Building the Brand [The Art Newspaper]
The tastemakers are here [The Art Newspaper]
Art Basel Fair Shares Much with Venice Biennale [New York Times]
Europe’s Economic Woes Are Forgotten Amid Brisk Sales at Art Basel [Art Info]
After a Booming Vernissage Art Basel Reawakens to Unfamiliar Booths [Art Info]
Art Basel Blasts Off With Million Dollar Sales at its Turbo-Charged VIP Opening [Art Info]
The Federal Office of Culture Announces Federal Art Prizes 2011 [news.amin.ch]
