Chris Burden‘s Curved Bridge (2003) from Galerie Krinzinger at Art Unlimited; All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse

Art 43 Basel continues today with the 2nd VIP Preview day, although the fair’s Art Unlimited and Art Statements sections were unveiled two days prior on the evening of Monday, June 11.  Art Unlimited is exhibiting 62 projects this year, all traditionally large in scale, surpassing the conventional gallery confines.  The value of the works shown is equally as sizeable and many have already been sold by the nearly 100 internationally represented galleries participating. Art Statements, another of Basel’s parallel events, features solo shows by promising new artists and rising galleries in the art world.

This year, Art Unlimited is curated by Gianni Jetzer, the director of the Swiss Institute in New York.  An interview with him featuring commentary on the exhibit’s selection process and the projects that made it in can be found here.

Franz West’s contorted, neon pink installation resembling human innards drew crowds to Gagosian’s stand at Art Unlimited.  The sculpture, titled Gekröse (2011), which translates as “bowel,” is the largest of West’s repertoire and sold on the first day of its showing, according to Reuters.

(more…)

Tuesday morning of the VIP Preview; All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse

Art Basel’s 43^rd edition commenced today with the first of two VIP Preview days.  The VIP Vernissage, however, drew a private audience yesterday evening, where the Art Unlimited and Art Standard programs were unveiled, revealing a collection of artwork impressive in both size and scope.  Today was also the preview and opening receptions for Basel’s companion fairs, like LISTE 17 and Design Miami/Basel.  Fair and section specific photosets for collective Basel happenings will be posted throughout the upcoming days.

Art Basel directors Annette Schönholzer and Marc Spiegler at the press conference

(more…)

Team Gallery Booth at Art Basel 2010, Image via Art Basel.

AO is on site at Art Basel, Switzerland, where Wednesday marked the official, public opening of the international show.  On the roster was an inaugural Conversation Series speech by Paul McCarthy, an Art Film at Stadtkino Basel, and an Artist’s Talk with Rodney Graham at Kunstmuseum.  If the congenial and thronged atmosphere hadn’t tipped us off to the anticipation surrounding this year’s exhibitions, Tuesday’s sales would have been a clear indication.   A $15 million Picasso 1960 plaster maquette, Personnage, was snatched up immediately from Krugier Gallery by one of the VIP guests (an American collector) invited to Basel’s early opening, as was a line drawing by the same artist, one by Egon Schiele, and paintings by Max Ernst and Paul Klee. Sara Kay of the Geneva- and New York-based Kugier Gallery was unable to disclose the buyer of yesterday’s Picasso sale, but ten minutes after the purchase’s confirmation noted to Art Info that “[The] piece went to a very important collector with the best modern masters.  This is museum-quality, not trophy-level. It’s a very serious piece.” Skarstedt Gallery also enjoyed a  meritorious patronage yesterday, with sales including a Christopher Wool painting, Untitled, for $800,000, a Barbara Kruger photograph for $700,000, a Cindy Sherman piece for $500,000, and two works by George Condo: The Madman and The Colorful Banker, which fetched $375,000 and $225,000, respectively.  Hufkens Gallery sold a Louise Bourgeois etching, A Baudelaire (#7), which the late artist completed several months before her death in May, for $650,000 to a European collector.  Cheim & Read boasted a lucrative afternoon as well, with sales including a $2 million Joan Mitchell abstraction, a $125,000 Sam Francis drawing, a $100,000 Ghada Amer painting, Paradise, and a 28-strong Bourgeois watercolor series, Les Fleurs.  Lisson Gallery sold two Anish Kapoor‘s for $742,000.  Richard Prince‘s Student Nurse brought Gagosian $4.2 million, and Paul McCarthy’s bronze suites–Sneezy and Dopey–yielded Hauser & Wirth a combined total of $3 million. Blum & Poe sold a dyptich by Takashi Murakami for $1 million. White Cube reportedly sold six of Damien Hirst‘s new paintings, as well as Hirst’s “Memories of Love,” valued at $3.48 million. Lehmann Maupin sold two neon works by Tracey Emin, each for $74,000.

Damien Hirst, ““Memories of Love,” at White Cube’s booth, sold for $3.48 million. Image by Art Observed.

More images and text after the jump…

(more…)

Art 41 Basel, entrance view. All images by Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

AO was on site yesterday at Art 41 Basel, Switzerland, to see the 56 installations exhibited by the eleventh Art Unlimited, a museum-like forum for sizable and high-priced pieces. Installations of established masters and up-and-comers alike are characteristically oversized this year, with six pieces taking up over 200 square meters.  Despite the diversity of work, galleries, and featured artists, a distinct tonal resonance pervades Art Unlimited.  The lustrous style favored by Art Unlimited’s formative years gives way to a bold, rustic minimalism.  Although an intellectual understatement saturates this year’s Art Basel, Art Unlimited is hardly a quaint affair.  Economists and art experts alike are predicting major acquisitions for the international art elite, with a Giacometti and a Bourgeois notably up for grabs.

More images and text after the jump…
(more…)