Michaël Borremans, Black Mould/The Badgers Song II (2015), via David Zwirner

As June rolls on, the art world returns to the Swiss city of Basel for the annual flagship art fair of the Art Basel fair franchise, taking over the Messe Basel for four days of high-profile sales, special projects and artist talks that sit at the center of a week of exhibitions, shows and satellite fairs.  Art Basel marks the latest entry in a bustling calendar of European art events that included the opening of both the Venice Biennale and the latest edition of Documenta in both Athens and Kassel in the past weeks, and should offer one of the last indicators of the European market’s strength before autumn.

Ashley Bickteron, Small Yellow Catalog: Cigarettes, Purple Pigment, Cheese Doodles, Broken Glass (1991), via Lehmann Maupin

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Kevin Beasley, Untitled (Shrink) (2016), via Casey Kaplan

As summer gets into full swing, the art world once again flocks to the Swiss city of Basel for the flagship entry of the Art Basel fair, which once again sets up shop at the expansive Messe Basel, near the banks of the Rhine.  This year’s edition continues the event’s reputation for capitalizing on the space and scale afforded it in the Messe’s impressive exhibition halls, bringing 280 galleries from around the globe, and showing over 4,000 artists inside its spacious confines. (more…)

Founded in 1997 to house the collection of collector Ernst Beyeler, Fondation Beyeler is currently the most attended art museum in Switzerland.  Vernissage TV has just posted an interview with director Sam Keller, recounting the museum’s first 15 years of operation and looking forward to its upcoming projects and goals.  Keller says: “In the beginning I think no-one could have envisioned that in such short term it would get on the map as being one of the most important museums not only in Switzerland, but also having an international reputation as being a house which shows art at the highest quality. So the development has been a quite steady one. ”
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Ferdinand Hodler, The Dents du Midi from Champéry (1916) Courtesy Neue Gallery

Over the course of his lifetime, Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler moved among a variety of subjects and approaches, from audacious works of symbolism, to sweeping landscapes, to a vigorous body of portraiture.  This expansive oeuvre is currently on view at New York City’s Neue Gallery in “View to Infinity,” showcasing the diversity and unique perspectives running through Hodler’s work.  The show is presented in conjunction with the Fondation Beyeler, Basel, where it will show from January 27 to May 26, 2013

Ferdinand Hodler, Two Women in Flowers (1901-1902) Courtesy Neue Gallery

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Jeff Koons, the artist; All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Adjoint to the week-long Art Basel fete, Swiss museum Fondation Beyeler partnered with American artist Jeff Koons to assemble and showcase key series from his repertoire under one roof, namely, The New, Banality, and Celebration.

Spring Love (2010) by Beatriz Milhazes, via Fondation Beyeler

Currently on view at the Fondation Beyeler is an exhibition featuring work by renowned Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes (b. 1960 Rio de Janeiro). Incorporating basic motifs from the diverse and tropical culture of Brazil, Milhazes’ work also recalls symbolism from the history of Brazilian culture. After major exhibitions including those at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Fondation Cartier, Paris, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and the Pinacoteca, São Paulo, this is  the artist’s first exhibition in Switzerland. The solo exhibit will feature four new large-scale paintings revolving around the theme of the four seasons which were commissioned for the show. Also included are a selection of the artist’s colorful collages as well as a mobile and a vibrant floor work.

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Untitled (Throat) (1991) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, via Fondation Beyeler

Currently on view at the Fondation Beyeler is “Specific Objects without Specific Form,” part of a traveling retrospective featuring principal works by influential Cuban-American artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996). Among the principal works on display are the artist’s piles of candy and paper stacks. Viewers are allowed to enact with such works by taking away a small part. Also exhibited are a group of lesser known paintings, sculptures, photographic works and public sculptures.

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Untitled (Skull) (1982) by Jean-Michel Basquiat, via Fondation Beyeler.

Currently on view at the Fondation Beyeler is a large retrospective devoted to the work of Jean Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)  in celebration of the museum’s fiftieth anniversary. The exhibition bring together over 100 paintings, works on paper, and pieces from renowned museums and collections throughout the world. Basquiat’s works are colorful, playful, incorporating a range of everyday objects, and poetic slogans commenting on contemporary society and social injustice.

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Map (2008) by Jenny Holzer, via The Fondation Beyeler

Currently on view at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel are recent works by American artist Jenny Holzer (b.1950). On display are Holzer’s paintings and sculptures as well as her famous LED installations which portray compelling as well as overwhelming combinations of visual imagery and text. The exhibition also incorporates a selection of works chosen by the artist from the Beyeler collection including those by Giacometti, Picasso, Malevich, and Francis Bacon. The exhibition extends outdoors with light projections onto major suites in Basel, Baselland, and Zurich.

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Portrait of Geoff Dyer Talking, Francis Bacon (1966) at FIAC, Paris

If Frieze opened willing to court the unavoidable media speculation about sales or the lack of them: FIAC, and the exhibitors it houses this year, have in the early stages proved characteristically reticent. Not to mention laconic. At least on the surface. This morning there was little sign that much of Paris and beyond would descend on the Grand Palais and the Cour Carrée du Louvre at noon.

A look at the sculptures of Alberto Giacometti, featured in an exhibition at Fondation Beyeler.

The summer exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler, showing from May 30th until October 11, features 150 sculptures by the late Alberto Giacometti.   The exhibit is comprised of sculptures, drawings, paintings and more, drawn from museums, family holdings, and private collections.  Also displayed are works by Giacometti’s father, the painter Giovanni Giacometti; his brother Diego, a sculptor; and his uncle Augusto, who worked in paint and mosaics.

Related links:
Fondation Beyeler – Giacometti
Giacometti/Fondation Beyeler [Vernissage TV]
Fondation Beyeler Opens Exhibition Including Works by Alberto Giacometti and His Family [Artdaily]
Alberto Giacometti Biography [artDirectory]
Biography of Augusto Giacometti [Rai International online]
Art in Review: Alberto Giacometti [New York Times]

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Le Grande Julie, Fernand Léger (1945) via Foundation Beyeler

Fondation Beyeler Presents Fernand Léger Retrospective, Paris to New York, at their space in Switzerland through September 7, 2008. On view at the exhibition are over 80 paintings, several works on paper, an original Léger film from 1924 called Ballet mécanique, in addition to approximately 20 pieces by American artists that exemplify some sort of influence from Léger and his work. Exhibition is more than just a retrospective of work completed by Léger; it also focuses on how the artist influenced the American Pop movement by exhibiting work from other well-known artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland, Robert Rauschenberg, Al Held, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist, and Frank Stella, all of which reference Léger’s work in one way or another. Philippe Büttner of Fondation Beyeler is responsible for curating the Retrospective.

Fondation Beyeler Presents Today in Basel Fernand Léger: Paris – New York [ArtDaily]
Fondation Beyeler, Fernand Léger Retrospective, Paris to New York [Beyeler]
Art Exhibitions: Fondation Beyeler [Yucolo]

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