Veit Laurent Kurz at Weiss Falk, all images via Art Observed
Returning to its recently transplanted site in another hall of the Messe Basel, the Liste Art Fair makes its voice felt on the landscape and layout of Basel Art Week this season with another edition of its event showcasing works by a range of galleries presenting the latest and newest voices in contemporary art. Running in conjunction with the Art Basel fair just a few minutes away in another hall of the expansive exhibition center, Liste welcomes 82 galleries, each centering on younger artists, new concepts and exploratory work. For gallerists, participating at LISTE, the fair is an opportunity to network globally and present their program to professionals and art lovers that gather in Basel during this important week on the international art calendar.
Tomas Diaz Cedeño at Peana
Liste’s reputation as a premier event in the art world calendar continued this year, with another strong outing from its exhibitors that mixed together exciting new works and young artists with strong solo booths from a range of rising voices and established artists from around the globe. Continuing the fair’s more familiar, fraternal nature, the booths felt warm and friendly, with exhibitors meandering throughout and pausing to give a friendly hello to acquaintances and colleagues. The works felt equally intimate, with unique arrangements and projects dominating the spaces. At Weiss Falk, one could view a range of complex tiled works and wooden furniture by Veit Laurent Kurz, while at Soft Opening, artist Nevine Mahmoud was presenting a series of synthetic arrangements of abstracted body parts, mechanical materials and other peculiar forms, all laid out on wall-mounted pedestals that emphasized their diverse array of parts. Another intriguing booth came from Chicago’s Good Weather, where artist Inga Danysz was showing a series of architectural structures that mixed a delicate minimalism with scale and color to impressive effect.
Inga Danysz at Good Weather
Inga Danysz at Good Weather
Ryohei Usui at Mujin-To Production
By contrast, booths like the Mujin-To Production booth seemed to revel in a sense of abstraction that took a similar minimalism in other directions. Artist Ryohei Usui was showing a series of simple arrangements; plastic bags, soap dispensers and rocks, laid out in a meticulous and attentive manner that emphasized the synthetic and its conversation with the natural world. Also of note was artist Masaya Chiba’s booth for Los Angeles Gallery Bel Ami, which spread a series of traditional Japanese masks across the space in conversation with beer bottles and desks that created a strange sense of abstracted space, while at Galerie Noah Klink, artist Alison Yip was presenting a series of collaged drawings, taking a similarly stripped down approach in another direction.
Ni Hao at Gallery Vacancy
Alison Yip at Galerie Noah Klink
Offering a fitting counterpoint to the expanses of the Messe Basel, Liste Art Fair closes June 19th.
– D. Creahan
Read more:
Liste Art Fair [Exhibition Site]
