Art Basel finishes today. Whilst always overwhelmingly sprawling, the fair offers up a terrific selection of work from both new and established artists, and the booths themselves have felt particularly generous this year, offering space for intriguing group shows and plenty of variety. Here are a few that have caught Elephant’s eye.
New York’s Lehmann Maupin are showing a diverse group exhibition, which includes the work of Do Ho Suh, Nari Ward, Liu Wei and Tracey Emin. Hernan Bas’s pink-washed, characteristically unsettling Plastic Pink Lures hangs at the back of the booth, Nicholas Holbo’s snaking Umthwakazi sits in front of it, playing with a similar sense of natural decay.
Maureen Paley has a particularly impressive group of artists displayed at the fair, including Wolfgang Tillmans—currently showing his eighth solo exhibition at the gallery’s London space until 31 July—Gillian Wearing and Michael Krebber. We especially enjoyed a pensive pigmented ink print of the late Susan Sontag, by Peter Hujar.
Standard (Oslo) features a selection of shined-up, cracked pup sculptures from Nina Beier, which work well with the nearby angular, monochrome illustrative works from Jaya Howey. Natural tones—browns, yellows and creams–also fill the booth, with wall-hung paintings from the brilliant Kim Hiorthøy and Tauba Auerbach. Clean chaos.
We were struck by the originality of Rodeo’s immersive booth, which features closely hung floor-to-ceiling works by Tamara Henderson. Silvery sheens and chalky pastels dominate the London gallery’s space.
Gavin Brown’s enterprise’s booths are always decidedly funky, and this year is no exception. The New York galley have added a cushiony black carpet that bounces under foot as visitors navigate the jam-packed booth. Work shifts from intimate to massive; Kerstin Bratsch’s vast, eye-popping wall-hung ink works line one wall, in stark contrast to Rirkrit Tiravanijah’s many framed Demonstration Drawings which cover another.
