Alongside the enormous annual event that is Art Basel, satellite fair Liste has made a name for itself spotting the new and upcoming, featuring galleries from around the world who bring with them a host of exciting young and mid-career artists. Elephant gives an approvingly loud trumpet to the following.
Peckham’s The Sunday Painter like to cause a rumble at fairs–last year’s showing of Samara Scott’s Lonely Planet II at Frieze London gathered more column inches than most–with their punchy but economical group of signed artists. The gallery have bought British artist Alex Rathbone to Liste for a solo booth, showing a selection of signature appealing-yet-reppelent paintings and house-like colourful wooden sculptures in their angular booth. Navigating this space is tricky business which perfectly suits the nutty, and at times enjoyably ramshackle, nature of Rathbone’s work.
Another Peckham space, Arcadia Missa are exhibiting pieces by Jesse Darling and Phoebe Collings-James which communicate well with the adjoining KAYA works at Deborah Schamoni. Collings-James’s wall-hung works are large and graphic, lining one side of the space and offering a grounding for Darling’s sculptures, which are both beautiful–employing the unexpected visual delights of pink expanding foam–and grotesque; the vomming face that hides around the back of one work comes to mind especially.
Oslo’s VI, VII cover a large area at the fair, showing Mikael Brkic and Kulisek / Lieske. Kulisek / Lieske are showing photographs that were created for fictional fashion magazine 299 792 458 m / s, which is ‘loosely modelled after Sibylle–the only fashion and photography magazine operating in the former communist German Democratic Republic.’ Brkic’s works examine the uses of technology through time, and also take their cue from the fashion industry, the artist influenced by his work for an online retailer.
Parisian gallery Marcelle Alix are hosted in one of the more unusual corners of the building; imagine a UFO built in the 60s. Their circular space hovers above one of the large rooms, backing onto a plant-covered wall. Through the small room’s many glass windows floating body parts in pastel tones call appealingly; some, such as Charlotte Moth’s bronze-cast hands, offering a realistic rendering of their human origin, others, such as Jean-Charles de Quillacq’s white-washed Pistorius-san, leaving a (little) more to the imagination.
Colour rules at Office Baroque’s booth, with a powerful line of paintings from German artist Anke Weyer. In the busy room Weyer’s oil and acrylic works call above the noise. Each piece is loaded with the artist’s bold marks, which swing between vibrant and splashy, heavy and dark.
You can’t go wrong with an Yves Kelin(ish) carpet, and the floor covering Limoncello’s asymmetric space offsets well the fun, colourful work of Cornelia Baltes, showing solo for Liste. Some of Baltes’s works sit at angles to one another on the floor while others are wall hung. Occasional recognisable forms take shape in the works, which at their best offer a maniacal but humorous view of the human face or body; a particularly enjoyable work on the floor depicts a freaky grin, formed only from a big wide smile and two splashy dots for eyes.
Antenna Space make the most of their individual room, creating an immersive experience with a video installation from Li Ming, alongside a text and a lightbox. The room is filled with a coloured glow which almost spills out the doors into the adjoining corridor. MEIWE takes its cue from Muhammad Ali’s two word poem, ‘me, we’, considering the relationship between these two words and experimenting with the relationship between the individual and the many.
And finally, a big shout out to Stigter van Doesburg. The Amsterdam gallery are showing a selection of mini elephant sculptures and making us feel right at home.
Liste runs until 19 June 2016, at Burgweg 15, 4058 Basel.
