BASEL.- This year, 291 leading international galleries will present works ranging from the early 20th century to contemporary artists. The Basel show will present galleries from 35 countries and six continents.
Once again, a very strong contingent of galleries from Europe will be joined by exhibitors from across the globe. 17 galleries will participate for the first time, including three new exhibitors from the Asia Pacific region – Antenna Space, Hopkinson Mossman and Magician Space – and one from Africa, Cairo's Gypsum Gallery.
The main sector of the show, Galleries, will feature 226 exhibitors presenting the highest quality of painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, photography, video and editioned works. This year’s strong list of returning participants is joined by 11 galleries exhibiting in the sector for the first time, having previously participated in the show's project based sectors, Feature and Statements: Campoli Presti, Pilar Corrias, dépendance, KraupaTuskany Zeidler, Freymond-Guth Fine Arts Ltd., Luxembourg & Dayan, Galeria Plan B, Salon 94, Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects and Tornabuoni Art. Two galleries – Canada and Di Donna – will be completely new to the show, while Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art returns to Basel following a brief hiatus.
Dedicated to prints and limited-editioned works, the Edition sector will bring together 15 leading specialists in the field. This year’s show will feature Brooke Alexander, Inc., Niels Borch Jensen Gallery and Editions, Alan Cristea Gallery, mfc – michèle Didier, AtelierEditions Fanal, Gemini G.E.L. LLC, Sabine Knust, Lelong Editions, Carolina Nitsch, Noire Contemporary Art, Paragon, Polígrafa Obra Gràfica, STPI, Two Palms and ULAE. In addition to its stand presentation, Brooke Alexander, Inc. has also been selected to present ‘Men in the Cities (Frank, Gretchen, Eric, Cindy, Edmund, Anne) by Robert Longo (b. 1953) on the new Spotlight wall facing the Rundhof, which forms part of this year's Edition sector.
The Feature sector this year presents 32 galleries with precise curatorial projects, showing both historical and contemporary work. This year’s sector welcomes seven galleries new to the show: The Box, Leila Heller Gallery, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Kalfayan Galleries, P420, Parrasch Heijnen Gallery and Deborah Schamoni. Highlights will include rare Max Beckmann (1884-1950) prints from the 1910s and 1920s at Jörg Maass Kunsthandel. Deborah Schamoni will present four significant works by Lea Lublin (1929-1999), highlighting the four main themes explored during Lublin’s artistic practice. Ernst Wilhelm Nay (1902-1968) will be the focus at Aurel Scheibler with a showcase of the artist’s large-scale ‘Eye Paintings’, created between 1963 and 1964. Marcelle Alix will unveil five new wall sculptures by Canadian artist Liz Magor (b. 1948). Mazzoleni will dedicate its booth to Piero Manzoni (1933-1963), bringing together two of his most wellknown series: ‘Achromes’ (1957-1963) and ‘Linee’ (1959-1963). Rare collages and drawings by artist and filmmaker Stan VanDerBeek (1927-1984) will be on view at The Box. Showing a two-person project, Bureau will present the two distinct approaches to narrative and storytelling expressed by Erica Baum (b. 1961) and Constance DeJong (b. 1950).
Further highlights from the Feature sector will include important multimedia works by the renowned South Korean artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006) to be presented by James Cohan Gallery. Corbett vs. Dempsey will devote its booth to a 20-year survey of the work of Margot Bergman (b. 1934). Leila Heller Gallery will showcase a series of ‘Poubelle’ works from the 1970s by Arman (1928-2005), while Jenkins Johnson Gallery will place the spotlight on Gordon Parks (1912-2006) with a showcase of dramatic scenes captured during the Civil Rights movement in America in the 1950s and 1960s. At Arratia Beer, Omer Fast (b. 1972) will be the focus with a two-part installation documenting a US drone operator’s live-fire mission. Peter Blum Gallery will bring together early paintings and works on paper by Robert Ryman (b. 1930) while Hamiltons’ Feature presentation focuses on Robert Frank’s (b. 1924) critical contribution to 20th-century photography.
Every year, the work of emerging artists and young galleries can be discovered through solo presentations in the Statements sector. 18 galleries will take part in Statements this year with eight newcomers exhibiting for the first time at the Basel show; from Vienna: Galerie Emanuel Layr; from Warsaw: Galeria Dawid Radziszewski; from New York: Chapter NY and Real Fine Arts; from Beijing: Magician Space; from Shanghai: Antenna Space; from Auckland: Hopkinson Mossman; and from Cairo: Gypsum Gallery.
Highlights from the sector include a presentation by Antenna Space devoted to Guan Xiao’s (b. 1983) new installation ‘Air Freshener, Spray’, part of the artist’s continued exploration into the atmospheric situations that stimulate synthetic feelings. Kate MacGarry will showcase a multimedia presentation of 'psychogeographic' films by Malawi-born Samson Kambalu (b. 1975), inspired by the folklore from the American West and early cinema prototypes. Labor will premier ‘The Chisel and the Sinkhole’, a new sound sculpture by Antonio Vega Macotela (b. 1980), composed of music boxes and mining machinery from colonial Latin America, while Chapter NY will unveil an orchestra-inspired ensemble of clay figure sculptures by Sam Anderson (b. 1982). Focusing on the work of Albanian artist Lui Shtini (b. 1978), Kate Werble Gallery will present ‘Couples’, a series of three large canvases in which Shtini builds a horizontal composition of two bodies colliding into one another, exploring themes of character and identity. First-time exhibitor Galeria Dawid Radziszewski will showcase performance work choreographed by Joanna Piotrowska (b. 1985), in which the artist adopts subjects from her earlier photographs and techniques drawn from self-defense manuals. New works by the collaborative duo Amy Lien (b. 1987) and Enzo Camacho (b. 1985) will be on view at 47 Canal. 13 new works on paper by Sam Pulitzer (b. 1984) will take center stage at Real Fine Arts, referencing the culturally dominant symbols and imagery in today’s society, while work by Oscar Enberg (b. 1988) will be on display at Hopkinson Mossman.
For the 19th time, the Baloise Art Prize will be awarded to up to two artists exhibiting in Statements, with recipients being announced during the show. The Baloise Group also acquires works by the award-winning artists, which it donates to two leading European museums. The institutions will hold solo exhibitions for the recipients of the award.
Unlimited, Art Basel's unique platform for projects that transcend the limitations of a traditional art-fair stand, will be curated for the sixth year by Gianni Jetzer, Curator-atLarge at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC. This year's edition of Unlimited will consist of 76 large-scale projects including works by Doug Aitken, Carl Andre, John Baldessari, Andrea Bowers, Chris Burden, Julian Charrière and Julius von Bismarck, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Carlos Garaicoa, Subodh Gupta, Jenny Holzer, Donna Huanca, Arthur Jafa, Barbara Kruger, Cildo Meireles, Bruce Nauman, Park Chan-kyong, Marwan Rechmaoui, Mickalene Thomas and Anicka Yi, among others.
Parcours, a series of site-specific sculptures, interventions and performances by renowned international artists and emerging talents, presented by Art Basel galleries, will be curated for the second year by Samuel Leuenberger, founder of the non-profit exhibition space SALTS in Birsfelden, Switzerland. Parcours will feature 22 site-specific artworks by both internationally renowned and emerging artists including Ai Weiwei, Katinka Bock, Pedro Cabrita Reis, Miriam Cahn, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg, Latifa Echakhch, GCC, Amanda Ross-Ho, Cally Spooner, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Wu Tsang. Parcours takes place around Basel's Münsterplatz from Monday, June 12 to Sunday, June 18, culminating in Parcours Night on Saturday, June 17 with live performances by Itziar Okariz (b. 1965), Than Hussein Clark (b. 1981), Marvin Gaye Chetwynd (b. 1973), Shana Moulton (b. 1976), Moved by the Motion (Wu Tsang, boychild, Patrick Belaga, Bendik Giske and Josh Johnson), Eric Hattan (b. 1955), Julian Sartorius (b. 1981) and Hans Berg (b. 1978).
