Art Basel 2014 highlights
”Art Basel may now have branches in Miami and Hong Kong, but the original Swiss fair remains the world’s pre-eminent commercial showcase for modern and contemporary art. This year the mothership celebrated her 45th edition in this picturesque Rhine-side town with nearly 300 participants offering some of the very best work available, ranging from early 20th century Modernism to the latest offerings from artists’ studios worldwide. Global is increasingly the name of the game with more works by Asian artists than ever before distributed among Art Basel’s two floors of top-notch gallery stands, and a noticeable increase in the number of Chinese collectors attending the fair.”
By Louisa Buck
Galería OMR | Hologram installation by James Turrell + drawing by Troika | Galleries sector | Art Basel in Basel 2014
Had also a hanging sculpture made from window blinds by Haegue Yang from South Korea and more dramatic use of textile by Californian Sam Falls, rising diagonally from floor to ceiling. Shanghai-based Zhang Huan has used incense ash to made a giant painting of labourers toiling on the Beijing to Hangzhou Canal, while Xu Zhen, another big name in Chinese art, emphatically combines the best of east and west in a series of dramatic and disquieting works which fuse replica sculptures of Greek Gods from the Parthenon with reproductions of Buddha statues.
Christian Stein | Jack Pierson, The Show Must Go On’ 2008
One of the most talked-about works is rising art star Jordan Wolfson’s scary masked animatronic dancer who bumps, grinds and shimmies in front of a large mirror, and who locks eyes with her audience whilst also scrutinising herself. Only two people at a time are permitted an audience with this malevolent being, and there is much jostling to get a slot. So apart from buying art, all of this unprecedented additional activity means that the flood of collectors, curators and art lovers who are currently converging on Art Basel must make sure that their visit is planned with military precision.
