Art Basel 2012

Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, attese, 1968
Waterpaint on canvas
53 x 64 cm
@Tornabuoni Art

Mario Testino

Fag, 2008

Lightjet digital color print

72.76 x 51.1 in

@Yvon Lambert

Cy Twombly

Silex Scintillan, 1981-1982

39 x 27 in

@Garie Karsten Greve

"Twombly’s fusing of thought, mark-making, narrative, history, myth, and formalism made me see that there is no such thing as purely abstract or representational art. He’s the artist who made me see that all art is equally abstract and that something as simple as handwriting and scribbling, unleashed, can be art. Twombly’s paintings allow one to rise to the heights of Abstract Expressionism without the air being so thin." - Jerry Saltz

Kehinde Wiley

Kalkidan Mashasha III (The World Stage: Israel), 2012

Oil on canvas

72 x 60 in

@Roberts and Tilton

Carlos Amorales

Negative Nature (typeface), 2012

Spray on paper

47.24 x 70.87 in

@Yvon Lambert

Louise Bourgeois

Toi et Moi II, 1997

Cast and polished aluminum, Ed. 1/6

30 x 11 x14 in

@Galerie Karsten Greve

Yiorgos Kordakis

10.000 American Movies SP #1, 2012

Instant Film 4 X 5, Ed. 1/7

41 x 59 in

@Galerie Karsten Greve

Georg Baselitz

Ein Faschist flog vorüber, 2012

India ink, watercolor, acrylic and ink in paper

33 x 24 in.

@Galerie Thaddeus Ropac

Robert Longo

Untilted (Roaring Tiger), 2012

Charcoal on mounted paper

91 x 70 in

@Galerie Thadeus Ropac

Los Carpinteros
Guiro (prototipo), 2012
15 x 39 x 26 in
@Sean Kelly

Cuban artists Los Carpinteros created this pop-up installation that served as a bar on South Beach. It is inspired by the design of a notrious jail in Cuba.

Frank Thiel
Stadt 14/05, 20120
Framed chromogenic print face mounted to Plexiglas
Edition of 5 with 2 APs
69 x 96 in
@Sean Kelly

Terrence Koh
beauty truth goodness, 2012
white neon (tryptich)
Edition of 3 with 1 AP
@Sean Kelly

Jose Dávila
Untitled (Villa Saboya), 2012
Piezography on photobase paper
Ed. 1/4, 1 AP
@OMR

Jose Dávila
@Travesía Cuatro

Gabriel de la Mora

(1-25) Archivo V.V. 1948-49, 2012

@OMR

El Anatsui

@Jack Shainman Gallery

Chiharu Shiota
State of Bein (Wedding Kimono), 2012
Black threads, metal and vintage kimono
71 x 102 x 31
@Galerie Daniel Templon

Tunga
Estojo #10, 2011
Iron, ferrite and rock crystal
38 x 25 x 32
Galerie Daniel Templon

Pascale Marthine Tayou
Landscape Sierra Leone, 2010
wood frame with chocolate and coffee, pailettes, chalks
@Galleria Continua

Ben
Art, 1971
Acrylic on canvas
45 x 60 cm
@Galerie 1900-2000

Luis Tomasello
Atmosphere Chromoplastique No. 873, 2007
Acrylic on wood
55 x 55 x 3 in
@Sicardi

Jesús Rafael Soto 

Cobalt et noire, 1971

Paint on wood, metal

27 x 13 x 8 in

@Sicardi

Carlos Cruz-Diez
Phsychromie 1696, 2011
Chromography, aluminum, plexiglas
78 x 39 in
@Sicardi

Additional Reading:
Blouin Artinfo summary of 1st day notable sales and collector appetite

Blouin Artinfo summary of 2nd day sales and highlights

Blouin Artinfo highlights 50 works of art from all the fairs in Miami this past week

Three questions for Los Carpinteros about their bar installation on Miami beach

Art Basel 2012

This year at Art Basel I had the wonderful opportunity of touring the fair with Lisa Erf, the director of the JP Morgan Chase Art Collection. It was surprisingly refreshing to hear Lisa talk about the pieces, and galleries, that stood out for her because her main goal is finding good art at a good value. She does not have clients to please, artists to charm, or the nasty habit that has emerged in recent years of buying art purely as an investment. Her perspective is, therefore, honest and all about true art appreciation. Lisa pointed out, not only the artists that she found interesting and exciting, but also the galleries that have good and nurturing relationships with their artists - an important characteristic that is rarely given any consideration. It is impossible to appreciate these pieces through a photograph, it is worth making an effort to see these in person now that you know their names and gallerists. Here they are:

Eduardo Stupia @ Jorge Mara La Ruche Gallery, Argentina

Eduardo Stupia's works in black and white, ranging in scale, were hypnotic. Lisa described them as being a perfect exploration of time and space. From afar, these paintings are cohesive and come together seamlessly, surprisingly alive despite the color palette. They have no center, they allow the eye to drift, and when that happens, up close, you get to see endless layers of work, building up patiently and purposefully to create a very powerful sense of depth and dimension composed of a rich variety of brush strokes.

Tim Rollins and K.O.S. (A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2012) @ Lehmann Maupin, New York

The story of these artists is a great one. Tim Rollins is a trained artist who began a collective with his at-risk students from a public school in New York. They named themselves K.O.S. - Kids of Survival. Their process involves relating "printed-matter" (someone reads a text aloud) to their own experiences in order to produce allegorical work. The piece above is by no means representative of their entire repertoire, they work with various media and make paintings, photographs, and sculptures. The collaborative has been working together since the mid eighties and continues to make art to this day.

Teresita Fernandez (Night Writing, 2011) @ Lehmann Maupin, New York

Brooklyn-based (Miami born)Teresita Fernandez has been hugely successful; in 2005 she was the recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship and has won many other prestigious awards. She tends to embark on in-depth explorations of different subjects. This work is part of a series that explores paper and language. Images of the night sky are perforated to create braille-like patterns. As Teresita puts it, she is interested in the way in which "one language obliterates another language." By using the abstraction of Braille, she reduces it to the absurd because it cannot be touched, therefore cannot be understood due to the visual language in which it is being encapsulated. The choice to use the night sky comes from the idea that the sky has always been looked to for guidance and information, a different form of communication where the visual is the overpowering force.

Zilvinas Kempinas @ Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo

Lisa was drawn to Zilvinas as she was reflecting on an artis that could continue the history of Alexander Calder within the collection. Coincidentally, Kempinas was awarded the Calder prize soon after, presented to an artist that makes significant advances in the field of sculpture. Known for his work with fans and magnetic tape, in this piece he used thousands of polyester threads suspended by nails to create repetitive geometric patterns which are then immortalized in resin.

Gabriel Acevedo Velarde @ Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo

Gabriel Acevedo Velarde is a Peruvian conceptual artist. This piece, in its entirety, is larger than pictured. In it, the artist recreates functional objects and embeds some with Peruvian history (such as the photograph of a Peruvian astronaut). Lisa was drawn to this artist because of the endless interpretations one can draw from his work, she like its invitation to look closer and to continue to find meaning with every revisit. Lisa commented on the fact that though she might not understand exactly what the artist is trying to express, she is confident that he knows and that he has a serious need to create.

Derrick Adams (Human Structure Leaning, 2011) @ Tilton Gallery

Derrick Adams is a multi-disciplinary artist interested in the meanings embedded in objects through associations and popular culture. He has been widely influenced by deconstructivist philosophies. In this work he has created something familiar but new, understood through American culture. He is interested in the representation of ideals an the icons that have been created for them or from them.

Art Basel Miami 2011

Self-education: The Art World

The art world is notoriously difficult to navigate and understand. To an outside observer it might seem as thought it has no rhyme or reason and many do not know where to begin to decipher it. I am in the middle of these two books and, granted they are for different readers looking for different things, they both do an exceptional job of breaking down the art market for those who intend to attempt to navigate it.

How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery, the name speaks for itself. It is a true step-by-step that covers all stages and considerations that form part of opening a commercial art gallery, from writing a solid business plan to hiring employees and handling client as well as artist relationships. 

Purchase it on Amazon

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark is an economist's attempt to understand what drives the prices of contemporary art, what constitutes the construction of tastes (and willingness to spend on certain works of art), and who have become the most significant players in today's art world. These include, of course, Damien Hirst, his U.S. dealer Larry Gagosian, and his first collector Charles Saatchi.

Purchase it on Amazon

In the video of the TED talk below, Paul Bloom explains the psychological reason behind the inferiority of copied work versus original work, even when they look identical.

Favorite Quotes

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself"

Abraham Maslow