Art Basel Miami Beach: a selection of works not to be missed

Art Basel Miami Beach It opened its doors after a new and successful one Art Basel Paris It opened at the end of October. Given the closeness of the dates, some predictions were ominous: it was feared that not many collectors, especially Europeans, would come. However, the exhibition has regained its ability to stimulate the desire to arrive and be the first to see and buy, with amazing sales already achieved. Some galleries have already confirmed their sales rankings, e.g Hauser and Wirthwho sold a painting Philip Guston In the amount of 20 million US dollars, or Thaddeus Roebuck Which was sold for 1.7 million US dollars Robert Rauschenberg. also David Zwirner She reported that she had sold three Robert Ryman From the 1960s, between $2 million and $3 million per piece. But these are the big leagues and some collectors say some art galleries have already pre-booked and sold out long before they open their doors.

This year, 277 galleries from all over the world are participating in what is presented as a cultural and commercial oasis as well, which seems to ignore wars, poverty and terrorism.

Art Basel Miami Beach It is a wonderful theater where experts and the general public come together to see the refined as well as the spectacular, the most technical as well as the most artistic. The truth is that art was not sacred for a long time, but rather a very secular practice where the ordinary and everyday objects of life could merge with the imagination of art. And what can be seen among the many artists whose works seek to stand out? I always start by seeing the best exhibitions, the ones that bring Modern and contemporary artists Best prominent.

They are mostly from North America. this year Aquavella And May we thank you They brought some related work. I don’t think this edition is their best, but they don’t disappoint either. Nahmad brought a painting of the great Vasily Kandesky The year 1930 is almost the last period, especially if we think that the father of abstraction in Western art painted the first abstract watercolor painting in 1910. It also displays a giant work by French bacon 1990: Although it is a late work, who wouldn’t want to own a painting of the troubled British man who painted portraits of his lovers and himself in an unmistakable style, assuming the existence of… the new look Mutated and distorted? But the sculpture that takes honors this year in the same exhibition is a large, moving sculpture Alexander Calder From the sixties. There are many calders in the show, but this is the most important.

Regarding the exhibition AquavellaThis year, I brought two small paintings from two large paintings: a portrait of L Henri Matisse And a female character Pierre Bonnard. Another highlight is A Jackson Pollock Medium school from 1943, the year the mosque was built Peggy Guggenheim – At that time she became the owner of his gallery – she commissioned him to create a large mural for his apartment. In those years, Pollock became the quintessential American artist, achieving fame thanks to his wonderful paintings or artwork Job boards. Although in the exhibition we can see several Jean-Michel Basquiatin Aquavella There is a wonderful painting by the artist that is very strange, because it is completely far from those frescoes that we are used to seeing. In this 1986 work, the artist literally draws a duck against a background of blue and green planes devoid of any symbols, words, or doodles. I definitely won’t be taking this palette home. If you gave me the choice, I’d be a little more pretentious.

In the gallery Anneli Gowda Fine Artsl LondonI saw necklace (two identical pieces) from Hungarian Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. They are two large oil paintings on Formica from 1942 and they asked me US$1.25 million each for them. He was a survivor at the time chicago Teaching at his own design school, exporting his experience and knowledge since the 1920s, when he was a professor at the College of Design Bauhaus to Weimar. In his Chicago period, Nagy returns to the idea of ​​his beginnings but this time with a more vibrant color palette, like the one that struck me in these pieces.

Another wonderful work that I would like to take home with me is the African Mermaid, a small bronze sculpture made by the emerging Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu. The piece displayed in the exhibition Carolina Nitch From New York, a limited edition bronze of nine copies, this is the last one, and they are asking $85,000 for it. I also went to the show Skarstedt And I fell in love with the self-portrait of Robert Mapplethorpe From 1980, a silver gelatin print that actually sold for US$350,000. Photographs also have a prominent place in the exhibition: we can see two monumental works of teenagers in a spa Reineke Dijkstra In the gallery Marian GoodmanOr pictures of the famous Al Akhawayn hermitage Bernd and Hilla Becher In the gallery Spruth Majors.

The other work I will take home with me is a small oil painting of her Yayoi Kusama Displayed in Edward Tyler is inattentive. Although they are the typical artist-made speckled pumpkins, they are painted in black and white. Small details make the work a delightful piece. But sometimes this does not fit into the monumental size and is well illustrated by a large metal gourd by the same artist which can be found at David Zwirner.

The exhibition invades the gallery: it is impossible not to see the pots and objects outside the scale that stand out in the gallery space. This is the case of the famous pop sculptor’s big red gardening shovel Claes Oldenburg Displayed in the exhibition Paula Cooper. Another piece of gigantic proportions is a male statue made of plaster painted in bronze by the famous German artist Thomas SchottThrough it Peter Freeman Company Asking $1.8 million USD. a job Ai Weiwei And she’s not far behind either. This year there are many huge paintings made of Lego bricks. His works represent the works of great masters such as Sleeping Venus From the renaissance Giorgione Displayed in the exhibition It keeps moving forward They are asking for a whopping sum of $863,000 or so Washington crosses the Delaware Which measures 383 x 651 cm, is on display in an exhibition Berlin.

If we go to the section longitudeThis year the space was coordinated by Magali Arreolaboss Tamayo Museum to Mexico. One of the jobs I loved the most was work Play ground By the Korean artist Seung Taek Lee. This is a photographic record of a performance by the artist in 1990 in which he moved a seven-metre-high inflatable ball around several places in the world, which is also on display in the strip. In this direction, the world becomes smaller, fulfilling the metaphor of the fragility of our planet. Another more fun action is installation Hyakki Iago, The Night Show of 100 Demons From 2003, from Japanese Masako Mikia collection of vibrant, brightly colored sculptures where the audience can interact.

I really enjoy coming as a spectator to exhibitions, sharing tastes or differences, and talking about what I see with friends and family: being amazed or criticized. But it’s not just us Art Basel But there are many parallel proposals on this matter Miami The culture that wears art in these six days.

Patricia Pacino has a degree in art and is the director of Maman Fine Art Buenos Aires.

Photos: Nacho Martin Films (@nachomartinfilms)