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Review of Art Basel 38 - Colors in black and white
Reviews
By Carla Sorato-Attinger, photos by Bill Nanson
The 38th edition of Art Basel, the international art show, closed on a very high note, with the 300 exhibiting galleries judging this year’s event a great success. In the words of Samuel Keller, Art Basel’s Director: “The 38th edition of Art Basel was a record year, a festival for the international art world. Rarely have there been so many important and interesting art works in one place at the same time.”
Yayoi Kusama's INFINITY NETS (OF TIME), White nets on white base
A festival for the art world? Yes, that is definitely what we saw. A festival with colors in black and white for the soul, for the mind and for the heart.
Yayoi Kusama's Painted Player Piano
A particular artist from Japan caught my fancy: Yayoi Kusama. His paintings show structures and planes, details and birds-eye views, all in colored darks and whites. His world matches today’s complexity and, at the same time, its simplicity, all in one go.
Yayoi Kusama's Pumpkin
Art experts attending agreed that the quality and variety of works on display were unparalleled in the world. Only the most interesting pieces seemed to have been shipped over and displayed, in carefully devised exhibitions. Various thematically grouped exhibitions and one-person shows were clear highlights and there was a particularly marked increase in representation from the Chinese, Indian, and Russian art scenes.
Yayoi Kusama's The Sky in the Evening Glow (Red Rain)
The Art Basel Conversations were a huge success. Attracting several hundred people every day, they featured distinguished experts discussing subjects relating to art, artists, art collections and museums.
The special Artist Records exhibition was also very popular with visitors. It presented recordings by Jack Goldstein, Christian Marclay, Rodney Graham, Steven Parrino, Genesis P-Orridge and Carsten Nicolai.
The results of the Art Unlimited platform – home to works that exceed the scope of traditional art-fair exhibition booths, and frequently even of galleries and museums – were extremely positive. There were 68 projects on display: large installations, video projections, large-scale paintings, and outsized sculptures.
Fang Lijun's Untitled (30.00)
Numerous artists created works specifically for Art Unlimited and installed them there personally. In particular, works of Chinese artists such as Fang Lijun were a must to see. Enthusiasm was not restricted to the galleries and artists alone: experts and visitors alike judged this year’s edition of Art Unlimited to be one of the best since its inception in the year 2000.
All in all, extremely interesting: I saw simplicity vs. complexity, globalization vs. locality, color vs. blacks and whites … a snapshot of a moment, but one which will last a very long time.
Look out for a further photo-reportage on Art Basel 2007 very soon here on XYMARA.com!