By Brian Boucher
Some 269 art dealers from all over the globe are heading to the annual Art Basel in Miami Beach fair in what is, to say the least, a charged moment for the United States.
Many art galleries count on art fairs for a large percentage of their annual revenue, and, apart from the unknown future under president-elect Donald Trump, the months leading up to the fair have also been in the shadow of the Zika virus, which has led to travel alerts on Miami from the Centers for Disease Control and some hesitation by some dealers to head to Miami this year.
But dealers talking to artnet News were hopeful that a solid week of New York auctions at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips presaged an upbeat fair.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty good Miami despite elections and Zika and whatever else,” said Pace gallery president Marc Glimcher in a phone interview. “I think we’ll see some good results.”
Tending to the more philosophical, Glimcher added, “The value of art is inspiration, and that’s in high demand in good times and in extremely high demand in bad times.”
Galerie Gmurzynska (Zurich, Zug, and St. Moritz) is looking to history for the exhibition “The Future is Our Only Goal,” curated by Norman Rosenthal and with a booth design by Claude Picasso, the artist’s son by Françoise Gilot. Including artists such as Sonia Delaunay, El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, and Alexander Rodchenko, the exhibition is timed to the upcoming centennial of the Russian Revolution.
Gallery CEO Mathias Rastorfer (who is a member of the fair’s selection committee) sees good things for these historical artists’ markets in our topsy-turvy moment: “A certain part of the business is going back into classic contemporary and modern that in the past might have been into younger contemporary artists,” he said in a phone interview. “That’s partly a search for substance and a return to connoisseurship over hype.”
Bringing a new name as well as a host of Latin American artists is Brazil’s Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, formerly Galeria Fortes Vilaça (São Paulo), reflecting a name change by the former Alessandra Vilaça and acknowledging the longtime involvement of Alexandre Gabriel. The gallery is also inaugurating a new venue in Rio de Janeiro.
Among the gallery’s offerings in Miami will be a crocheted work by Brazilian giant Ernesto Neto, a cruciform chair sculpture by Valeska Soares, and watercolors by the duo Los Carpinteros, along with work by Agnieszka Kurant, OSGEMEOS, Nuno Ramos, and others.
Hauser & Wirth (New York, London, Zurich, Somerset, and Los Angeles) will focus on four modern masters—Louise Bourgeois, Arshile Gorky, Philip Guston, and David Smith.
Those historical figures will be complemented by works by contemporary artists Mark Bradford, Ellen Gallagher, Roni Horn, and Jack Whitten.
White Cube
White Cube gallery, with locations in London and Hong Kong, will show a selection of gallery artists including Los Angeles sculptor Larry Bell, Lebanese-born sculptor Mona Hatoum, and German painter Magnus Plessen. Both Bell and Plessen are currently on view at two of the gallery’s London locations, and a touring show of Hatoum’s work is currently on view at Kiasma in Helsinki.
As for what’s outside the convention center, said Nicola Jeffs, the gallery’s head of communications, in an email, the gallery is also looking forward to the Anselm Kiefer exhibitions at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale and at the Margulies Collection, adding that the gallery’s annual Soho House party is being held in Kiefer’s honor this year.
Pace
Pace gallery (New York, London, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Paris, Hong Kong, and Beijing) will focus on the sculptures of Joel Shapiro, whom Marc Glimcher touted in a phone call as one of the greats of the generation of artists who got their start in the 1970s. Shapiro was recently the subject of a solo show at Dallas’s Nasher Sculpture Center, and his work resides in museum collections worldwide.
Also on view will be a work by Leo Villareal, known best for his LED light sculpture on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge. Glimcher promised it is worth the trip, saying, “You have to see it to get it.”
Pace will additionally show a survey of modern and contemporary artists, including Tara Donovan, Donald Judd, Maya Lin, Agnes Martin, and Fred Wilson.
Lisson
Lisson Gallery (London and New York) will offer works by artists including Ryan Gander, Carmen Herrera, Susan Hiller, Anish Kapoor, Pedro Reyes, Lee Ufan, and Stanley Whitney. Known for her multimedia installations, Hiller is the subject of a current show at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, “Lost and Found,” including a new commissioned work.
Alex Logsdail, international director, offered a sunny assessment of the current art market. “We have not noticed any drop in business since the election,” he said in an email. “I think there was reason to be cautious but so far there has been no change, and people seem as active as ever.”
ShanghART
Coming all the way from China, ShanghART gallery will highlight a mini-solo of Sun Xun, who is also showing a new work commissioned by Audemars Piguet on the oceanfront at 21st Street this year, and is currently on view at New York’s Guggenheim Museum as part of the group show “Tales of Our Time.” Also on the roster are Chen Xiaoyun, Jian Pengyi, Ouyang Chun, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Zhang Ding, and Zhang Enli.
Blum & Poe
Blum & Poe gallery (Los Angeles, Tokyo, and New York) will offer some highly pointed works, including an 11-foot-wide electric sign from 2008 by Sam Durant, emblazoned with the message “End White Supremacy.” Sounding a similar note is a work by African American artist Henry Taylor, Darker the Better… (2013), in which plastic bottles, spray-painted black, are assembled to form an ebony map of the US.
“We put a lot of thought into organizing our booth,” said associate director Sarvia Jasso by phone, “and we want to present something that’s representative of the state of the world today.” Among the other topical works are a Jim Shaw painting of former US president Bill Clinton pushing a baby carriage through a tent city.
The gallery will also feature works by artists including Pia Camil, Friedrich Kunath, Julian Schnabel, and Penny Slinger. Among the other achievements for the artists the gallery is showing are an Aspen Art Museum show of Schnabel’s plate paintings and the inclusion of both Kunath and Durant in the current exhibition “L.A. Exuberance” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
As for market forecasts, Jasso was hesitant, but was keeping her chin up. “We don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said in a phone interview, “so we’re trying to stay positive.”
Source: artnet
