The 17th edition of Art Basel Miami hosted 268 of the most prestigious international galleriesfrom 35 different countries. As always, particular attention was granted to new entries – with 29 exhibitors participating in the fair for the first time – as well as to artists from Latin America
by Fabio Massimo Bonini and Francesco Michienzi
Who knows if the Swiss collectors and gallery owners Trudl Bruckner, Balz Hilt, Ernst and Hildy Beyeler would ever have imagined that from the 1970s until today their idea of creating a moment of encounter in Basel, a moment of trade, but also of artistic research, would become an event of global scope with new strongholds in Miami and Hong Kong.
New locations which are today capable, in their turn, of generating events within the event involving hundreds of thousands of collectors and enthusiasts. We have chosen the event in Miami, first of all, because it is a location where you can enjoy the sea breeze, which perfectly matches the DNA of our magazine Barche. Secondly, our interest falls on this event because this year Sanlorenzo, one of the flagships of the Italian shipbuilding industry, is once again a partner of Art Basel and the protagonist of an important installation.
Annely Juda Fine Art
As always during this week, the city is populated by collectors and fans coming from all over the world and the numbers are as always staggering. During this 17thedition, the renovated Convention Center in Miami Beach alone hosts 268 galleries from 35 countries showing their works, 29 of which are present for the first time.As we write, we don’t have the exact figures yet, but we are sure that the record of 82,000 visitors of the last edition will be broken.
Noah Horowitz, Director Americas, Art Basel, commented: “This year marks an exciting new chapter for our event. The completely revamped and state-of-the-art Miami Beach Convention Center allows us to offer an extremely high-level and refined fair, which opens up unprecedented possibilities such as the staging of Abraham Cruzvillegas’ multidisciplinary installation. The quality of the work and the presentations of our exhibitors have never been so high, and the presence of private collectors and institutions continues to be strong in all regions”.
Anton Kern Gallery
With an endless list of artists and works on display, we focused on a pair of “Picassos” on sale for more than $11 million, extraordinary works that have generated a succession of emotions over time. Emotions which we surrendered to for hours, an immense joy for the eyes.
Howard Shaw, President and Director of Hammer Galleries, New York, said: “We are pleased to announce that this was our best show, both in terms of sales and potential new customers. We have sold important works by Marc Chagall, Wifredo Lam and Francis Picabia, and we have perceived serious interest in many others on behalf of the clientele. Although Art Basel is mostly considered a contemporary fair, we always get a wonderful response from the classical and modern works we carry”.
Galleries is the main sector of the fair and also in 2018 it can boast the presence of several important Italian galleries with an international scope. Such as Mazzoleni, with offices in Turin and London, which is focusing its exhibit at the Convention Center on Arte Povera, with works by artists such as Alighiero Boetti, Jannis Kounellis and Michelangelo Pistoletto. Some of Lucio Fontana’s famous Tagli(Cuts) were also on display in the Galleries sector, together with the most representative works byAlberto Burri, Piero Manzoni and Fausto Melotti.
Tornabuoni Art proposed the suggestive works of Alberto Biasi and Francesca Pasquali, the statuesque Carrara marble sculpture by Pablo Atchugarry and the impressive work by Gilberto Zorio, as well as Lucio Fontana’s unfailing Tagli.
Lorenzo Fiaschi, director and partner of the Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, Beijing and Les Moulins in Havana, stated: “The Latin American market is getting stronger and stronger and it was terrific to involve new collectors from Peru, Brazil and Colombia at the fair. We are very happy to have sold many works by young Cuban artists”.
David Nolan Gallery
Marc Spiegler, global director of Art Basel, commented: «Due to the type of galleries participating, the atmosphere of this area and the way the fair brings together the cultural world of the entire American continent, this fair continues to be a place that transforms buyers into collectors and collectors into patrons of the arts. For us at Art Basel, the main ambition is to connect as many galleries as possible with as many art supporters as possible. And when we succeed in that endeavour, hundreds of artists and dozens of galleries feel a direct and immediate impact on their careers and on their ability to support and develop their activities and practices».
Sanlorenzo partners with Art Basel
Marinetta Intini from Sanlorenzo is expecting me to accompany me to meet the marketing director Mario Gornati who proudly welcomes me in the installation inside the Collectors Lounge and introduces me to Alberto Biasi, one of the main exponents of kinetic optical art, who is exhibiting his extraordinary work as well as an engaging installation created by the company’s art director Piero Lissoni in collaboration with Galleria Tornabuoni Arte.
The project interprets the poetics of Alberto Biasi’s “Drops”, which are part of the cycle of works “Dynamic optical reliefs”, created by a layering of lamellar structures that play with the effect of contrasting colours and are activated by the viewer’s movement. The Sanlorenzo lounge is thus transformed into a luminous installation reproducing the work “Puzzle” on the walls – the work is exhibited right inside the space.
The installation replicates and amplifies the optical effect conceived by the artist: it moves with the visitor who therefore becomes an active part in the installation and envelops him as it changes according to his point of view. Exhibited in glass displays in a long sequence along one side of the lounge, the metal models of the Sanlorenzo Superyachts reflect the visual patterns of the painting and change and move with it in a dynamic game of perception and emotion.
(Art Basel Miami, navigating in art – Brchemagazine.com – Febbraio 2019)
