Monday, December 7, 2015

Dining tables, spectacle and the quietness of wallpaper at Basel fairs

John Bell, at Cancio Contemporary AQUA $1800.

I enjoyed the four (or was it five?) days of visual gluttony that Basel and the Satellite fairs always produce. But like a callous hardened, I did not find the wondrous moment of pure enchantment. I think that there was so much I contracted ADHD. Speaking of gluttony, there were lots of table-esque sculptures and installations and themed paintings...
Family dinners?

Elmgreen & Drasset
Based in London and Berlin, the duo Elmgreen & Draset focus on social commentary and architecture. The cracked table and chairs were only the beginning of noticing a lot of riffs on the dinner party...I could not help wonder what kind of meal the artists were manifesting?
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, (303 gallery)Aluminum and survival blanket
lost my notes on this one, or were there notes?!

Megali Reus In Place Of (Mint)

ZHAN Wang Urban Landscape (Chicago) , C-print (Long March Space)
Tense like an intimate Serra
There was a lot of tension in the art.There was talk of the stabbing that had happened Saturday night (an exacto blade between to rival lovers)
Guiseppe Penone, Nel Legno, at Marian Goodman Gallery
seen at the Tornabuoni art gallery Basel
 The "wow" factor for me was for this giant embroidered mural! Alas, Boetti is a dead artist now.
Alighiero Boetti, embroidered masterpiece
Roy Lichtenstein Assemblages 1955 booth B11
Another shocker were these early 1955 Lichtensteins- before he "popped"!

Adrian Villar Rojas, young and Argentinian
There was art to see up close. through, below, above, and just out of reach.

As people started to droop I stumbled to the far corner of Basel and found...Charles Burchfield at the DC Moore Gallery, and his astounding wall paper designs!
Burchfield wallpaper sample 1922-29

another wallpaper sample

Burchfield painting...reminds me of home farm



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