Last week marked the closing of the last fair of the year when Art Basel Miami Beach closed Sunday evening. The overall feeling was energetic, positive and bright both in terms of the art on show, and the people attending. Similar to Frieze, it was a very 2-dimensional fair with painting reigning supreme. There is a very different energy however to this fair compared to the major European fairs in the fall. Maybe it’s the reaction to the sun and sand, but the works galleries bring seem more fun, and less academic to the other fairs. Perhaps this is also the result of being the 4th major fair in the past two months – collectors and dealers want a break from the heavy works. This was clearly a good choice because sales were booming. London’s Lisson Gallery impressively sold 14 pieces on the first day, Gavin Brown sold all their Rob Pruitt works, and an additional ten galleries were sold out by Friday. Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery commented on how Americans are buying again – 90% of the works they sold went to collectors from the US. For a fair being based in Miami, you’d hope it would revert back this way!
Basel Miami is an interesting fair, because while it is a leading Contemporary fair they still do have a rather large selection of modern masters including Picasso’s, Henry Moore’s, Barbara Hepworth’s among others, many of which sold by Friday. There is also a larger selection of early Contemporary including one booth dedicated exclusively to Yves Klein and John Cage. One impressive work that exemplifies the Miami flair is Frank Stella’s Khurasan Gate Variation III from 1968. This work was selling for $2.8 million at the Edward Tyler Nahem gallery which for a 30 foot wide work seems very good value.
Other highlights of mine came from younger artists:
Stephen Friedman was exhibiting Tara Donovan, the American artist known for using everyday materials in her work. The work on show at Miami Basel was titled Drawing (Pins), which really does the work no justice. A 72 inch square was tacked with thousands of nick-plated steel pins. Starting out more sparsely spread with the pins sticking out approximately an inch from the gatorboard, spreading down into a much more densely packed space the effect is a zen like wave. Such a simple idea, yet executed beautifully this work really stood out for me. Priced at £175,000 the work sold quickly.
Elad Lassry is a name that’s been popping up on the art scene consistently for the last while. Defining his practice as being consumed with pictures. Often generic, and often inspired by sources ranging from vintage magazines to film archives he explores the status of the picture and what it means today. Luhring Augustine Gallery was showing a film of his entitled Ghost featuring ballet dancers which appear frequently throughout his work. His films are crafted very intimately, and in this case done in very muted colours. By doing so, he liberates these images from the mundane context they are normally associated with to the average viewer, creating a new history and form for the subjects. Selling for $95,000 this is certainly an artist to watch. For someone as young as him (born 1977), and to already have such an impressive CV it’s time to buy while you still can.
A final artist that caught by attention was Laurent Grasso. At Miami Beach he was exhibited at two separate booths, while being featured in an exhibition at the Bass Museum in Miami as well. His interests are very historically based in terms of both references to prior artistic techniques as well as events. His work 1610 is formed by a collective of neon light stars fixed to the wall. While on initial glance it’s a basic work serving a decorative purpose, as with all his works, there are layers upon layers of history pieced together. This specific collective of stars is based on a drawing sketched by Galileo with information he saw by looking through his telescope. This constellation no longer exists as some of the stars have burned out by now, so it’s remaking a piece of history. Another interesting fact about it is that this drawing spurred a lot of contention between Galileo and the Church because it disproved the believed way of thinking at the time that everything orbited around the Earth. Interestingly this original drawing was later bought by the Vatican and is now a part of their collection. Selling at $25,000, Grasso’s prices are still low, and his work is very diverse.
Overall the fair was a definite success ending 2011 art market on a high note. First thing up in 2012 will be the India Art Fair which has done a major repositioning of itself. It will be interesting to see how it goes!
