Art of the past has lessons for the present

FOR A FREE COPY OF
OUR MONTHLY PAPER,
GO TO STAND Z7
UMBERTO ALLEMANDI & CO. PUBLISHING
LONDON NEW YORK TURIN MOSCOW PARIS ATHENS
ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
Acquisitions
On show
Prada buys
Kienholz
for Milan
Art of the past has
lessons for the present
Controversial work
is rarely shown
The Fondazione Prada has
bought Ed Kienholz’s installation Five Car Stud, 1969-72, for
its permanent collection in
Milan. The lifesize tableau
depicts a barbaric racist attack in
which five white men pin down
and castrate a black man.
The acquisition marks the culmination of recent efforts to rehabilitate Five Car Stud, which
had been in storage in Japan for
almost 40 years. The work was
first shown at Documenta 5 in
1972, and was then exhibited in
Berlin and Düsseldorf before
being acquired by a Japanese collector, who never displayed it.
Around seven years ago, LA
Louver (2.0/D12) and the Pace
Gallery (2.0/B20) formed a partnership with Nancy Reddin
Kienholz, the artist’s collaborator and widow, to represent
Japan’s Kawamura Memorial
“
This feels like
the realisation of
Kienholz’s vision
”
DIC Museum of Art, which then
owned the work. It was shown in
the US for the first time last
October, at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, and is
now on display at the Louisiana
Museum of Modern Art in
Denmark (until 21 October).
Miuccia Prada says she is
“glad to confirm the acquisition”,
although she would not elaborate
on plans for its installation.
“The timing could not be more
poignant. This feels like the realisation of Ed’s vision,” says Lisa
Jann, the managing director of
LA Louver, which represents
Kienholz and is showing The
Potlatch, 1988, a collaboration
with Reddin Kienholz, priced at
$1.2m. “The foundation made a
commitment before the exhibitions, and we’re thrilled. It will
provide a contemporary context
for the work, which is as relevant
today as it was in 1972.” Charlotte Burns
One of the major talking points as
Art Basel opened its doors to the
first of two waves of VIP guests
yesterday was Rothko’s Untitled,
1954, a $78m yellow-and-peach
painting watched over by a security guard on Marlborough Fine
Art’s stand (2.0/D13).
Such works are rarely offered
openly on the secondary market:
this piece was charmed out of a
private Swiss collection after
another work by the late artist,
Orange, Red, Yellow, 1961, sold
for $86.9m at Christie’s New
York last month. “It is exceptional to get a piece like this; it is
every bit as important as that
Rothko,” said Andrew Renton,
the director of Marlborough
Contemporary, who is confident
that the work will sell at the fair.
Although the economic outlook is worse than gloomy, this
did not seem to deter most of the
big-name collectors from trying
to push their way in before the
official 11am opening (none succeeded). Among the early
arrivals were the collectors
Michael and Susan Hort, Don
and Mera Rubell, Pauline
Karpidas, Lawrence Graff and
Peter Brant; the museum directors Chris Dercon, Nicholas
Serota and Anders Kold of the
Louisiana Museum of Modern
Art in Denmark; and Caroline
Bourgeois, the curator for the
owner of Christie’s, François
Pinault. Other familiar faces
included the German collectors
Nicolas Berggruen and Christian
Boros, the Lebanese retail magnate Tony Salamé and the art
adviser Allan Schwartzman.
So how have dealers responded to the economic climate, and
what are they showing at the fair
this year? Recent auction results
have shown that the top end of
the art market is doing just fine,
as some collectors—notably the
mega-rich—seem to be parking
some of their fortunes in art.
“Art is portable, and liquid,
and can be traded in different currencies,” said Andrew Fabricant,
a director at Richard Gray
Gallery (2.0/E4). However,
offering the sort of works that
attract collectors at this level is
tough for dealers. “It is harder to
get early 20th-century material
and, now, even later material,”
said Edward Tyler Nahem of
Traditionally, in times of trouble, collectors look to the past.
This year, both floors are heaving
with examples of art doing just
that. The 1980s, in particular,
seem to be having a revival. “We
focused on Melvin Edwards,
who is gaining attention in the
US,” said David Cabrera, the cofounder of Alexander Gray
Gallery (2.0/G9). “There is less
“
I think there is a
desire to look back:
way back
—art
adviser Lisa Schiff
© Ola Grochowska, 2012
Photo: Poul Buchard. © Fotograf Broendum & Co
Modern masterpieces and contemporary works with historic references resonate at Art Basel
Francesco Vezzoli’s Self-portrait as Helios vs Selene by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 2012, sold to a European
collector for €250,000 with Yvon Lambert (2.1/N8)
New York’s Edward Tyler
Nahem Fine Art (2.0/F8). “There
is great competition, [due to]
both scarcity and demand.” As a
result, major pieces by pre-war
masters, as well as top abstract
expressionist, pop and minimalist works, are becoming scarce.
Nevertheless, dealers have
managed to extract some major
modern works from vendors.
Michael
Werner
Gallery
(2.0/B14) is offering Yves
Klein’s Peinture de Feu (F89),
1961, for $2.75m. “Such fire
paintings are extremely difficult
to
get,”
says
Gordon
VeneKlasen, director of the
gallery. “We did a show of Klein
ten years ago, and this came back
just last week.” At Helly
Nahmad Gallery (2.0/E6), a
major stabile by Calder, Trepied,
1972, is priced at $9.5m.
Deutsche Bank to back Art Basel Hong Kong
But usual sponsor UBS still keen on fair
The battle is on for the right to
sponsor Art Basel in Hong Kong.
In a break with the art-fair norm,
Deutsche Bank—the sponsor of
Frieze Art Fair—has been confirmed as the backer for Art
Basel Hong Kong in 2013, the
fair’s first edition under its new
ownership structure. The Swiss
bank UBS has historically been
Art Basel’s lead sponsor in both
Switzerland (since 1994) and
Miami Beach (since the first US
edition in 2002). But it sounds
as though putting money into the
Hong Kong fair is an unspecified
cost worth fighting for, and UBS
is not ruling out future sponsorship. “We have been supporting
[Art Basel] for many years, [so]
supporting the show in Asia
would certainly be worth examining,” says a spokeswoman for
UBS. Deutsche Bank has been
the sponsor of the Hong Kong
fair for the past three years—in
its previous incarnation as
ArtHK, the fair’s inaugural sponsor was the now bankrupt US
bank Lehman Brothers—and its
continuing backing is part of a
previous arrangement with the
event’s founders, Asian Art
Fairs, which still holds a 40%
stake. A spokeswoman for Art
Basel confirmed that the existing agreement gives Deutsche
Bank the right to review its sponsorship each year until 2015. A
spokeswoman for Deutsche
Bank said the firm is “delighted
to sponsor this exciting event in
Hong Kong”. Representatives
from Frieze did not respond to
requests for comment. Melanie Gerlis
For analysis of banks and their art
collections, see p7
”
frenzy around emerging artists
and less speculative buying, so
people are now looking at the
influences of 1970s and 80s
artists,” he said. The gallery is offering works by Edwards priced
between $30,000 and $295,000.
Other examples include Mark
Wallinger’s Gnomic Verse, 1987,
£120,000,
with
Anthony
Reynolds Gallery (2.1/H14), and
Clegg & Guttmann’s 1981 photograph Group Portrait of
Executives with Titian’s Allegory
of Prudence, with Galerie
Christian Nagel (2.1/H5), priced
at €25,000.
Looking back in time
The New York-based art adviser
Lisa Schiff sees this as a growing
trend. “The public knowledge of
Jeff Koons’s personal collecting
of Old Masters, the mounting interest of contemporary collectors
in visiting fairs like Maastricht,
and the forthcoming Frieze
Masters: I think there is a desire
to look back—way back,” she
said. On offer with Galleria
Franco Noero (2.1/L10) are two
pairs of portrait busts—SelfPortrait as Emperor Hadrian
Loving Antinous and SelfPortrait as Antinous Loving
Emperor Hadrian, both 2012—
by the Italian artist Francesco
Vezzoli, priced at $150,000 and
$175,000. Each pair is formed of
one antique piece and a contemporary response by Vezzoli.
Works by the artist are also showing at Yvon Lambert (2.1/N8).
Also with an antiquarian
CONTINUED ON P2
EVENING & DAY
CONTEMPORARY ART
AUCTIONS 28 & 29 JUNE
LONDON
PHILLIPSDEPURY.COM
THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
2
Art Basel
The six-week epic “fair
marathon” that began with Frieze
New York (4-7 May) and moved
to Asia two weeks later with
ArtHK (17-20 May), is now
drawing to a close with Art Basel
(until 17 June). Many galleries
are doubling or tripling up: 109
took part in both Frieze New
York and Basel; 82 participated
in both ArtHK and Basel; 43 have
done all three (see box).
While dealers complain about
fair fatigue, most remain goodhumoured. “I haven’t done a fair
for ages… since at least May,”
jokes David Nash, the co-owner
of Mitchell-Innes & Nash
(2.0/E9), which also took part in
Frieze New York.
“It’s a little exhausting, but so
long as there are good people,
great conversations and interesting art, then the time passes
quickly. And we’ll all have a
drink when it’s over!” says
Hanne Tonger-Erk of the
Dusseldorf gallery Sies and
Höke (2.1/M16), which took part
in all three. “Of course it would
be more comfortable to sit at
home, but we have a mission to
manage artists’ careers and to
open up new markets for them,”
says Rachel Lehmann, the coowner of Lehmann Maupin
(2.1/J9). The gallery, which
plans to expand to Hong Kong,
David Owens
Is there enough time, energy and art for three major events in six weeks?
Crowd at the booth of London’s Simon Lee Gallery (2.1/L7) during the Art Basel VIP preview
showed at all three fairs. “The
brand fairs are getting stronger
and more expensive because
they are a way for collectors, curators, writers, artists and other
dealers to filter information, and
they do a good job. They are also about brand-building for the
galleries—you repeat your message, you create awareness and
new opportunities. I don’t see
how you could not do them,”
Lehmann says.
Nonetheless, many marathon
runners might limit their distance
next year. “We wanted to try
Frieze, because it was new. It
made sense to do ArtHK because
we’re in Japan, and Basel is the
most important fair. But next
year I want to concentrate
because we’re opening a new
Galleries at Art Basel that also showed at Frieze New York
(4-7 May) and ArtHK (17-20 May)
Boers-Li, 2.1/R4
Boesky, 2.1/M2
Carlier Gebauer, 2.1/H3
Cheim & Read, 2.0/A11
Coles, 2.1/P5
Contemporary Fine Arts,
2.1/M19
Continua, 2.1/M20
Crousel, 2.1/J19
De Carlo, 2.1/N3
Eigen and Art, 2.1/H1
Friedman, 2.1/J11
Gagosian, 2.0/B15
Greene Naftali, 2.1/P18
Greengrassi, 2.1/L9
Harris Lieberman, 1.0/S20
Hauser & Wirth, 2.0/B19
Herald St, 2.1/R3
Kelly, 2.1/N2
Kerlin, 2.1/K9
Kilchmann, 2.1/J13
Koyama, 2.1/K17
Krinzinger, 2.1/K19
Kukje, 2.0/F6
Lambert, 2.1/N8
Lee, 2.1/L7
Lehmann Maupin, 2.1/J9
Lelong, 2.0/E12
Lisson, 2.1/K12
Long March, 2.1/J1
Modern Art, 2.1/J7
Modern Institute, 2.1/N15
Perrotin, 2.1/L1
Rech, 2.1/H11
Ropac, 2.0/B11
Sies and Höke, 2.1/M16
Sikkema Jenkins, 2.1/N11
Sprüth Magers, 2.0/B9
Stevenson, 2.0/G2
Taylor, 2.0/A9
Vilma Gold, 1.0/S24
Werner, 2.0/B14
White Cube, 2.1/J21
Zwirner, 2.0/F5
Compiled by Eric Magnuson
Swiss collector’s huge gift to Hong Kong museum
Art of past has lessons for present
CONTINUED FROM P1
Reuters/Bobby Yip
Hong Kong’s planned museum
of visual culture, M+, due to
open by 2017 in the West
Kowloon Cultural District, has
received a major boost—the gift
of 1,463 works from the
Chinese contemporary holdings
of the Lucerne-based collector
Uli Sigg, a former Swiss ambassador to China. Sigg has
agreed to donate the works, valued at $163m, while the museum will purchase another 47 for
$23m. Lars Nittve, the executive director of M+, is due to be
in Basel on Friday to take part
in a panel discussion about
building new world-class museums. At a press conference in
Hong Kong yesterday, when the
space in Shanghai,” says Tomio
Koyama (2.1/K17) of the eponymous gallery. “I am re-evaluating,” says Marianne Boesky
(2.1/M2), who also did all three.
“We did eight fairs in the past
year, and we have two New York
spaces. I can’t do it again. Fairs
are a big part of our work, but I
don’t think they can all survive.
Some have more active audiences than others, and it’s going
to come down to which can be
supported.”
“The proliferation of art fairs
is not a problem so long as the
market proliferates along with
it. If not, it is like opening a
bratwurst stand on the moon,”
says the Italian curator
Francesco Bonami. Ultimately,
fairs are “the transmission
mechanism between buyers and
sellers, so the real question is
whether there is demand”, says
the cultural consultant András
Szántó, who is also a contributing editor at The Art Newspaper.
“We are undergoing a period of
tremendous innovation in the art
business, with the rise of the art
fair, the range of new players
Uli Sigg (left) is donating works worth $163m from his collection
donation was announced, Nittve
said it would be “impossible” to
build a collection of the same
depth and quality now. As well
as works by artists including Ai
Weiwei, Ding Yi and Fang
Lijun, Sigg’s collection includes Zhu Cheng’s Venus de
Milo, which is made of panda
poo, and was bought in 2010 for
a reported $46,000—but this is,
sadly, not part of the gift. J.P.
and the huge number of digital
platforms emerging. The big
question is what the next chapter will bring.”
Come what may, supply is a
constant necessity. “There is
huge pressure on quality—it can
be spotty. Certain galleries do a
great job in curating their booths
so you get a sense of content and
context, but some of the megagalleries that show in every single international fair flatten
things to widgets,” says the New
York-based art adviser Lisa
Schiff. For John Elderfield, the
curator emeritus of New York’s
Museum of Modern Art, who
recently agreed to organise
major exhibitions for Gagosian
(2.0/B15): “It’s clearly got to the
point where many artists, except
those who have production studios, can’t do all of the fairs. It’s
beyond the reach of artists who
hand-make work. It’s hard for
[dealers] to find things of a really high standard.” The New York
collectors Susan and Michael
Hort agree: “There is only so
much work an artist can do. It’s
obvious that some of the galleries here won’t sell a damn
thing—they didn’t get the gems
from the artists.”
But for some, more is still better. “Fairs consistently attract
65,000 people to convention
centres to see art. If that appetite
is sustainable, then it’s exciting
and I want to be there to show my
artists. You’d be crazy not to—
you just have to approach the
fairs in an intelligent way and
make different programmes for
each,” says the New York gallerist Sean Kelly (2.1/N2). Even
the ever-energetic co-director of
London’s Serpentine Gallery,
Hans Ulrich Obrist, admits that
the volume of activity, from fairs
and festivals to biennials and exhibitions, means that “it’s not possible to see everything any more”.
He adds: “As Gilbert and George
said: ‘To be with art is all we ask.’
I want to see art every day—I like
marathons.” Charlotte Burns
flavour is Klaus Weber’s Trunk,
2011, a series of masks offered in
an edition of three by Andrew
Kreps Gallery (2.1/H6). One
sold at the opening to an Italian
collector for $30,000. “It’s classic with a conceptual underbelly,” Andrew Kreps said. Sies and
Höke (2.1/M16) is showing a
devarnished 17th-century painting by Fabrice Samyn, Beyond
Eros and Thanatos, 2012, priced
at €35,000.
Another distinct trend is art
that is predominantly white or in
a very pale palette. “We started
with a minimalist Agnes Martin
and designed the booth around it,
piece by piece. It is pale,
GARY HUME
ANGZ|ETY AND THE HORSE
Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Through June 23
calming—tranquil, even,” said
Robert Mnuchin, a partner in
L&M Arts (2.0/B12). Among the
works he is offering is Martin’s
Buds, around 1960, priced at
$550,000.
Whatever the state of dealers’
nerves, Art Basel remains the
place where they put their best
foot forward. David Fitzgerald, a
director of Kerlin Gallery
(2.1/K9)—the sole Irish exhibitor—summed it up. “Of
course there is a nervousness in
the economy in general,” he said.
“But all you can do is bring your
best and not worry about things
beyond your control.” Georgina Adam, Gareth Harris
and Riah Pryor
In the June
main paper
Our current edition has 120
pages packed with the latest
art-world news, events and
business reporting, plus
high-profile interviews
(and a smattering of gossip)
News French government
blocks export of Foucault
archive, Royal
Academy looks
East, Jeddah’s
sculptures by
Henry Moore, Miró
and Jean Arp to be
conserved
Museums Moscow to build
Pompidou-style centre, Warsaw
gets McDonald’s before a new
modern art museum
Conservation
Islamic extremists
threaten the
Muslim tombs and
treasures of
Timbuktu
Features The new
Barnes reviewed
(and the saga to
build it revisited),
controversial art
flourishes in conservative Gujarat
Books Franz Marc catalogue
raisonné places his work in its
full and proper context
Art Market The art-fair
marathon is longer than ever,
and brand-name galleries are
getting bigger, but is the model
sustainable?
What’s On
Documenta special: this year’s
creative director
on how Kassel is
a stage for its
13th edition
On our website
Breaking news, reports from
auctions and art fairs,
worldwide exhibitions
and more than 20 years
of The Art Newspaper in
our digital archive
www.theartnewspaper.com
For a free copy,
visit us at stand Z7
On Twitter
We will be tweeting from the
fair. Sign up and follow us
@TheArtNewspaper
Coming in July/August
Museums Singapore’s national
gallery thinks big Conservation
Race to save Sudan’s archaeological heritage Art Market
Who is behind a new online art
venture? What’s On Art during
the London Olympics, Chicago
celebrates skyscrapers and art,
Tate Modern’s oil tanks-turnedperformance spaces
Timbuktu: Photo: Emilio Labrador. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev: Photo: Eduardo Knapp. Folhapress: all rights reserved
The final leg of the summer fair marathon
HAUNCH OF VENISON
NEW YORK
550 West 21st Street
New York, NY10011
T + 1 212 259 0000
F + 1 917 261 5915
[email protected]
www.haunchofvenison.com
AHMED
ALSOUDANI
October – November
Ahmed Alsoudani
Untitled, 2012
Acrylic and charcoal on canvas
234 × 218.5 cm
THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
4
Contemporary art
Revamped brewery sparks creative ferment
Before the Löwenbräu, which reopened this week with a series of shows, Zürich was small beer on the Swiss art scene
© ARGE Löwenbräuareal (Gigon/Guyer Architekten und atelier ww Architekten; Zürich)
P
icture this: a 19th-century,
128,000 sq. ft former
brewery that houses public
and private art institutions and
commercial galleries, all under
the same (new, concrete) roof.
Such was the vision for the
Löwenbräu art complex in
Zürich’s north-west industrial
area, which reopened to the public this week after an extensive
two-year redevelopment.
The Migros Museum für
Gegenwartskunst (museum of
contemporary
art),
the
Kunsthalle Zürich and the commercial galleries Hauser & Wirth
(2.0/B19) and Galerie Bob van
Orsouw (2.1/P17) will all be
back for business officially in the
Löwenbräu this autumn, having
exhibited in the building since
1996. One disappointment, however, is that the privately owned
Daros Collection, which has
around 300 North American and
European contemporary works,
will not be returning.
In a surprise move, the institution closed down the bulk of its
exhibition
programme
in
Switzerland, handing over the
museum’s activities to the Daros
Latinamerica Collection in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil—a process
that began in 2009. While the
Löwenbräu was closed, works
from Daros’s European collection went on display in the
Fondation Beyeler in Basel, a
link-up that will continue “for
sure this year and next”, says
Walter Soppelsa, the director of
the collection.
The Löwenbräu’s SFr65m
($67.3m) construction and modernisation was much needed—
and was a long time coming.
Planning began in 2004, but the
The overhauled art complex has welcomed back institutions including the Kunsthalle Zürich
building was not closed until
2010. Even at 84,000 sq. ft, the
original amount of space was
limited. Storage facilities were
non-existent and there were no
meeting rooms or areas for educational and other events.
Regular changes of ownership of
the building meant a series of
temporary (and increasing)
rental agreements with different
landlords, and Bob van Orsouw,
the owner of the eponymous
gallery, says there were also access and heating issues.
The building now has a new
west wing, complete with an extra floor designed by Zürichbased Gigon/Guyer Architekten.
A new ownership structure has
been created and the exhibition
space is now owned equally by
the Kunsthalle Zürich foundation (presided over by Maja
Hoffmann), the Migros conglomerate and the City of Zürich.
City at the centre
Getting the city on board as a
partner was a major coup, says
Beatrix Ruf, the director of the
Kunsthalle Zürich. It is unusual
for art institutions in Switzerland
to receive public funding (the
kunsthalle is called a public institution despite being 60% privately funded), but, she says, the
Zhang Xiaogang, Face 2012 No. 1, 2012 © 2012 Zhang Xiaogang
Booth B20 Hall 2.0
June 14 –17, 2012
city recognised the importance of
the Löwenbräu to Zürich’s position in the Swiss contemporary
art scene. The city had virtually
no profile in the field 30 years
ago; the Swiss artist Peter Fischli
says that there was “no permanent place for contemporary art
in Zürich in the 1980s… if you
wanted to find out the latest developments in art, you had to
travel to Basel or Berne.”
The Löwenbräu participants
stress that Zürich no longer plays
second fiddle to other Swiss
cities, in particular Basel, where
the Art Basel fair launched in
1970. Zürich, says Ruf, always
had
a
concentration
of
commercial galleries, including
Thomas Ammann (2.0/B13),
Bruno Bischofberger (2.0/C10)
and Hauser & Wirth. (Geneva did
have Jan Krugier and Basel had
Ernst Beyeler, but these were exceptions rather than the rule.)
Now Zürich capitalises on the
Basel fair by hosting events in
tandem (it is less than an hour
away by train).
Although the Löwenbräu is
not due to reopen officially until
31 August, most of the incumbent institutions are staging exhibitions during Art Basel. The
Kunsthalle Zürich is showing 64
works that Ruf has secured for a
primary market charity auction,
due to be held at Christie’s in
London on 28 June. The
Löwenbräu project takes the
kunsthalle’s exhibition space
from 10,900 sq. ft to 17,200 sq.
ft, including a dramatic new concrete “white cube” floor.
For this, the kunsthalle needs to
raise SFr30m ($31m), which
Ruf says the institution is “still
working on”.
A separate acquisition fund
has been set up for this purpose
(the kunsthalle does not have a
collection). The artists whom
Ruf has persuaded to donate
have all exhibited at the kunsthalle over the past 25 years,
and many of them work with galleries including Maureen Paley
and Hauser & Wirth. They include Fischli/Weiss (a five-part
work, Untitled, 2012, est
£200,000-£300,000),
Rudolf
Stingel (a black oil on canvas,
Untitled, 2010, est £250,000£350,000) and Peter Doig (a
work in gouache, Untitled, 2011,
est £30,000-£50,000). The auction’s top estimate is £2.9m and
the works are on view in the new
Löwenbräu, organised by Ruf
(“Looking Back for the Future”,
until 17 June). Dirk Boll, the
managing director of Christie’s,
continental Europe, says that the
decision to sell the works in
London rather than Zürich was
made in order to secure “real
market prices rather than charity prices”, and to widen the potential buyer pool.
The commercial galleries are
also putting on shows for the
building’s soft launch. On
Saturday, Bob van Orsouw
opened a solo exhibition of the
Dutch artist Ger van Elk (until
21 July), whose work is also on
display in the gallery’s booth at
Art Basel. Its exhibition space in
the Löwenbräu has been
revamped and expanded to
around 5,400 sq. ft (including
storage). Hauser & Wirth is
showing around 70 rarely seen
works by Hans Arp and his peers
(alongside an exhibition of
drawings by Roni Horn; both until 21 July). Iwan Wirth, the owner of the gallery, says he is “excited”
about
the
new
Löwenbräu; Hauser & Wirth’s
renovated 6,780 sq. ft gallery has
an extended ground floor as well
as an open, light-filled secondfloor space.
Meanwhile, the Migros museum is hosting a new performance, An die Musik, by the
Icelandic
artist
Ragnar
Kjartansson. During the lengthy
event, several pianists, the tenor
Kristján Jóhannsson, a group of
opera singers and the artist will
perform Franz Schubert’s 1817
song “An die Musik” (to music;
until 17 June). Melanie Gerlis
© SU CCE S SI O N M I RÓ/A DAG P, PA R I S A N D DAC S , LO N DO N 2012
JOAN MIRÓ PEINTURE (ÉTOILE BLEUE), 1927 ESTIM ATE £15–20 MILLION
IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART EVENING AUCTION
AUCTION IN LONDON 19 JUNE 2012 | ENQUIRIES +44 (0)20 7293 5087 | REGISTER NOW AT SOTHEBYS.COM
The Global Forum for Design
12.–17. June 2012
Design Galleries
Caroline Van Hoek, Brussels/
Carpenters Workshop Gallery, London & Paris/
Cristina Grajales Gallery, New York/
Dansk Møbelkunst Gallery, Copenhagen & Paris/
Demisch Danant, New York/
Didier Ltd, London/
Dilmos Milano, Milan/
Franck Laigneau, Paris/
Gabrielle Ammann // Gallery, Cologne/
Galerie Anne-Sophie Duval, Paris/
Galerie BSL, Paris/
Galerie Chastel-Maréchal, Paris/
Galerie Downtown – François Laffanour, Paris/
Galerie Dutko, Paris/
Galerie Eric Philippe, Paris/
Galerie Jacques Lacoste, Paris/
Galerie kreo, Paris/
Galerie Maria Wettergren, Paris/
Galerie Patrick Seguin, Paris/
Galerie Perrin, Paris/
Galerie Ulrich Fiedler, Berlin/
Galleria O., Rome/
Gallery Libby Sellers, London/
Gallery SEOMI, Seoul/
Heritage Gallery, Moscow/
Hostler Burrows, New York/
Jacksons, Stockholm & Berlin/
Jousse Entreprise, Paris/
Nilufar Gallery, Milan/
Ornamentum, Hudson/
Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels/
Priveekollektie Contemporary Art | Design, Heusden/
R 20th Century, New York/
Salon 94, New York/
Todd Merrill Twentieth Century, New York/
Design On/Site Galleries
Antonella Villanova, Florence/
presenting Manfred Bischoff
Armel Soyer, Paris/
presenting Pierre Gonalons
Erastudio Apartment-Gallery, Milan/
presenting Vincenzo De Cotiis
Granville Gallery, Paris/
presenting Matali Crasset
Victor Hunt Designart Dealer, Brussels/
presenting Humans Since 1982
Design Talk
Wednesday 13. June
17.30–18.30
Design Legacies
Nadja Swarovski
Helmut Swarovski
Eyal Burstein
Moderated by Deyan Sudjic,
Director of the London Design Museum
Hall 5, Mezzanine Level
designmiami.com
THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
7
Institutional collecting
Banks cash in on “spend and lend” strategy
Private firms already own major works and sponsor heavyweight fairs. Now they are defying the crisis by lending against art
By Melanie Gerlis
Mixing aircraft with art
For the banks, art plays an important role in
winning and retaining their private wealth clients
(high-net-worth clients are typically those with
more than $5m of investible assets; ultra-highnet-worth individuals have more than $50m).
“There is a crossover [between clients’ investments],” says Michael Darriba, the head of
lending and credit solutions at Deutsche Bank
Private Wealth Management. Clients who use the
banks for more traditional assets (such as
property, stocks and funds), or estate planning
and even aircraft financing, are often players in
the art market, too—or they become the owners
of works when a relative dies. The banks position
themselves as expert sounding-boards in an
otherwise under-regulated world: offering, for
example, shipping, export, conservation and duediligence advice. Patricia Amberg, the head of
UBS’s Art Competence Center, which was set up
last year, talks of the “many pitfalls” that the
centre can help clients avoid. Darriba describes
Deutsche Bank’s offering as “bespoke”.
Photo: John Wildgoose
D
espite the continuing sovereign
debt crisis, the European banks
Deutsche Bank and UBS are not
holding back on their sponsorship
of art fairs. The latest news is that
Deutsche Bank will sponsor Art
Basel Hong Kong from 2013, rather than UBS,
the bank that has been associated with the Art
Basel brand since it began sponsoring the Swiss
fair in 1994 (it has supported the Miami Beach
edition since its inception in 2002). Deutsche
Bank has also been associated with Frieze Art
Fair; the bank has sponsored the fair’s London
edition since 2004 and has now added the Frieze
New York and Frieze Masters editions to its
remit. Deutsche Bank sponsored ArtHK before it
was bought by Art Basel (for three editions, from
2010 to 2012).
The bankers are out in force at Art Basel this
year; UBS, the fair’s main sponsor, is due to host
a dinner for around 100 clients in the Art
Unlimited exhibition. During Frieze New York,
Deutsche Bank hosted a dinner at the Whitney
Museum of American Art, where the city’s mayor,
Michael Bloomberg, gave a speech. The bank is
not entertaining as extravagantly in Basel, but
Alistair Hicks, the senior curator of its collection,
is in town. “Fairs have become a useful way to
entertain clients and try to promote what we do,”
he says. “[Art Basel] enables us to give something
back to clients who are interested in art,” says
Irene Zortea, the head of the UBS Art Collection.
At the end of 2011, one joke going around the
banking world was that UBS’s art collection had
made more than its banking business that year.
The exact figures were never confirmed (UBS
does not disclose the value of its art), but as the
bank’s net profit was down 45% in 2011, it is safe
to assume that its collection of around 35,000
contemporary works performed better.
The banks’ art collections are significant; Hicks
says they are “small but integral” to the bigger
business. Deutsche Bank has around 60,000 works
on paper (including photography) dating from
1960 to the present day, making it one of the
biggest contemporary collections in the world.
UBS has around half that number and buys pieces
in all media, providing they can be displayed.
Although both firms focus on emerging and
developing artists (who are cheaper), their
collections, which incorporate those they have
acquired from other banks, include some important
pieces. The UBS collection is more than 30 years
old and has around 8,000 works by what its
curators refer to as “premium artists”, including
Roy Lichtenstein (Crying Girl, 1963), Willem de
Kooning, Chuck Close, Julian Schnabel and
Damien Hirst. Deutsche Bank, which has been
collecting post-1945 art since the 1970s, owns
Gerhard Richter’s Betty, 1991, as well as works by
artists including Neo Rauch, Hirst, Anish Kapoor
and Andy Warhol. Both banks distribute works to
around 900 offices worldwide, and pieces owned
by UBS are on loan to museums around the world,
including Lesley Vance’s Untitled, 2011, Richard
Diebenkorn’s Untitled (Ocean Park #13), 1983,
and Claes Oldenburg’s Study for Store Objects—a
Sock & 15 Cents, 1961-62.
Tony Cragg’s sculpture Secretions, 1998, and Keith Tyson’s 12 Harmonics, 2011, in the foyer of Deutsche Bank’s British headquarters in London
Business from privately wealthy clients has
become increasingly important to banks as their
other revenue-generators, such as mergers and
acquisitions in the corporate arena, have run dry
(or at least drier) since the economic downturn of
2008. Meanwhile, wealth creation has continued,
particularly in Asia and South America. Deutsche
Bank showed its commitment to the private client
business when it bought Sal Oppenheim, a
Luxembourg-based wealth manager, for €1bn in
cash, a transaction that was completed in 2010. At
UBS, wealth management has increasingly been
on the strategic agenda: in the first quarter of 2012,
pre-tax profit in this area was up 70% on the
previous quarter to SFr803m ($883m). The bank
closed the period with invested assets of SFr772bn
($850bn), up 3% on the fourth quarter of 2011.
All aboard the gravy train
Although entertainment and VIP lounges at fairs
are valued by clients, they are not tangible
income-generators—and it would be an unusual
bank that said it didn’t care about its bottom line.
The signs are that several of the financial
institutions are looking more closely at how to
capitalise on bringing their core skills to art. One
potential area is in lending against art: a more
direct way for banks to make money.
“Art can often represent a large portion of
wealth that doesn’t generate any income [for its
owners]. Unlocking this money can allow it to be
used for other opportunities [outside the art
market],” Michael Darriba says. “More and more
people are using their collateral to get liquidity,”
says Suzanne Gyorgy, an art finance manager at
Citi Private Bank. Citi’s art advisory business has
lent against art for more than 20 years.
The banks say that every transaction is
different, but in general, they lend up to around
50% of a work’s value (which reduces their risk
considerably when compared with, say, loans
against property). The lending rates also vary, but
these are typically between 2% and 5% above the
interbank lending rate, representing a healthy
margin. However, UBS does not offer art lending
and never has, because the market’s illiquidity is
too risky. “If you have to sell a specific work of
art, you can never guarantee that it will fetch the
price you expected,” Patricia Amberg says.
Instead, UBS charges clients an hourly rate for
independent advice on either buying or selling art.
It also seems that the economic downturn is
helping banks regardless of whether clients are
buying or liquidating their assets. Gyorgy says:
“Both things are happening; people are freeing up
and parking liquidity.” For clients who need the
cash, an art loan or advice on a work’s disposal is
How to refresh your collection
When pushed, representatives of banks’ art collections acknowledge that the art itself is a store of value
(although they are tight-lipped about what that value
might be). Irene Zortea, the head of the UBS Art
Collection, says that it is run on a self-funding model;
works that no longer fulfil its criteria (for example,
pieces too old or too unwieldy to display) are sold so
that new work can be bought on the primary market.
Three weeks ago, the bank sold Carlos Cruz-Diez’s
Chromo-Interference Mécanique, 1979 (left), for
$662,500 (est $350,000-$450,000) at Sotheby’s in
New York. The work was created for the collection
after Cruz-Diez was asked to participate in a competition to design the interior of a new UBS building on
Zürich’s Flurstrasse. The bank has since moved out of
the building, and the work, which has a diameter of
almost 7ft, is difficult to transport and display. So,
with a bit more money than expected, do the collection’s representatives have their eyes on anything at
Art Basel? Yes, says Claudia Steinfels, the bank’s
recently appointed curator for Switzerland. “Mostly on
the [cheaper] upper floor.” M.G.
a helpful solution. And for those who have run
out of investment opportunities in more traditional fields, buying art has already proved popular.
Since the downturn, high-net-worth individuals’
investment in art has increased at the expense of
property and cash—a trend that is expected to
continue, according to the 2011 Merrill
Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report.
It isn’t just the banks that sponsor art fairs or
have big art collections that want to take advantage of this dynamic. Daniel Ross, an associate
vice-president in Barclays’s wealth and investment management team, says the bank recognises
the “crossroads between the art market and
private banking”. The investment management
part of his bank boasts a few works by modern
British artists, and Barclays is exploring ways to
extend its expertise in tax and estate planning to
art, and lending against art. “Banks are now
clambering over art,” Ross says. Other banks on
the art gravy train include Société Générale
Private Banking, which in 2009 announced a
partnership with the art advisory firm 1858, and
Germany’s Berenberg Bank, which launched an
art advisory subsidiary last year.
Valuable advice
Banks aren’t the only firms growing their art
services business while the sun shines on the art
market; art advisers to the wealthy are also
becoming more prominent. But Lisa Schiff, a
New York-based independent art adviser who is
at Art Basel this week, says she doesn’t see them
as competition. “I am on the ground all the time
and I never run into anyone from a bank. My
guess is that what they are doing is very investment-driven and that they are occupied with bluechip, recession-proof works.” She acknowledges
that this is the way the art market seems to be
leaning, as some galleries become megabusinesses on a par with auction houses. It is,
Schiff says, “a strange time in the art world”.
There is even talk of banks launching art funds
again, although this is “not a topic” of discussion
for UBS, while Deutsche Bank’s Hicks says that
he is “not consciously aware of one”. The bankers
will be mindful of ABN Amro, which launched an
art investment advisory service in 2004, only to
pull out of the art market completely the following year. But Daniel Ross says that “the banks
wouldn’t be investing so much in [art] if they
didn’t think it was going to drive future revenue”.
Schiff agrees: “It will be interesting to see the art
world in ten to 20 years’ time, when I suspect the
banks’ art advisory teams will be thriving.” THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
8
Art and taxidermy
How to save a suicidal squirrel
vulnerable to many of these
environmental factors. “When
it comes to light exposure, you
need to treat [specimens with]
fur and feathers like you would
a watercolour,” says Phil
Howard, a taxidermist at
National Museums Scotland.
Mike Gadd, a UK taxidermist
and the author of Beginner
Taxidermy: Small Mammal,
agrees: “It’s a natural product
and, like all natural products,
will fade in time if left in
direct sunlight.”
With temperature and
relative humidity, stability is
the key. “Humidity is one of
the biggest threats to organic
materials, especially when it
comes to skin,” says Hein Van
Grouw, a curator in the Natural
History Museum’s zoology
department. “Anything above
70% humidity for an extended
period of time can lead to
bacteria and mould growth.”
Howard says that fluctuations
pose the biggest threat and that
there is no “absolute best”
figure with regards to temperature and humidity. “The
damage occurs when specimens are in an environment in
which they take on moisture
and then dry out,” he says,
explaining that this eventually
leads to cracks in the animal’s
skin. “Treat them as you would
a piece of fine furniture,” he
advises. A glass case will act
like a buffer, prolonging the
life of the specimen.
Mothballs at the ready
Infestation is one of the most
significant threats to taxidermy,
and one that many collectors
may not be prepared for. “Like
a woolly jumper kept in a
wardrobe, specimens can
become subject to moth
infestation,” Gadd says, adding
that many of the non-toxic
products available on the
market to prevent moths from
eating clothing can also be
used to protect taxidermied
animals. According to Van
Grouw, the words “museum
beetle”—a term covering a list
of species of beetle—strike
fear into the hearts of those in
the museum world who are
entrusted with the care and
preservation of specimens.
“Museums are like a
McDonald’s drive-in for them,”
he says. “It’s important to
monitor specimens for
“
Until the fat starts
leaking, it is difficult
to tell that a piece has
been made poorly
”
infestation regularly because
the damage caused by insects
can be quick and disastrous.”
One of the most serious
mistakes that can be made
during the preparation of an
animal is failing to clean the
skin properly. It is essential to
remove the fat from the skin
because, unlike flesh, the oils in
fat never dry out. “If it’s not
removed,” Van Grouw says, “it
will lead to what we call fat
burn”—a chemical process in
which the fat leaches or burns
through the skin. “It will
eventually degrade the skin,
turning it into what looks
like lattice,” Howard says.
“I have seen beautiful
animals and thought they were
done by an expert only to open
them up and find that the fat
hadn’t been removed, so the
piece will only last a couple of
years,” Van Grouw says. “Until
the fat starts leaking, it is really
difficult to tell that a piece has
been made poorly.”
Although it does not affect
the animal’s preservation,
anatomical accuracy is another
bone of contention among
taxidermists who aim to
create a specimen that is as
lifelike as possible. “I’ve seen
pieces and thought ‘wow,
that’s horrible’. The ribcage
and shoulders were nowhere
near where they were supposed
to be,” Gadd says. “If you
came home and your husband
had one eye that was 20mm
higher than the other or his
ears were further apart than
they were in the morning,
you’d take him to hospital.”
The lifespan of a piece of
taxidermy is largely determined
by the quality of its construction and the conditions in which
it is kept. “They’re quite robust.
If they’re properly prepared and
kept in ideal conditions, they
should last for centuries,”
Howard says. Van Grouw
agrees: “We have pieces in the
Natural History Museum that
date from the late 1700s and
they are fine.” Emily Sharpe
THE
RENOVATED
AND
EXPANDED
STEDELIJK MUSEUM
AMSTERDAM
REOPENS
SEPTEMBER
23TH
WWW.STEDELIJK.NL
AMSTERDAM
It wasn’t until the 19th century
that taxidermy—the art of
The growing trend for taxidermy in contemporary art can be traced back to works such as Maurizio Cattelan’s Bidibidobidiboo, 1996
MUSEUM
From real to surreal
preparing and mounting the
skins of animals to lifelike
effect—came into its own. No
fashionable home was complete
without an exotic animal
decorating its interior. So great
was the demand that as many as
350 taxidermists set up shop in
London during the height of the
craze. While many preferred
their mounted specimens to be
as lifelike as possible, others
took delight in the anthropomorphic examples of taxidermists such as Walter Potter,
who gained fame with his
whimsical depictions of
squirrels boxing and kittens
taking tea.
Many artists using taxidermy today strive to highlight
the artifice of the practice.
Dion, for example, included a
toy polar bear in his 1991 piece
Polar Bear and Toucans (From
Amazonas to Svalbard). Bergit
Arends, the curator of contemporary art at the Natural
History Museum in London,
says: “It’s amusing that people
might not notice the difference
between real and fake animals,
and artists play with that.”
Other artists, such as Scott
Bibus, are practising “rogue
taxidermy” (the creation of
animals that do not exist in the
real world), which has been
described as “more closely
related to surrealism than to
mainstream taxidermy”.
Over-exposure to light and
fluctuations in temperature and
humidity can damage many
types of works, including
paintings, furniture, watercolours and photographs.
Surprisingly, taxidermy is also
STEDELIJK
D
epictions of
animals in art
are nothing new;
one need only
think of George
Stubbs’s horses
or Henri Rousseau’s tigers with
eyes burning bright. However,
the trend for animals in art—
the practice of incorporating
taxidermy in works—has been
enthusiastically embraced by
an increasing number of
contemporary artists. Maurizio
Cattelan, Damien Hirst, Mark
Dion and the longtime collaborators Tim Noble and Sue
Webster have included
taxidermy in their practice
since the 1990s, and a new
generation of artists, including
Angela Singer and Polly
Morgan, is following their
lead. Here in Basel, examples
include Petah Coyne’s ornate
chandelier with ducks and
quails, Untitled # 1175,
2003-08, on offer at Galerie
Lelong (2.0/E12) for $200,000,
and Edward Kienholz and
Nancy Reddin Kienholz’s The
Potlatch, 1988, at LA Louver
(2.0/D12) for $1.2m.
Collectors are taking note:
whether it be Cattelan’s 1996
piece Bidibidobidiboo or one of
the Frankenstein-like pieces
from Thomas Grünfeld’s
“Misfits” series, as the demand
and prices for these works
increase, so does the need for
information on the best way to
care for them.
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Perrotin, Paris
Artists are increasingly using dead animals as material—and collectors need to know how to look after their specimens
www.padlondon.net
10-14
OCTOBER
2012
B E RK E L E Y SQ
LON D O N W 1
11A M - 8 P M
OFFICIAL PARTNERS
Patron of the
MEDIA PARTNERS
Prize
10
THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
Let’s meet at the preview
Photos: David Owens
Among the first arrivals with the coveted, black “First Choice” VIP cards yesterday
The French headhunter and collector Philippe Lévy and his wife visit In Situ Gallery (2.1/R7)
Julia Prezewowsky, the director of Nature Morte (2.1/P14) in Berlin, with the Indian artist Subodh Gupta
THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
Stephan Zimmermann, the chief operating officer of wealth management at UBS, is captivated by the nude performers recreating Marina Abramovic’s Imponderabilia at Sean Kelly Gallery (2.1/N2)
Rodolphe von Hofmannsthal, the co-director of London’s Dicksmith Gallery, and the art dealer Barbara Balkin Cottle get their bearings at the fair
Second
S
e ccoon
o d to
to none
none insuring
insuring art
artt
SPECIALISED FINE ART INSURANCE BROKER
Vienna . Munich . London . Zurich . Singapore
FFor
o r iinquiries
n q u i ri e s please
p l e a s e contact
c o nt a c t Renate
R e n a t e Schwarz
S ch
hw a r z at:
a t : Tel.
Tel. +44
+4 4 207
207 816
816 5979
5979 . Fax
F ax +44
+4 4 207
816 5900
590
9 0
207 816
axx +
4 3 1 5532
32 0088 4400 - 1100
or Philip
P hilip M
Machat
achat aat:
t : TTel.
el . +
+43
4 3 1 5532
32 0088 4400 . FFax
+43
w w w. b ar t aar t . c om
[email protected]
ar t @ b ar t aar t . c om . www.bartaart.com
11
ROB PRUITT
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
MAY 25 – JULY 29 2012
KUNSTVEREIN FREIBURG
GAVINBROWN.BIZ
PARTICIPATING GALLERIES
1301PE Los Angeles
Galeria Álvaro Alcázar Madrid
Alexander and Bonin New York
Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe New York
Gallery Paule Anglim San Francisco
John Berggruen Gallery San Francisco
Galleri Bo Bjerggaard Copenhagen
Daniel Blau Munich, London
Russell Bowman Art Advisory Chicago
Galerie Buchholz Cologne
Valerie Carberry Gallery Chicago
Cardi Black Box Milan
Cernuda Arte Coral Gables
Chambers Fine Art New York, Beijing
Cherry and Martin Los Angeles
James Cohan Gallery New York, Shanghai
Corbett vs. Dempsey Chicago
CRG Gallery New York
D'Amelio Gallery New York
Stephen Daiter Gallery Chicago
Maxwell Davidson Gallery New York
Douglas Dawson Gallery Chicago
Catherine Edelman Gallery Chicago
Galería Max Estrella Madrid
Fleisher/Ollman Philadelphia
Galerie Forsblom Helsinki
Forum Gallery New York
Marc Foxx Los Angeles
Fredericks & Freiser New York
Barry Friedman, Ltd. New York
Friedman Benda New York
The Suzanne Geiss Company New York
Gering & López Gallery New York
Galerie Gmurzynska Zurich, St. Moritz
James Goodman Gallery New York
Richard Gray Gallery Chicago, New York
Galerie Karsten Greve AG
Cologne, Paris, St. Moritz
Kavi Gupta Chicago, Berlin
Carl Hammer Gallery Chicago
Haunch of Venison New York, London
Hill Gallery Birmingham
Nancy Hoffman Gallery New York
Rhona Hoffman Gallery Chicago
Honor Fraser Los Angeles
Vivian Horan Fine Art New York
Leonard Hutton Galleries New York
Bernard Jacobson Gallery
London, New York
Annely Juda Fine Art London
Paul Kasmin Gallery New York
James Kelly Contemporary Santa Fe
Sean Kelly Gallery New York
Robert Koch Gallery San Francisco
Michael Kohn Gallery Los Angeles
Leo Koenig, Inc. New York
Alan Koppel Gallery Chicago
Yvon Lambert Paris
Landau Fine Art Montreal
Galerie Lelong New York, Paris, Zurich
Locks Gallery Philadelphia
LOOCK Galerie Berlin
Diana Lowenstein Gallery Miami
Luhring Augustine New York
Robert Mann Gallery New York
Lawrence Markey San Antonio
Matthew Marks Gallery
New York, Los Angeles
Barbara Mathes Gallery New York
Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie Paris
Galerie Hans Mayer Düsseldorf
The Mayor Gallery London
McCormick Gallery Chicago
Anthony Meier Fine Arts San Francisco
Nicholas Metivier Gallery Toronto
Mitchell-Innes & Nash New York
Carolina Nitsch New York
David Nolan Gallery New York
Nyehaus New York
The Pace Gallery New York, London, Beijing
Franklin Parrasch Gallery New York
Galería Moisés Pérez de Albéniz
Pamplona
P.P.O.W. New York
Ricco / Maresca Gallery New York
Yancey Richardson Gallery New York
Roberts & Tilton Los Angeles
Rosenthal Fine Art Chicago
Salon 94 New York
Marc Selwyn Fine Art Los Angeles
William Shearburn Gallery St. Louis
Manny Silverman Gallery Los Angeles
Carl Solway Gallery Cincinnati
Hollis Taggart Galleries New York
Tandem Press Madison
Galerie Daniel Templon Paris
Paul Thiebaud Gallery San Francisco
Tilton Gallery New York
Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects
New York
Vincent Vallarino Fine Art New York
Van de Weghe New York
Washburn Gallery New York
Daniel Weinberg Gallery Los Angeles
Weinstein Gallery Minneapolis
Max Wigram London
Stephen Wirtz Gallery San Francisco
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery New York
David Zwirner New York
EXPOSURE
AMBACH & RICE Los Angeles
Bourouina Gallery Berlin
Clifton Benevento New York
CRYSTAL Stockholm
DODGEgallery New York
Galerie Christian Ehrentraut Berlin
The Green Gallery Milwaukee
JTT New York
The Mission Chicago
Galerie Tatjana Pieters Ghent
Andrew Rafacz Gallery Chicago
Silverman San Francisco
Sue Scott Gallery New York
Cristin Tierney New York
VAN HORN Dusseldorf
Vogt Gallery New York
Kate Werble Gallery New York
Workplace Gallery Gateshead
THE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION OF CONTEMPORARY/MODERN ART & DESIGN
20–23 SEPTEMBER NAVY PIER
Wednesday September 19 Vernissage Opening Night Benefit for Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Model Study in Mylar, Studio Gang Architects
Photo courtesy of
expochicago.com
THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
14
Art Parcours
T
he site-specific
installations and
performances of
Art Parcours are
luring visitors
away from the
Messeplatz to the St Johann
neighbourhood in the heart of
Basel this year. The third
edition of the outdoor exhibition
features works by 14 artists,
including a survey of Rodney
Graham’s paintings hung in a
traditional Swiss restaurant and
the late Icelandic artist Dieter
Roth’s Basel studio recreated by
his son, as well as a vaudeville
extravaganza complete with
acrobats, plate-spinners, clowns,
musicians and magicians, which
kicks off at 8pm tonight. The
curator of Art Parcours, Jens
Hoffmann, the director of the
CCA Wattis Institute for
Contemporary Arts in San
Francisco, says the works are
displayed closer together than
last year. “I wanted to see if it is
possible to install the works
almost as if one is walking
through an exhibition,” he says.
Pawel Althamer, Bruno, 19982012, price undisclosed
Foksal Gallery Foundation,
2.1/H9, and
Neugerriemschneider, 2.1/H7
Location: Skulpturhalle
Werkstatt
Housed in the workshops of
Basel’s Skulpturhalle is Pawel
Althamer’s sculpture of his
eldest son, Bruno. The Polish
artist, who is best known for
covering people and planes in
gold, uses less flashy materials
such as grass, thread and metal
in this work. He started the
sculpture more than ten years
ago, when Bruno was still a
teenager, but only revisited the
work this year, enlisting his
son—now an art student in
Warsaw—to help him
complete the work. Posing in
contrapposto, Bruno holds
Rearranging
the furniture
Allan Kaprow, Push and Pull:
a Furniture Comedy for Hans
Hofmann, 1963/2012
Reinvention by Mateo Tannatt,
price undisclosed
Hauser & Wirth, 2.0/B19
Location: Restaurant zur
Mägd, Festsaal
Photos: Ola Grochowska
In the name
of the son
A congregation dressed in its Sunday best
Los Carpinteros, 150 People, 2012, price undisclosed
Galeria Fortes Vilaça, 2.1/J22, and Sean Kelly Gallery, 2.1/N2
Location: Predigerkirche
Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodríguez, the artists behind the Havana-based collective Los Carpinteros (the carpenters), are best
known for reimagining everyday objects as large-scale art installations. The furnishings of Basel’s Predigerkirche have served as
inspiration for the artists, who have dressed each of the church’s 150 chairs. “It is quite unusual for a Catholic church to have chairs
and not benches,” Castillo says, “so that attracted us right away.” Sourced from second-hand shops in Spain and adapted by a
seamstress, the summer clothing in which the chairs are dressed is meant to evoke a sensation of emptiness, according to the artists.
“When you see a dressed chair, you see the trace of somebody: the physicality of the person who has left this scenario. We don’t use a
lot of human presence—never, in fact; only the traces of humans,” Castillo says. Los Carpinteros first began to incorporate clothing in
their work with the 2010 piece 16m, which has a wide hole running through a 16m-long clothing rack of suits. “Furniture is very
outfit-able,” Castillo says. “It always has legs and a body, which can be dressed.” Squatting, slums
and sex on film
Abraham Cruzvillegas,
Autoconstrucción, 2009,
$50,000
Kurimanzutto, 2.1/N1
Location: Ackermannshof,
Druckerei
Favelas, shanty towns and
slums grow out of what the
Mexican artist Abraham
Cruzvillegas describes as
autoconstrucción, or selfconstruction: improvised
building without an architectural approach. This is the
subject of a long-running series
of works by the artist, and in
his first film, which is being
animal intestines, a reference to
depictions of St Bartholomew,
who is often shown holding his
own skin after being flayed.
Bruno also features with his
family in Althamer’s work
Pawel, Weronika, Szymon and
Bruno Althamer, 2004. Asked by
a Polish magazine if his children
will become artists, Althamer
says: “Yes, if it entails having a
creative approach, [whether]
you are a cook or a painter.” Interviews by Julia Michalska
shown in a former printing
works, Cruzvillegas continues
to explore such makeshift
dwellings. The artist, who is
also exhibiting at Documenta
The caravan dividing sky and land
Claude Lévêque, Ring of Fire,
2011, €160,000
Kamel Mennour, 2.1/H2
Location: Totentanz Park
As the days grow warmer,
caravans are becoming an ever
more regular sight on the roads
of Europe. One such vehicle is
at the centre of the French artist
Claude Lévêque’s installation,
but it is made inaccessible by
being perched on a 3m-high
column of breeze blocks. Its
windows and fittings have been
removed, and the interior is
filled with fairy lights. Lévêque
says: “Here, travel is immobile,
frozen between sky and land,
and the stars of the cosmos have
become prisoners of the
caravan’s interior.” The work
this year, says the film is an
“abstracted portrait” of his
neighbourhood, the Ajusco
district in the south of Mexico
City. The piece focuses on the
houses that make up Ajusco,
which was founded by migrants who squatted on and
settled in what was considered
to be uninhabitable land in the
1960s. The only human activity
shown in the film is people
having sex. “Their situation is
the result of something; a lack
of opportunity or money, the
promise of modernity and
wealth that is just not happening—and they have to do
things in different ways. In this
context, it is appealing that sex
is happening,” Cruzvillegas
says. But the film looks
beyond economic hardships.
“It’s more about the dynamics
of making something out of
nothing and inventing solutions
in times of crisis.” also evokes the “auto-repair
shop signs along American
highways”, according to the
artist. Lévêque says the
caravan, which conjures up
images of camping holidays
and bonfires, is also reminiscent of the dismantling of
migrant camps in Europe and
the immigration policies of its
nation states. Ring of Fire was
first shown in 2011, at the
group exhibition “Plateaux”
in Luxembourg. True to Allan Kaprow’s belief
that art and the viewer are one,
this work will turn visitors into
artists in their own right when
they are asked to rearrange
furniture in the Festsaal of the
Restaurant zur Mägd. This is
the 14th reinvention of
Kaprow’s 1963 happening Push
and Pull, a three-dimensional
parody of Hans Hofmann’s
theory of painting. “Allan really
wanted the reinventions to be
different,” says Tamara
Bloomberg, the manager of the
late American artist’s estate.
“He wanted you to take the idea
and run with it. It’s an invitation
to do something [using] what he
did, but not to copy it.”
Hofmann, who was Kaprow’s
painting teacher, used the
phrase “push and pull” to
describe the relationship
between colour and space on
the canvas. “By moving the
furniture, the participants are
literally following Hofmann’s
theory in real space and time,”
Bloomberg says. Jens
Hoffmann, the curator of Art
Parcours, had the idea to
restage the work. He says: “The
idea of remaking performances
has been discussed enormously
over the past few years.
Kaprow’s work was always
about site and experience, and I
like bringing historical works to
this programme.” Hoffmann
invited the Los Angeles artist
Mateo Tannatt to Art Parcours,
and he has filled the Festsaal
with furniture from an abandoned apartment down the road.
Four actors have set up camp in
the apartment for the duration
of the fair, and live footage of
them moving around furniture
will be shown in the Festsaal,
where members of the public
are invited to rearrange objects
too. “The dialogue between the
public and the private is very
important in this work,” Tannatt
says. The installation in the
Festsaal is presented on a
podium, with theatrical lighting,
“because the audience is meant
to become the performer”,
Tannatt says. MODERN.
CONTEMPORARY.
ABU DHABI ART.
7 - 10 November 2012
Saadiyat Cultural District
Abu Dhabi, UAE
abudhabiartfair.ae
Or
Organised
ganised by:
by:
THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
16
What’s On
www.theartnewspaper.com/whatson
Zurich
Exhibition selections are
arranged alphabetically
by category
Haus Konstruktiv
Selnaustrasse 25
13 June, 12pm-8pm; 14-15
June, 12pm-6pm; 16-17 June,
11am-6pm
www.hauskonstruktiv.ch
Klaus Lutz: in the Universe
until 2 September
Visionary Collection Vol. 18
until 2 September
EXHIBITIONS
Non-commercial
Basel
Fondation Beyeler
Baselstrasse 101
Until 17 June, 9am-7pm
www.fondationbeyeler.ch
Jeff Koons
until 2 September
Philippe Parreno
until 30 September
Kunsthalle Basel
Steinenberg 7
13 June, 10am-10pm;
14-17 June, 10am-8pm
www.kunsthallebasel.ch
Craigie Horsfield: Slow Time
and the Present
until 26 August
Paul Sietsema
14 June-26 August
Kunsthaus Baselland
St Jakob-Strasse 170
13 June, 2pm-8pm;
14-17 June, 11am-5pm
www.kunsthausbaselland.ch
Marc Bauer: Nature as Territory
until 15 July
Sofie Thorsen: Cut A-A’
until 15 July
Carlos Garaicoa: a City View
from the Table of My House
until 15 July
Kunstmuseum Basel
St Alban-Graben 16
13 and 15-17 June, 10am-6pm;
14 June, 11am-6pm
www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch
Renoir: Between Bohemia
and Bourgeoisie
until 12 August
Measured Worlds: Panorama
until 7 October
Michael Kalmbach
until 12 August
Museum für Gegenwartskunst
St Alban-Rheinweg 60
13-14 and 16-17 June, 11am6pm; 15 June, 10am-9pm
www.mgkbasel.ch
Hilary Lloyd
until 16 September
Museum Tinguely
Paul Sacher-Anglage 1
Until 17 June, 9am-7pm
www.tinguely.ch
Photographer: Ola Grochowska
Haus für Elektronische Künste
Oslostrasse 10
Until 16 June, 10am-7pm;
17 June, 10am-6pm
www.haus-ek.org
Gateways: Art and Networked
Culture
until 19 August
Kunsthalle Zurich
at the Museum Bärengasse
Bärengasse 20-22
13 and 15 June, 12pm-6pm;
14 June, 12pm-8pm; 16-17
June, 11am-5pm
www.kunsthallezurich.ch
Olivier Mosset: Leaving
the Museum
until 17 June
Frances Stark
until 17 June
Elise Storsveen and Eline
Mugaas: Back to Nature
until 17 June
Schaulager Satellite
Messeplatz, Basel, until 17 June
Visitors to Art Basel are getting a behind-the-scenes peek at how the Schaulager stores its
collection, via a temporary pavilion set up by the institution in the Messeplatz to coincide with the
fair. The Schaulager, which houses the expanding Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation collection, is
closed to the public while its Herzog & de Meuron-designed building undergoes an “enhancement”
project to reorganise the storage areas and expand the research and teaching facilities. After
suspending its exhibition programme in 2010, the Schaulager is planning a show by the Turner
Prize-winning artist and film-maker Steve McQueen, which is due to open in March 2013. J.Mi.
Vladimir Tatlin: New Art for
a New World
until 14 October
Schaulager Satellite
Messeplatz
until 17 June, 10am-8pm
www.schaulager.org
Schweizerisches
Architekturmuseum
Steinenberg 7
13 June, 10am-10pm;
14-17 June, 10am-8pm
www.sam-basel.org
Construction Community:
the First Goetheanum in Photos
and Documents
until 29 July
Aarau
Helvetiaplatz 1
Until 15 June, 11am-6pm;
16-17 June, 10am-6pm
www.kunsthalle-bern.ch
Josephine Pryde: Miss
Austen Still Enjoys
Photography
until 12 August
Kunstmuseum Bern
Hodlerstrasse 8-12
Until 17 June, 10am-5pm
www.kunstmuseumbern.ch
Fly Over the Border: the Painter
Hermann Hesse
until 12 August
Sean Scully: Grey Wolf
until 24 June
Zarina Bhimji
until 2 September
Aargauer Kunsthaus
Aargauplatz
13 and 15-17 June,
10am-5pm; 14 June,
10am-8pm
www.aargauerkunsthaus.ch
Kris Martin: Every Day
of the Weak
until 12 August
Light Sensitive: Photography
from the Collection
until 12 August
Niklaus Wenger: Caravan
2/2012
until 12 August
Lucerne
Bern
Kunsthalle St Gallen
Davidstrasse 40
Kunsthalle Bern
Kunstmuseum Luzern
Europaplatz 1
13 June, 10am-8pm;
14-17 June, 10am-5pm
www.kunstmuseumluzern.ch
Katerina Seda
until 17 June
The Studio: Places
of Production
until 29 July
Raymond Pettibon:
Whuytuyp
until 22 July
St Gallen
Until 15 June, 12pm-6pm;
16-17 June, 11am-5pm
www.k9000.ch
Haroon Mirza
until 1 July
Kunstmuseum St Gallen
Museumstrasse 32
13 June, 10am-8pm;
14-17 June, 10am-5pm
www.kunstmuseumsg.ch
Nadim Vardag
until 24 June
Pipilotti Rist
until 25 November
Winterthur
Fotomuseum Winterthur
Gruzenstrasse 44 and 45
13 June, 11am-8pm;
14-17 June, 11am-6pm
www.fotomuseum.ch
Status: 24 Contemporary
Documents
until 26 August
Rosângela Rennó:
Strange Fruits
until 19 August
Kunstmuseum Winterthur
Museumstrasse 52
Until 17 June, 10am-5pm
www.kmw.ch
New Paintings from
the Collection
until 19 August
Verena Loewensberg:
Retrospective
until 5 August
Kunsthaus Zürich
Winkelwiese 4
Until 15 June, 10am-8pm;
16-17 June, 10am-6pm
www.kunsthaus.ch
Aristide Maillol
until 16 December
Adrian Zingg: Precursor
of Romanticism
until 12 August
Riotous Baroque: from Cattelan
to Zurbaran
until 2 September
Rosa Barba: Time as
Perspective
until 9 September
Wiel am Rhein
Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Strasse 1
Until 17 June, 10am-6pm
www.design-museum.de
Gerrit Rietveld: the Revolution
of Space
until 16 September
Confrontations: Contemporary
Dutch Design
until 2 September
FAIRS
Art Basel
Halls 1 and 2, Messe Basel
Messeplatz
www.artbasel.com
13 June, VIP preview,
11am-8pm; 14-17 June,
11am-7pm
Design Miami/Basel
Hall 5, Messe Basel
Messeplatz
www.designmiami.com
Until 17 June, 11am-7pm
Volta 8
Dreispitzhalle, Dreispitz Areal,
Gate 13, Helsinki Strasse 5
www.voltashow.com
Until 16 June, 10am-6pm
The Solo Project
St Jakobshalle
Brüglingerstrasse 19-21
www.the-solo-project.com
13 June, 10am-12pm (private
view), 12pm-8pm (public
view); 14-16 June, 10am-7pm;
17 June, 10am-5pm
Liste: the Young Art Fair
Werkraum Warteck pp,
Burgweg 15
www.liste.ch
Until 16 June, 1pm-9pm;
17 June, 1pm-7pm
Scope Basel
Kaserne Basel
Klybeckstrasse 1b
www.scope-art.com
Until 16 June, 11am-7.30pm;
17 June, 11am-6pm
Today’s highlights
13/06/2012
Art Basel Conversations:
Artist Talk
10am-11am, Hall 1,
Messe Basel, Messeplatz
Heinz Mack and Otto Piene
from the artist collective Zero
speak with Hans Ulrich Obrist,
the co-director of London’s
Serpentine Gallery.
Art Parcours
10am-12am, locations within
the St Johann neighbourhood
Jens Hoffmann, the director of
the Wattis Institute for
Contemporary Arts, organises
13 site-specific projects by
artists including Aleksandra
Mir and Dieter Roth, in the
St Johann area—a new
location for the third edition
of Art Parcours.
8pm-12am: Voix de Ville, a
performance by Los Angelesbased artist Kathryn Andrews.
Design Talk: Design Legacies
5.30pm-6.30pm, Hall 5,
Messe Basel, Messeplatz
The director of the Cincinnati
Art Museum, Aaron Betsky,
leads a discussion between
Alex Mustonen of the
Brooklyn-based collaborative
Snarkitecture, the collector
and philanthropist Beth Rudin
DeWoody and her daughter
Kyle DeWoody, the co-founder
of New York’s ultra hip
gallery and shop Grey Area.
Art Club
11pm-3am, Campari Bar,
Kunsthalle Basel, Steinenberg 7
Performance by DJs T. Magic
and Hazetheblaze.com.
CHZ, inverted topiary, #1, 2011, Tusche auf Papier, 20,8 × 29,3 cm
PHILIPPE PARRENO
10. 6. – 30. 9. 2012
FONDATION BEYELER
RIEHEN / BASEL
SEAN SCULLY
Grey Wolf – Retrospective
Kunstmuseum Bern until 24 June 2012
www.kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 44
Tuesday 10.00 ‒21.00
Wednesday to Sunday 10.00 ‒17.00
Direct train from Basel to Bern, 1 hour
Sean Scully is represented by Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, (Stand K9)
Galerie Lelong, New York & Paris, (Stand E12)
and Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, (Stand A9)
6 Albemarle Street
London W1S 4BY
+44 20 7629 5161
marlboroughcontemporary.com
Art Basel
Stand D13 / Hall 2.0
Koen van den Broek, Hope #2, 2012, Oil on canvas, 210 x 140cm
MARLBOROUGH FINE ART
6 ALBEMARLE S
ST
T
LONDON
L
ONDON W1S 4BY
4BY
+44 20 7
7629
629 516
51611
marlboroughfineart.com
marlbor
oughfineart.com
ART BA
SEL
BASEL
AND D13 / HA
LL 2.
0
S
STAND
TA
HALL
2.0
Pablo Picasso, Mousquetaire et Fillette, 1967, Oil on Canvas, 92 x 73cm
THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 13 JUNE 2012
19
Diary
them are slumping to the side, collapsing into
the others. “It’s on reserve,” Brown says of the
piece by the artist Sturtevant, then emphasises, “I’m selling it as art.” One would hope so.
It’s priced at €175,000. “That,” Brown says,
“would be a very expensive sex doll.”
First among equals
world, provided an unexpected
insight into the joys of air travel
declaring: “It would be a
wonderful thing to have a
private jet all the time. I know
people who do fly by private jet
all the time, like Larry
Gagosian, who is a big art
dealer. He has a private jet and
flies all the time, and luckily
I’ve hitched a ride on his plane a
few times and it is not overrated
at all. It’s a great way to travel!”
So much for new opening times
and extra VIP days. It seems
that no cunning plan is able to
prevent a tide of art collectors
from forming an irate scrum in
their attempts to get into the fair
on the first of the two preview
days. Add in some copious
downpourings of rainfall and
sturdy crowd barriers to prevent
all but the earliest of birds from
taking shelter, and tempers soon
frayed to breaking point. “It’s
worse than usual,” bemoaned
the British collector David
Roberts, who battled through
the throng and was overheard
saying: “There must be a way
in—is there a back door?”
Meanwhile, another Brit, who
chose to remain nameless,
retorted: “I wish I’d brought my
Oyster card [London Tube
pass], it might have been more
effective!”
Artoon by Pablo Helguera
Don’t steal this book
Standing in her display at Art
Unlimited, painter Laura Owens
reflected on her first Basel
experience, in 1999, in Art
Statements. The booth featured
just one painting. “People were
freaked out,” she says. They
were wrong to be—that year
she won the very first Baloise
Prize. In Art Unlimited (Brown,
Capitain, Coles, U5), she’s
showing more paintings—91
more. But the collection of
works form one piece, Untitled,
2012, along with a group of
books she designed and spread
out on a table. She has shown
books before at a fair, but it
didn’t go too well. One was
stolen. “So I made a website,
YouStoleMyBook.com.” Did
that sour her on fairs? “Dealers
try to protect artists from the art
fair experience,” she says, “but
it’s a reality.”
© 2012 Ola Grochowska
Photo by David Owens.
Naked aggression
You may have noticed that in order to enter one side of Sean Kelly’s
booth (2.1/N2), you must pass through a narrow space between
two stark naked people engaged in a stare down. They are
recreating
Marina
Abramovic’s
famous
performance
Imponderabilia (1977/2010). Although they take shifts, one of the
female performers fainted yesterday afternoon, but made a quick
recovery. When the piece was recreated two years ago for
Abramovic’s retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, a
few performers complained that they’d been fondled by museum
visitors. At Art Basel, there are pre-arranged hand signals they can
give to the gallery’s associate director Lauren Kelly if things get
inappropriate. We spoke with one of the performers, Mike Winter,
a British dancer based in Geneva. “It’s incredibly intimate,” he
said. What if someone fondled him? “I’d remember what they
looked like and go and get them afterwards.” Effusive sponsors
“If no one ever looked at art,
would anybody even create it?
And how much does art
actually need buyers?”
Inspiring words from BMW,
one of Art Basel’s major
sponsors, which then goes even
further on the cover of its new
guide to the world’s private
collections by asking: “Who are
these collectors anyway?
Privileged or unloved individuals? Men and women of
conviction or mere unloved
investors? Show-offs or
idealists?” Things take a
somewhat sober tone inside the
book, which provides a
country-by-country guide to the
world’s “private and publicly
accessible collections of
contemporary art”. But by the
last page, the offerings are once
again overheated to a positively
Oscar-ish level: “Art is a gift…
we say a wordless ‘thank you’
to all the artists that fascinate,
inspire and sometimes even
change us… [and to] everyone
who lives with art and who has
opened their spaces to likeminded spirits from around
the world…”
The only way to fly
Waxing lyrical in a recent issue
of the German edition of
Interview Magazine, Marc
Jacobs, the handbag designer
and general adorner of the art
UBS is pleased to be
the main sponsor of Art Basel.
Want to rewrite American
foreign policy? Locate your
inner Rumsfeld or perhaps
penetrate the psyche of the
current US Secretary of
Defense, Leon Panetta? The
artist Mark Dion is offering
visitors the chance to don an
outfit of their choice, assume
full officialdom and take up
their position at the iconic
lectern emblazoned with the US
Department of Defense insignia.
Mess Conference, 2004, on
Galerie Christian Nagel’s stand
(2.1/H5) provides a rack of
white shirts, military fatigues,
an assortment of headscarves
and even aviator shades to
complete either a Hawk- or
Dove-ish look, with a tripod and
camera set up to immortalise the
whole experience. Participants
can receive a jpeg of their
Pentagon alter egos for a mere
€40 or if you want to rerun the
fantasy in the comfort of your
own home, the cost of the entire
piece (excluding the camera) is
€65,000 excluding VAT.
Make a wish
One of the more subtle works in
Art Unlimited is Yvon
Lambert’s display of Untitled
(Empty Room), 2012, by the
Israeli-born, New York- and
Berlin-based artist Ariel
Schlesinger (U28). At first
sight, this seems like just a
locked space with a glass door
holding some standing gas
tanks. But as you come closer, a
tiny nozzle in the glass feeds a
flickering flame—leading to the
assumption that the gas-filled
room beyond is fuelling the fire.
“That’s what it seems like,” said
an Art Unlimited minder
guarding the work on Tuesday,
“but it is some kind of illusion.”
And what happens if a breeze
blows out the flame? “Then, we
call the gallery.”
Green day
At the booth of New York dealer
Andrew Kreps (2.1/H6), there is
a salad bowl and napkins on the
table. There’s a very practical
reason for this: on Thursday, to
the delight of art-loving health
nuts, Kreps will take the fruits
and veggies—an ear of corn,
lettuce, and so forth—and make
them into a big salad. It will be
first come, first served, and a
culmination of a work by Darren
Bader that was recently installed
at New York’s MoMA PS1.
“Yes, alert your readers,” Kreps
says. “It will be a good way to
get your vitamins.” Basel kickoff
Newsweek’s art critic Blake
Gopnik recently called
Documenta the Olympics of the
art world. But Basel gets its own
share of sports analogies. “If it’s
[American] football, I like the
Super Bowl. This is the art
version,” says the artist Melvin
Edwards. And he should know;
decades ago, he got into the
University of Southern
California on a football scholarship. His minimalist barbed wire
sculpture Pyramid up and down
pyramid, 1970/2012, is on view
at Art Unlimited (Alexander
Gray, U18). It was shown at the
Whitney in 1970, but subsequent
appearances use newer wire. In
Texas, he informed us, people
collect barbed wire, the barbs of
which come in different shapes
and distributions, depending on
Editorial and production
(fair papers):
Editors: Jane Morris,
Javier Pes
Deputy editor: Helen Stoilas
Production editor:
Ria Hopkinson
Copy editors:
James Hobbs, Emily Sharpe
Designer: Emma Goodman
Editorial researchers/picture
researchers: Eric Magnuson,
Toby Skeggs
Contributors: Georgina
Adam, Martin Bailey, Louisa
Buck, Charlotte Burns, Sarah
Douglas, Melanie Gerlis,
Gareth Harris, Ben Luke, Julia
Michalska, Riah Pryor,
Cristina Ruiz, Anny Shaw,
Emily Sharpe, Helen Stoilas,
Nicole Swengley, Christian
Viveros-Fauné
Photographers:
Ola Grochowska, David Owens
Additional editorial research:
Ermanno Rivetti
Executive director:
Anna Somers Cocks
Managing director:
James Knox
Associate publisher:
Ben Tomlinson
Business development:
Stephanie Ollivier
Office administrator:
Belinda Seppings
Head of sales (US):
Caitlin Miller
Advertising sales (UK):
Kath Boon, Elsa Ravazzolo
Advertising production:
Daniela Hathaway
Published by Umberto Allemandi
& Co. Publishing Ltd
US office:
594 Broadway, Suite 406,
New York, NY 10012
Tel: +1 212 343 0727
Fax: +1 212 965 5367
Email:
[email protected]
UK office:
70 South Lambeth Road,
London SW8 1RL
Tel: +44 (0)20 3416 9000
Fax: +44 (0)20 7735 3322
Email:
[email protected]
For all subscription enquiries:
Tel: +44 (0)8443 221 752 (UK)
Tel: +44 (0)1604 251 495 (from
outside the UK)
www.theartnewspaper.com
Twitter: @TheArtNewspaper
Printed by Bazdruckzentrum
© The Art Newspaper Ltd, 2012
Photo by David Owens.
© 2012 Ola Grochowska
Anna Maria Maiolino, Lygia
Pape and Thomas Schütte,
among others. He then goes on
to describe the uprooting of the
Messeplatz car park to make
way for Herzog & de
Meuron’s extension as being
“like the archaeology of the
[recent] past. That is why so
many people—including
myself—are so fascinated by
the machines and workers at the
building site. Is it an excavation
or demolition site?”
the year. So, what vintage is
this? “This is barbed wire
ordinaire,” he says, slipping into
wine lingo. “2012.”
Have your say
Digging deep
Many of us have commented on
the extensive building works
that have engulfed the
Messeplatz, but few as
poetically as the director of Tate
Modern, Chris Dercon, who
declaims that “people seem to
long for modernity as our…
Antiquity,” citing Pedro Reyes,
ART BASEL DAILY EDITION
Photo by David Owens.
As the Design Miami/Basel fair reminds us, the
convergence of art and design has given rise to
new ideas about art that can also be functional.
Lining one wall of Gavin Brown’s booth in Art
Basel (2.1/N4) is a chorus line of 11 inflatable
sex dolls, not all of them fully inflated. Some of
All rights reserved. No part of this
newspaper may be reproduced without
written consent of the copyright
proprietor. The Art Newspaper is not
responsible for statements expressed in
the signed articles and interviews.
While every care is taken by the
publishers, the contents of
advertisements are the responsibility of
the individual advertisers
We will not rest
ab
www.ubs.com/sponsorship
© UBS 2012. All rights reserved.
Annette Schönholzer and Marc Spiegler will not rest – devoting themselves to the unrivalled success of Art Basel with passion.
Passion. It’s what we share
with the directors of Art Basel.
Art Basel has long been the
world’s premier international exhibition
for modern and contemporary art.
Annette Schönholzer and Marc Spiegler
constantly reinvigorate this success story
through their commitment, experience and
excellent relationships within the art world.
We also create sustainable value
for our clients by means of our
passion, professional know-how
and global network.
This is why UBS has supported
Art Basel as a partner since 1994.
Until you are fully convinced
of our commitment,
you can count on this:
We will not rest
www.ubs.com/sponsorship
Names and/or references to third parties in this print advertisement are used with permission. © UBS 2012. All rights reserved.