The Messe Basel Exhibition Center opened its doors on June 11th to once again host the biggest international art fair, Art Basel, where 290 leading galleries from 34 countries show the works of over 4,000 artists. Among the many names from the early 20th century to the most contemporary are many names we've featured in Juxtapoz over the twenty-five years.
As large collectors and institutions seal deals going upwards to eight digits, we get to enjoy the gallery booths we know and follow, as well as 19 first-timers. As we check out the latest work by some of the premier names in the art world and get acquainted with new artists, it's clear that the world's biggest art presentation, once again, justifies its strong reputation.
What fun to find current cover artist, Robin F. Williams showing two new pieces with PPOW gallery. New work by another cover artist, Kehinde Wiley was impossible to miss at Stephen Friedman Gallery, as were Yoshitomo Nara's fresh canvases. It was great to see a new piece by Barry McGee at Perrotin's booth, where he revealed his upcoming Hong Kong debut this September, as well as Nathaniel Mary Quinn's new work and the announcement of his debut at Gagosian's Beverly Hills space. Louise Bonnet presented a large new canvas with Max Hetzler and the recently featured Neo Rauch circulated a couple of canvases of his own throughout the fair. Skarstedt continued their collaboration with KAWS by showing his newest work, and Anton Kern Gallery's booth featured a new painting by Julie Curtiss on the heels of a recent solo show. Nina Chanel Abney presented her latest piece with Jack Shainman Gallery, and a couple of Kerry James Marshall's pieces were on display too, including a big installation in the Unlimited section – and that warrants a special upcoming review!
As always, we enjoyed seeing new works by the likes of Tomoo Gokita, Friedrich Kunath, Jonas Wood, Nicolas Party, Glenn Brown, Barabara Kruger, Josh Smith, and Ugo Rondinone, and it's always a pleasure to experience the big, bigger, and massive George Condos in person. The fair was also a terrific chance to see some exceptional works by lesser-known artists, including Prudence Flint who is currently having a solo show with Mother's Tankstation in Dublin, new paintings by Stephan Melzl, great color pencil pieces by Corentin Grossman, a treasure of new drawings by David Shrigley, the wicked new sculpture by Austin Lee, and mixed media wonders by Pieter Schoolwerth among many, many others.