After launching at Art Basel in Miami Beach and later in Hong Kong, Kabinett – an initiative that sees selected galleries hold small themed presentations in their booths – has arrived at Switzerland’s flagship Art Basel fair. “Exhibitors typically use our fair to show the full breadth of their program, so we invite them to focus on one artist or theme,” says Vincenzo de Bellis, director of fairs and exhibition programs at Art Basel. , from the “stand-within-concept” of “stand”. gallery program, helping to “further diversify the fair’s offering,” De Bellis adds.Here is our selection of five mini-presentations.
David Byrd, Anton Kern david owens
David Byrd
Anton Kern
The late painter David Byrd is honored after a life spent in relative obscurity. Although not strictly considered a foreign artist as he received formal training, his work was only publicly exhibited a few years before his death in 2013. Having struggled to find a stable career as a he artist, Byrd worked for 30 years in the psychiatric ward of a hospital, which inspired his work. The group of paintings from the late 2000s, brought by the Anton Kern Gallery, includes scenes set in a hospital and bears stylistic influences from Cubism, American Realism and Regionalism ($35,000-$70,000).
Henrik Hakansson, Franco Noero and Meyer Riegger david owens
Henrik Hakansson
Franco Noero and Meyer Riegger
Galleries Franco Noero and Meyer Riegger have exhibited in neighboring stands at Art Basel for years, and are now removing a dividing wall to showcase new works by artist Henrik Hakansson together. In its center, a large mobile sculpture (€90,000), a nod to Alexander Calder, is made up of stuffed starlings suspended from iron rods. Hakansson’s concern for the natural world is further demonstrated by six abstract paintings from 2020 (€14,000 each), which incorporate “insect traces” into their materials, as well as sugar, yeast and fruit.
Genesis Belanger, Perrotin david owens
Genesis Belanger
Perrotin
Working in a multitude of materials, including porcelain, wool, steel and plywood, Genesis Belanger presents six pieces with Perrotin ($75,000 to $110,000) as part of an installation titled A bite of the ripest fruit. Seen from the front, several sculptures almost look like paintings, “as if Claes Oldenburg and Giorgio Morandi had a baby”, explains Valentine Blondel, the gallery’s principal director. Like fellow American artist Jeff Koons, Bélanger has a background in advertising and his works are equally alluring.
Anri Sala, Esther Schipper david owens
Anri Sala
Esther Schipper
It is not common to see so many works by Ari Sala Untitled (card/species) (2018-22) in one place. In these diptychs – including eight presented by Esther Schipper (€35,000 each) – Sala reworks maps of countries and geopolitical territories, distorting representations of landmasses to fit within the boundaries of found engravings of biological species what are. exhibited alongside. In doing so, Sala hopes to show how classification and ordering often go hand in hand with colonization, while allowing viewers to draw more poetic parallels between wildlife and the geographies depicted.
Petrit Halilaj, Kurimanzutto david owens
Petrit Halilaj
Kurimanzutto
When Petrit Halilaj was just 13, the artist and his family fled their home in war-torn Kosovo, spending more than a year in a refugee camp in Albania. There Halilaj began to draw images of violence, but also exotic birds and doves. In one sketch, he depicted himself as a bird flying above the horizon. Representing migration as well as freedom, feathered creatures have been a mainstay of Halilaj practice ever since. At Art Basel, Kurimanzutto exhibits sculptures made from brass and the natural feathers of birds, including the ostrich and the silver pheasant (€25,000-45,000).
