Wind up

Wellington sculpture enthusiasts will be pleased to know that London has wind sculptures too.

I will need walls

As one of his greatest works is in New Zealand, Richard Serra’s work always has special resonance when we come across it. And so at Basel, at the top of an escalator itself transformed by Daniel Buren (another global artist with strong New Zealand connections) with his trademark green stripes, we came across a suite of recent Richard Serra prints. And, what a surprise (sorry Francis), we both immediately read them as landscapes, thanks to McCahon. This effect is not something that probably affects anyone under the age of 30. This time though for us the switch to reading the works for what they probably were, walls of steel, was almost instantaneous. And, in there somewhere, is a good argument to get even more art from other cultures and other places into and onto our land. While McCahon’s revelation of our landscape in abstraction was important, there’s even more to it now with interventions like Serra’s meandering wall - a landscape with lots of lovers, Richard Serra included.

Spot the art work 1

There is an art work hidden in this picture, can you spot it?

Keeping it in the family

While we were in Basel we dropped in to see the Basel Design Fair. It was held in an amazing domed building that looked like it had been a garage at some time in its life. Among the very cool and very expensive chairs, bookcases and lamps we saw Atelier Van-Lieshout’s Family Lamp. It immediately reminded us of the works from the Vigland Sculpture Park, home to the world’s most bizarre public sculpture. Nearby, his trilby hat resting on his lap, Brad Pitt was arranging for his people to talk with the gallerist’s people about shipping Family Lamp (from an edition of 10) home. Don’t know the sticker price, but a dining room table by the same Dutch designer would expect between $US20-30,000. We assume there was a discount.

Look alike

Images: Left, Nashville Fiddles LP cover. Right, I’ve got it all by Tracey Emin

Big Ears (Limited edition)

Buyer: Can I sit on it?
Dealer: That's a $1 million euro Roni Horn glass work that weighs three tonnes
Buyer: Sure, but can I sit on it?
Dealer: If you wanted to.

and

"You can alarm it if you like, but we've gone with guards."

Proud

Stimulusresponse is up and running again.

Pipe dream

Leaving Basel, thinking of Rose Nolan.

The big issue

The Art Newspaper publishes every day of the Basel Art Fair. Mostly gossip and interviews, the second issue featured a Dane Mitchell and Starkwhite story, right next to a piece on Brad Pitt who the paper had sighted at the fair and called “diminutive”. Lucky they didn’t use that on John McCormack or they might have had a fight on their hands.

Hide and seek

If we were to make a list of the most compelling spaces in New Zealand, right up there would be Peter McLeavey’s stock room. What was in there was the subject of many, many conversations and only a rare few were allowed to squeeze in and check it out. Add the stock room upstairs that nobody ever seems to have entered and the sense of mystery was complete. Guessing what was in Peter McLeavey’s stock room or pretending to have insider information about it became part of an elaborate game with Peter and his artists playing centre court.
We were reminded of this experience and the allure of the unknown at the Basel Art Fair as we watched selected collectors ushered into small backrooms constructed in some gallery booths. More than stock rooms many of them were private selling areas. Not all dealers used the mystique of the back room to entice sales though. Larry Gagossian, one of the most powerful people in contemporary art, spectacularly did his business from a desk in the front of his booth, in full view of anyone who walked by. But then, that has a mystique all its own.
Images: Larry Gagossian where everyone can see him. Right, backrooms.

Nice spot

A not very good photo (sorry Judy) of a big painting by Judy Millar at the very big Basel Art Fair.

Theme park

Things we saw a lot of in art works at the Basel Art Fair.

White neon, video screens in elaborate picture frames, abstract human heads on animal bodies, vitrines hanging on walls, film projectors, mirrors, triangular shapes in paintings and sculpture, and, still, rabbits (lots of them).

Big Ears

Basel Art Fair: Day 2

The Dealers:

Dealer: "So we ship it back to New York. OK?"

Collector: "Colorado."

Dealer: "I meant Colorado."

"Do you not hear what I'm saying. This thing weighs 5000 pounds."

"We need the guys to come and we need to rehang this thing. (pause) Lots of guys."

"She hates my guts. There's nothing she wouldn't do to destroy my interest in all this."

"It might be possible, now that his brother has become a studio assistant."

The Collectors

"For someone who doesn't have one I guess it's ok."

Dealer: "And if you say, 'Yes, I definitely want it' you're on the list."

Collector: "I want it."

"My one's bigger (pause) ... and I think, better."

Advice to collectors

Don't bother booking a rental for the Basel Art Fair.
Image: Publicity shot being taken of VIP cars and drivers on the opening morning of the Basel Art Fair.

Spellbinding

If anyone had doubts about how et al. would fare in an exhibition of top international artists (SPOILER ALERT: we never did), they would have had them removed at Art Unlimited at the Basel Art Fair. Walking past a truly great Carl Andre, a spectacular Murakami and an entire train craned in by Chinese artist Qiu Anxiong, et al.'s installation was right up there with the best of them and ahead of a lot. Starkwhite's John McCormack and Dominic Feuchs had good cause to be pleased with themselves and their artists. They also had Dane Mitchell in Statements. Mitchell, in cahoots with a witch, had cast a spell over part of the exhibition space. We noticed that even the doubters kept their feet and hands well clear of the demarcated space. Even we took a spell check on risking a photograph. CNZ was involved in supporting Dane Mitchell and may have (they will no doubt tell us in their own good time) supported et al. too. If so, good on them.
Image: entrance to et al.'s installation altruistic studies 2008