5 Picks from Art Basel, 2020

The COVID’ 19 pandemic has not deterred the art market from progressing. Consequently, Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms debuted with over 235 leading art galleries from 31 countries and territories, exhibiting over 2,000 premier artworks that were intended to be showcased at Art Basel Hong Kong. Collectors will be able to discover over 2,000 exceptional works from the Modern to Postwar and Contemporary era.

The first iteration of this new digital initiative will run from March 20 to March 25, 2020, with preview days from March 18 to March 20, 2020.

1. Life Shines on, Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama is recognized as a prolific artist of the contemporary era. Obsessed with the notion of infinite space, Kusama re-creates it to fascinating perfection in her Infinity Mirror Rooms, in which viewers can experience the moments of erasure as space and light expands infinitely in all directions. With the play of mere mirrors and perfect lighting, Kusama creates a magical illusion creating a kaleidoscopic effect.

(Image © Ota Fine Arts , Japan)

2. No Land, Catalina Swinburn

One such note worthy piece is Swinburn’s No Land. No Land is a series that brings us closer to our cultural identity and strengthen the integration between communities. It is essential to place ourselves at the forefront of adaptation to climate change while upholding sustainability principles, many of which are present in indigenous knowledge of landscapes and their productivity. In this connection, sustainability develops a dynamic social, cultural, environmental and economic balance. Landless maps woven together make this sculpture, that metaphorically reminds us of an atlas representing cultural unity and integration.

(Image © Selma Feriani Gallery, Tunis)

3. Touching Point, Lieu Ren

Today’s world is one of”Modern Parallels”. Many a times modern art is created relevant to the present times but completely inspired and drawn from a glorious past.

A striking feature of Liu Ren’s rendition focuses on the passage of time, the consumption of life, and the existence of people. In this striking piece, Liu Ren borrows the most exciting segment from The Creation of Adam, and recreates it on a straw paper surface covered in gold leaf. The two black silhouettes of hands overlaid on a gold background back lights that most intense moment before the onset of a miracle, while the textured waves and ripples of toilet paper create a sharp visual tension. The light bulb hanging above the two canvases flashes every 1.5 seconds, mimicking the rhythm of a heartbeat while signaling that a new Genesis powered by the forces of science and civilization is quietly underway.

(Image © Don Gallery, Shanghai)

4. No 953 Folded Grid, Rana Begum

Rana Begum is hyper-sensitive to the landscapes she inhabits, thus finding poetry in the geometries of the everyday experiences. Moving away from a symmetrical grid, Begum introduces her signature organic grids. There is a certain disruptive element introduced within the process of folding and unfolding the foil like paper. An element of chance exists within the works. A part of the two man exhibit — “A Geometric Duality”, Begum’s works strive to strike a balance between history and hybridity and abstarction and content.

(Image © The Third Line, Dubai)

5. The Calm is but a Wall, Idris Khan

Another artwork that caught my attention is the large print of musical notes by Idris Khan.”The calm is but a wall” is a large photographic print made by digitally layering the scanned pages of a musical score. Having previously dyed the sheets in different hues of blue, Khan- while using modern technology- has created a work reminiscent of a historical reproduction technique: the cyanotype or blueprinting process developed in the mid-1800s. Although one can neither hear nor decipher the music, looking at the shifting hues of blue may evoke a sense of nostalgia similar to the feeling one might experience when listening to the music itself or looking at old photographs.

(Image © Galerie Thomas Schulte, Germany)

Do check out my blog ‘Inside the White Cube’ for more reviews!