By Pamela Aguirre Leonetti
A day after the end of Miami Art Week, in Le Banana we’ll share with you the highlights of this event that gathered the best of international contemporary art, and we’ll show you the artworks and installations that you must know.
Art Basel Miami Beach was again the most important fair of this great week that this year presented more that twenty exhibitions, talks, panels, and conferences.
This time, Art Basel displayed artworks of more than 200 international galleries. Gagosian Gallery, founded in 1979 in Nueva York, was one the event’s must sees, with works such as Ode to Love, by American artist Jeff Koons, and installations and artworks of other renowned artists such as Takashi Murakami, Georg Baselitz, Ellen Gallagher, and Andreas Gursky, among others.
French Gallery Perrotin art offer was also stunning. Italian artists Paola Pivi left the public speecheless with the artworks What goes round – art comes round, a collection of 24 rugs-sculptures of polar bears, and the exhibition Art with a View at The Bass museum, which includes an incredible series of life- size bears made of fluorescent feathers. Prices? 220 thousand euros each bear.
Cheim and Read, Franco Noero, Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery, and Lehman Maupin also presented memorable artworks. Positive Vibes, by Jack Pierson, was one of them. What is it about? A huge sign made of a mixture of typographies and pop colors. Jean Michel Basquiat was another highlights with the artwork called The Whole Livery Line, of 1987, valued at 2.600.000 euros. While South Korean artist Do Ho Suh art works were the star at Lehman. His sculptures made of steel, acrylic and polyester caught everybody’s attention and some were sold at more than 80000 euros.
Argentine gallery Ruth Benzacar was also remarkable with great works by Eduardo Basualdo, Tomás Saraceno, and Jorge Macchi, among others.
The B-side
Apart from Art Basel, Miami Art Week had other fairs, installations and events at the beach, museums, and convention centers. Among side fairs the highlights were Pinta, organized by Argentine art collectionist Diego Costa Peuser, and Untitled, where there were three Argentine galleries.
Tomás Saraceno was another revelation of the Week. He was represented by three galleries and he stood out with his beach installation “Albedo”, sponsored by luxury watches brand Audemars Piguet. The artwork, which seeks to raise awareness about Earth plight atmosphere, is a group of huge umbrellas that reflect sunlight and belongs to Saraceno’s multidisciplinary experiments in collaboration with Aerocene foundation.
One of the most stunning installations outside Art Basel was the one that Argentine artist Luna Paiva showed at Faena Beach: a golden fireplace back to the sea in front of a curtain and an empty chair -also golden- that stare at it. A powerful and poetic image.
And you? Which artwork did you like the most?