ArtBasel is probably the number one place for demanding collectors and its new manager, 34-year-old Samuel Keller has achieved a true “tour de force” this year in demonstrating that this event is really the best in the world. As the daily “le Monde” noted the only things apparently lacking in Basel were ashtrays. After 30 years of existence ArtBasel has reached a fantastic maturity to such a point that it will organise a sister event in Miami in December 2000. 271 galleries out of 800, which applied this year, have been selected to take part in this new edition and selection criteria have been so tough that some candidates who participated in many previous editions felt in disarray after being rejected.
Those who are present are elated since hungry buyers have swept the fair like a cloud of grasshoppers on the opening day. Dealers were like in heaven and had voluptuous feelings, which made them quite optimistic regarding the future.
ArtBasel offers a clever proportion of museum quality pieces and speculative ones mixed with the works of promising artists. Whatever their tastes Modern and Contemporary art lovers have the largest possible range of choices at their disposal and many auction houses representatives have seemed quite jealous vis à vis the success of such fair while those collectors who might feel unsatisfied have had the possibility to go to another fair called “Liste” situated in a former brewery a mile away from the Artbasel compound.
Created by an independent group, which felt that Artbasel was a bit too official, “Liste”, now affiliated with this fair, offers a kind of interesting launching pad for new galleries and promising talents.
Overall, the market is rather nervously booming with quick sales at Artbasel, “Liste” or the “Art Unlimited” section.
Today works tend to ask questions rather than to bring answers and visitors seem baffled by many pieces, some of which are looking rather comical such as Saverio Lucariello's monumental sculpture topped by a cage housing a hen just over a skull representing that of the artist shown by the Georges-Philippe Vallois gallery. However, the cage was not made according to Swiss rules and some furious exhibitors, including Ernst Beyeler, a WWF member, demanded for the release of the hen.
Satirical works have been multiplying recently under the impulse of several artists, notably Jeff Koons. Eya Liisa Ahtila has come to pose naked in adopting the posture of a dog on a floor parqueted by Daniel Buren at the Galerie Pailhas, Sylvie Fleury has carved enormous beasts, which seem to come out from a Hollywood cartoon while Wang Du has produced a rather shocking statue of a woman and a man, her customer, reduced to the level of animals.
John Isaac has created a video film called change of heart showing a beach bordered by coconut trees while a statue representing the bloody remains of a man stands a few feet away, Xavier Veilhans has adopted a more serene attitude in creating a magic grotto set in the Art Unlimited section.
Some artists have chosen to take some distance with earthly matters such as Chris Burden with his “Cosmic Vision” work titled “Scale model of the Solar System” with elements scattered around Basel, as if the city had become the centre of the universe. In terms of success one must admit there is some truth in such belief.
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