Solid sales in all segments at Art Basel
The 55th edition of the fair opens in a tense geopolitical climate, but collectors continue to buy art, with prices ranging from $50,000 to millions of dollars
4' min read
4' min read
The 55th edition of Art Basel in Basel (19-22 June), considered the most important fair for modern and contemporary art, opened this week in a severely compromised international political climate. Despite this, collectors have not lost their motivation to eagerly buy works of art priced at an average of around $50,000, but which can also reach million-dollar values.
Art as a safe haven
.The expectations of the galleries were not so rosy, given the market slowdown that started at the end of 2023, yet from the first day, during the preview for collectors, there were numerous transactions, as there are opportunities in art at the moment. "There were sales in all segments, the galleries were satisfied," so Maike Cruse, director of the Basel fair since last year. "It is true that at the moment there is a little less urgency to buy and also a greater price sensitivity. There were times when works were offered at perhaps slightly too high prices and there was a lot of speculation, but this is something that has diminished somewhat at the moment. Collectors know that they have more time to act and can negotiate. Our experience shows that if a quality work is offered at the right price, it finds a market. In the lower to middle price segment it naturally sells faster, but during the preview, surprisingly, even the most expensive pieces sold very well.
Sales in all segments
.Million-dollar transactions took place for several artists, including Ruth Asawa ($9.5m) and Gerhard Richter ($6.8m) from Zwirner,Mark Bradford ($3.5m) and George Condo ($2.25m) from Pace, Baselitz ($3m) from Ropac. At Hauser & Wirth's is the surprisingly presented Rothko, while another is at Pace's (asking $15-20m), next to a $30m Picasso.
But the bulk of sales were in the $50,000 to $900,000 range, with artists such as Rosemarie Trockel ($850,000) and Barbara Kruger ($650,000) at Sprüth Magers, or even Italians such as Arcangelo Sassolino (€350,000) and Michelangelo Pistoletto (€320,000) at Continua, or Penone at Gagosian.
The most popular names are certainly those who already have a solid CV, but there is no shortage of desire for discovery, which is expressed above all in the parallel fairs such as Liste, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary, Basel Social Club, which attracts an ever-growing audience also for the networking and recreational aspect, or the curated sections of Art Basel.
Beyond Painting
.At Statements, for example, the section dedicated to monographic presentations of emerging artists, the galleries this year did not insist on identity politics as in previous years, driven by the themes of the last two editions of the Venice Biennale. On the contrary, stimulated perhaps by the market crisis and a need to stand out in an increasingly pictorial commercial landscape, many presented kinetic or actionable works, based on techno-symbiotic relationships with analogue and digital tools, alter egos and humanised stand-ins of the artists.
At Fanta in Milan, the vibrant sculptures of the Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter duo - from 8-12 thousand euros - make use of analogue mechanisms extrapolated from cameras and watches dismembered and reassembled to measure time, between ticks and traces of paint. The musical instruments of Abbas Zahedi, commissioned and still on show at the Tate Modern, are a mix of pipes, pieces of fire extinguishers and trumpets in whose sound reverberates a sense of loss that unites humanity and ecology. The works are activated by voice and drumsticks and can be found at the Proyectos Ultravioleta stand in Guatemala City for $6-25,000. Bagus Pandega, on the other hand, evokes an ecological disaster that has already happened - the mudslide that hit Indonesia in 2006 - through a 3D production and assembly line that brings it to life in sculptural form for 73,000 euros. The artist, from Roh Projects in Jakarta, will have a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel in August. At Bridget Donahue's, Mary Helena Clark throws us into a world where control over nature is intertwined with a project of cohabitation with domestic animals: canaries and parrots transposed into images and mechanical sculptures for 8 thousand dollars. Joyce Joumaa, lastly, seen at the 60th Venice Biennale and a young resident of De Ateliers in Amsterdam, is one of the two winners of the Baloise Prize with a work that recounts the energy crisis and blackouts affecting Beirut and Tripoli. The €50,000 installation shows switch boxes converted into photographic light boxes that turn off and on again, interrupting the flow of daily life, but also metaphorically the hopes of a return to normality for the people living there.
