APAA’s Top Picks from Art Basel in Basel 2024
Alberta Whittle, Red Sky at Night, Shepherd’s Delight (detail), 2024. Regen Projects.
On the occasion of Art Basel 2024, eight APAA advisors highlighted works on view (whether in-person at the fair or the Online Viewing Room). Art Basel opens with VIP Preview Days June 10–12 and Public Days June 13–16. Learn more here.
Kaari Upson, Identical Twins (Jouissance), 2009
“Upson is a strong female artist who trained at Cal arts as a painter. This very beautiful, layered work on paper incorporates great art mythologizing about twins, and Kaari knowingly plays with doubling here. On a formal level, I like the earthy color palette and the live-able scale. Upson’s career was cut short though she remains supported by great galleries, institutions and collectors.”
Pastel, charcoal and ink on paper
44 x 57 inches
Presented by Massimodecarlo
Alberta Whittle, Red Sky at Night, Shepherd’s Delight, 2024
”This exuberant painting by Barbados-born, Scotland-based artist Alberta Whittle is a stand out for me at this year’s fair. Whittle exhibited in the 2022 Venice Biennale representing Scotland and had a powerful US solo debut at Regen Projects in LA this past March. Motivated by a collective trauma and a backdrop of grief experienced by Black and global majority people, Whittle’s work offers a vibrant space of restoration, community love, and healing.The artist’s paintings grapple with history and memory, often explored through water and waterways. Adorned with an ornamental wooden frame and beads that harken back to Barbados, in Red Sky at Night, Shepherd’s Delight, Whittle mixes acrylic paint with water taken from the Osun River during a recent stay in Nigeria. There, she walked the paths enslaved individuals traversed on their way to the African coast, abundant with luscious flora and mountainous peaks that make their way into this remarkable, verdant imagined landscape.”
Acrylic with water from the Osun River, Nigeria, on linen, painted wooden frame with fretwork and beading
69 x 69 7/8 x 3 3/8 inches
Presented by Regen Projects
Thomas Schütte, Rote Fabrik, 2003
”One of the greatest sculptors of our time must be Thomas Schütte, a Golden Lion recipient and three-time exhibitor at the Documenta, who constantly contests the relations between humanity and its surroundings. Schütte has been working with architectural models since the early 1980s, and this year Konrad Fischer Galerie will bring a fantastic model of a factory in a brilliant magenta, a work that was previously shown in his seminal 2004 exhibition at the prestigious K21 in his hometown of Düsseldorf.”
Mixed Media on wooden base
210 x 220 x 86 cm
Presented by Konrad Fischer Galerie
Marie Laurencin, Jeune fille au turban, 1930
”Encountering this Marie Laurencin after seeing a one person exhibition at the Luxembourg + Co booth at Independent last year is a welcome opportunity to revisit her artistic repertoire. This captivating portrait transcends its cool greyscale palette through a remarkably sensitive and romantic depiction of the subject. It serves as a delightful reminder of Laurencin's artistic depth and invites further exploration of her work.”
Oil on canvas
18 x 15 inches
Presented by Almine Rech Gallery
Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, 1955
”One of the main reasons to attend the Basel art fair is for the significant, blue-chip, secondary market material that you don’t typically see in primary gallery exhibitions…of the many works previewed, one exceptional painting by Lucio Fontana stands out for me, in Levy Gorvy’s presentation: ‘It is a beautiful example from his expansive ‘Spatial Concept’ series, with a quiet balance of stained canvas, colored glass and surface holes.’”
Oil and glass on canvas
Work: 25⅝ × 31½ inches (65.1 × 80 cm) Framed: 30½ × 36½ inches (77.5 × 92.7 cm)
Presented by Lévy Gorvy Dayan
Luchita Hurtado, Untitled, 1971
”A mother and steadfast supporter of her husband Lee Mullican’s art career, Venezuelan artist Luchita Hurtado (1920-2020) quietly pursued her own artistic endeavors while her family slept. Despite remaining largely unknown to the art world for the majority of her lifetime, her talents were unearthed in 2015 when a trove of her work was discovered. Utilizing graphite, watercolor, ink and acrylic, her practice spanned Surrealism, Mexican muralism, feminism, and environmentalism. Although this 1971 drawing by Hurtado may look like simple, quotidian sketch at first glance, the work on paper plays a significant role in the development of the artist’s acclaimed “I Am” series. Merging her own visual perspective with her audience’s, “Untitled” (1971) is a self-portrait where Hurtado is looking down the landscape of her body, showing fragments of her physique through her own gaze. This deeply personal scene invites us to join Hurtado in her self-affirmation, and for me, it nurtures a profound connection to the artist’s spirit.”
24 x 18 3/4 in
Presented by Hauser & Wirth
Marina Perez Simão, Untitled, 2023
”I have been following the work of Brazilian artist Marina Perez Simão for quite some time and have been fortunate enough to acquire a couple of beautiful examples for collectors in Belgium. I find this small landscape to be of outstanding quality in terms of composition and use of color. Its atmosphere is so evocative that it effortlessly invites daydreaming. The recognizable references to nature allow for a sense of connection with the work, while simultaneously transporting the viewer to a dreamlike reality.”
50 x 60 cm or 19 ¾ x 23 5/8 inch
Presented by Mendes Wood DM
Edouard Merino, Insight, 1989
"The ‘Insights’ series by Philippe Thomas provides clues about the activity of his agency, ‘readymades belong to everyone®’, launched in 1987 at Cable Gallery in New York and active until his passing in 1995. The agency offered a service which enabled collectors to affix their name to any artwork they purchased from the agency. While operating within framework of the art market, Thomas subverted the commercial system to play with ideas around authorship and reality.
This work, ‘Insight’, signed by his alias Edouard Merino, offers rare proof of Thomas’ presence in this game of art history hide and seek and recalls the philosophy of fellow artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Marcel Broodthaers, who also disrupted the art world from within. A great opportunity to purchase a historically important work from one of the best galleries for Conceptual Art."
120 x 178cm
Presented by Jan Mot
Elizabeth Peyton, Backstage, 1996
”In her requisite ‘pictures of people’ style, Elizabeth Peyton masterfully divides the picture plane to give the viewer a very intimate moment with her subject. At 17 x 14 inches the scale of the painting reiterates this intimacy. While this work is diminutive, some might say quiet, it can certainly hold a wall.”
Oil on board
17 x 14 inches
Presented by Gladstone Gallery
Salvo, Untitled, 1984
"This Salvo is captivating and a slight departure from his usual vibrant color palette. The hazy atmosphere evokes a tranquil late afternoon, transporting the viewer to a seemingly southern Italian landscape. The unique blend of soft light and monumental structures, creates a visually intriguing composition. It's a truly special example that showcases Salvo's artistic versatility."
Oil on canvas
75 x 78 ¾ inches
Presented by Mazzoleni Art Gallery
