BASEL
Returning to Messe Basel with its routine June schedule, Art Basel 2022 (June 13–19) attracted 70,000 visitors throughout the week. As remarked by David Zwirner, “the atmosphere in the opening hours was just like the good old pre-pandemic days. Decisions came quickly, with the competition for the best works brisk.” The fair launched Unlimited Night, a performance program designed for the audience to explore the Unlimited section, which featured 70 large-scale projects. While the organizers did not reveal the total sales, both blue-chip and returning overseas galleries reported strong performances.
Among the international players, global gallery Hauser & Wirth sold Louise Bourgeois’s USD 40 million, gargantuan (1996) sculpture, the legs of which spread across the gallery booth. Lisson Gallery (London/New York/Shanghai) moved three Dansaekhwa paintings and one sculpture by Lee Ufan, dated from 1985 to 2021. The paintings were sold between USD 580,000 and USD 675,000 each, while the sculpture (2003–17) was snapped up for USD 400,000. The gallery also debuted new works by Chinese artists Yu Hong and Li Ran. Yu’s acrylic-on-canvas (2020), depicting a man carrying a headless factory worker on his shoulder, went for USD 220,000, and Li’s oil painting (2021), illustrating five disinterested proletariat figures around a table, sold at USD 32,000. At David Kordansky (Los Angeles/New York), Huma Bhabha’s cork, wood, and Styrofoam sculpture of an alien-like figure fetched USD 250,000–300,000, while Mai-Thu Perret’s geometric, glazed ceramics created in 2021 were sold for USD 20,000–70,000.
