Art Basel Miami Beach 2015 opened to the public yesterday, and is on view through Sunday, December 6 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Newly under the directorship of Noah Horowitz, the fair brings together 267 galleries from five continents.
It’s a mammoth fair, and even we get a little lost (as per our post about it last year). So in the slideshow above we captured 21 works you won’t want to miss. The starting point was Galerie Gmurzynska, posted up right by the entrance of Hall D. The family-run gallery is celebrating its 50-year anniversary with a salon-style hang curated by Germano Celant (as well as a dinner last Tuesday at the Versace Mansion in Miami with none other than Sly Stallone). On the exterior wall is a selection of photographs by Karl Lagerfeld, along with a video of him in conversation with the late Ingrid Sischy of Interview magazine.
2. Fabian Marcaccio’s 3-D printed plastic sculpture at Galerie Thomas Schulte
Paul Kasmin‘s booth is gorgeously hung, with works by Frank Stella, Brancusi, Deborah Katz, Motherwell, and Ian Davenport. A wall-to-wall cream carpet and pale blue wall highlight the perfectly placed pieces that allow for conversations between each work.
Fabian Marcaccio‘s colorful, 3-D printed plastic sculptures at Galerie Thomas Schulte were fascinating, and a contrast to the big number of ceramics on view at the fair. We loved the installation of Kazunori Hamana‘s ceramic sculptures at Blum & Poe, with cute, drippy, woodland-like creates propped up on a piles of mulch throughout the booth. Other sculptural works of note included Paola Pivi’s blue ombre feathered bears at Galerie Perrotin, Anish Kapoor‘s massive pink marble floor piece at Lisson, Michael Rakowitz’s delicate series at Rhona Hoffman, a mirrored and faceted wall-hanging flag by Doug Aitken at 303 Gallery, Jessica Stockholder at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, and Louise Nevelson‘s installation that took over more than half of Pace Gallery‘s booth.
3. Alex Katz and Tom Sachs at Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac
For paintings, we were totally enamored with Alex Katz—who was all over the fair as per usual, but especially at Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac. There was also new painting of note by Kerry James Marshall of a police officer at Jack Shainman, several spottings of the Harold Ancart (pictured above at Xavier Hufkens), a controversial piece by Julia Wachtel at Elizabeth Dee, and four dreamy works by Jean-Baptiste Bernadet at Almine Rech.
Robert Longo‘s depiction of a Victorian home all lit-up for Christmas at Metro Pictures seemed fitting for the season, as did Allison Elizabeth Taylor‘s barren tree trunk against a backdrop of a sunset. Mickalene Thomas‘ surprising 3D wall-piece at Kavi Gupta we learned was an enlarged version of one of her mother’s pins. And for photography, don’t miss Catherine Opie‘s work at Regen Projects, part of her recent series taken at Elizabeth Taylor‘s home.
4. Paola Pivi at Galerie Perrotin
