If you go to Art Basel Miami Beach, and you enter the Miami Convention Center on Washington Avenue, the first thing you’ll see is a giant yellow pumpkin. It’s one of Yayoi Kusama‘s a signature motifs, who after inspiring a collection for Louis Vuitton, is pretty ubiquitous these days.
This is one of the biggest events in the art world every year; it’s a time for galleries and curators to bring out the big guns (and big pumpkins). But while some of the more famous and recognizable works help get us in the door, one of the best things about the fair is seeing the massive range of all types of work from all over the globe. Here are a few of our favorites.
Hubert Duprat, Sans Titre
Of course, we love Kusama’s Pumpkin at David Zwirner Gallery, but her pumpkin painting Pumpkin S60 was also whimsical and lovely (and perhaps a more manageable size?).
And speaking of supersize food sculptures, we fell in love with Tom Friedman‘s Big Big Mac at Sprüth Magers. The massive burger is so photo-realistic we nearly took a bite.
Richard Prince, Untitled Girlfriend (Jerry’s Girl)
While not photo-realistic of an actual lobster, Jeff Koons‘ Lobster Wall Relief at Dominique Levy Gallery is equally as lighthearted as a giant hamburger.
Zilla Sánchez‘s Lunar V at Galerie Lelong is a departure from the food-related artworks (admittedly, we do love our food-related artworks). Her strangely entwined stretched canvases seem to be hugging and melting at the same time.
Roy Lichtenstein, Water Lilies with Japanese Bridge
Reminiscent of some paintings we just saw at Untitled., Markus Linnenbrink‘s layered and carved epoxy resin wall relief PICKUPIFYOUARETHERE (THEFUNNYBIRD) reminds us of the insides of a thousand jawbreakers.
We love seeing works from well-known artists that we’ve never seen before, so it was very exciting to see this Roy Lichtenstein screen print at Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art. WaterLilies with Japanese Bridge, a not-so-subtle homage to Claude Monet, is like the original’s cool grandkid.
Markus Linnenbrink, PICKUPIFYOUARETHERE (THEFUNNYBIRD)
At one of the Kabinett booths, Art : Concept Paris had Hubert Duprat‘s sans titre. We love the ambiguous, almost fuzzy-looking wax and quartz tabletop sculpture. Depending on your outlook, it’s an abstract caterpillar or hedgehog or dachshund.
And for good measure, the best painting we saw: Richard Prince‘s Untitled Girlfriend (Jerry’s Girl) at Two Palms. The “Jerry” refers to Jerry Seinfeld: the painting is an amalgamation of every on-screen girlfriend Jerry Seinfeld’s character on Seinfeld had during the sitcom’s run (57 of them!). We love Seinfeld, and this one takes the cake (or pumpkin!)
Markus Linnenbrink, PICKUPIFYOUARETHERE (THEFUNNYBIRD)
