Art Market
Arun Kakar
Interior view of Art Basel 2024. Photo: Moritz Schermbach. Image courtesy of Art Basel.
On Monday, the sound of clinking glasses and long lines under the Swiss sun heralded the VIP opening of the Liste Art Fair in Basel. The 29th edition of the fair returned to the same area of the Basel Exhibition Center and once again proved its curatorial vision in inviting experimental and taste-oriented exhibitors. As the opening hours of the fair wore on, the VIP guests attending the fair seemed to be responding enthusiastically.
“This year we are once again able to present the most promising new galleries and their artists to an international expert audience,” said Peter Bläuer, who co-founded the fair with Eva Presenhuber in 1996. “I am delighted to once again be working with Stiftung Liste Basel on this important task and help promote the next generation of galleries. What could be better than support and help?”
Installation view of Parliament’s booth at Liste Art Basel, 2024. Photo: Moritz Schermbach. Image courtesy Liste Art Basel.
With 93 exhibitors from 35 countries, the fair was wide-ranging and easy to navigate, thanks in part to its famous circular booth layout, where exhibitors have an open-plan layout. Browsing it sometimes felt like walking into someone’s living room. In an age when art fairs are dominated by paintings, the mixed-media works on display at the galleries offer something of a palate cleanser for the most seasoned of visitors in the crowd.
Since Art Basel opened its VIP preview the day after Liste opened, the fair also attracted an international clientele. Gallerists were quick to point out the range of attendees at the fair. “We have not only good clients here, but also curators and people from all over the world,” said Pier Stuker Alvarez, a partner at emerging Zurich gallery Blue Velvet. “They see Liste as a filter for the best young galleries in the world.”
Adam Cruces, installation view of Blue Velvet’s booth at Art Basel 2024. Photo: Moritz Schermbach. Image courtesy of Art Basel.
The most eye-catching piece in the booth was a work by Adam Cruces, a giant Winston cigarette (made not of tobacco but of polyester and polyurethane) leaning against the back wall, flanked by iron-shaped mirrored aluminum pieces—what Alvarez called “iron irony.” There was also a sculpture of a tiny fortune cookie perched atop printed paper lucky charms (“A happy surprise awaits you”) snaking through, and a humorous pastel velvet painting of a wrinkled-skinned dog with words like “Thoughts” and “Prayers” hidden in its fur. The gallery reported strong sales in the booth, with more than five works finding buyers within the first few hours of the fair opening.
The booth was also one of 75 solo shows this year, a long-standing trend at the fair. Many exhibitors treated their shows like mini-gallery shows, finding new ways to introduce their new and sometimes young artists. Most effective in this regard was the immersive booth of London, Los Angeles and Lagos-based Rele, which presented the work of Gladys Calichni, including a performance video and a series of textile prints, as well as a series of objects used in the artist’s rituals, including soaps, buckets, trays and towels.
Exploring the role of women in Zambian society through the connecting elements of fabric and water, the booth attracted constant attention from visitors throughout the day. “For us, it’s very special, but we think it’s a very important story,” said gallery founder Adenrele Sonariwo. “This piece is very much about women and making sure they are not erased from history. It’s a different version of some installations she’s done in the past.” The works are priced between $2,000 and $4,000.
Barcelona gallery BomBon Projects took a similar approach, exhibiting a series of sculptures by Ludovica Carbotta that were inspired by urban spaces and constructed by projecting fragments of real places into imaginary environments. “It was about finding a balance,” said the gallery’s Bernat Daviu, discussing the booth layout. “We tried to be true to the specificity of the sculpture, but at the same time, we wanted to highlight the object or sculpture itself.” The works, which ranged in price from $4,000 to $15,000, attracted attention throughout the day.
A similarly creative booth format was used for New York gallery Margot Samel’s solo exhibition of Melissa Joseph’s work, where objects like vintage first aid kits and accordions became frames for scenes of musical exchange, rendered in felted wool. The works (priced from $6,500 to $11,000) measured about 7 by 13 inches and were spread across the booth’s walls and floor, inviting visitors to crouch down for a closer look. “I just imagined them on the floor,” gallery founder Samel said. “They’re very small, but very impactful.”
Other booths also demanded a closer look: Los Angeles dealer Francois Ghebaly showed work by Indian artist Ragini Bhow, a series of dark pointillist abstractions in crushed crystal, mica, and birch. Metal sculptures on the floor with ash strewn across them further discouraged visitors. Bringing the floor works, which were made early in the artist’s career, was an important step, Ghebaly explained. “The ritual of burning objects is very important in art. [Bhow’s] As a sculptural practice, we felt it was important to show the ashes, and the essence and beginning of our relationship.” Pieces here range in price from $6,00 to $16,000.
As several galleries reported that day, the fair’s reputation for showcasing emerging artists to watch is not just a curatorial quirk but a tried-and-true formula, especially when executed by taste-setting galleries. London and Addis Ababa gallery Addis Fine Art was one of the fair’s second exhibitors, and the gallery’s director of sales and business, Kate Kirby, said the gallery was returning after a “fantastic” debut.
This year, the gallery will present a series of paintings and works on paper by Selome Muleta, which deftly examine the relationship between women and domestic space through blurred boundaries and vibrant colors. Immersive Experience XIIlimbs and heads protruding from the bathtub, creating a vivid and mysterious scene. “I think there’s a real psychological complexity to her work as a whole,” Kirby explained. “We felt like this was a great opportunity for her to get this kind of exposure, and so far, [we] There have been great conversations.” Works are priced from $4,000 to $32,000.
Another returning artist, Zurich gallerist Philipp Zollinger, is bringing a solo show of new works by painter Emma McMillan. Six vaguely figurative paintings of enlarged insects border on abstraction. “I usually bring the latest artists to the fair because it helps spread the word, gets as many people in front of it as possible, and puts the artist in the program,” said the gallerist, noting that five works were put on hold within hours of the fair opening.
While individual booths made up the majority of the fair, there were some standout group presentations, too. For example, Capsule, a gallery in Shanghai and Venice, whose founder Enrico Polato described the gallery’s approach to presentation as “almost like entering a time capsule, where you can see quite a few artists and artworks that have been developing their ideas.”
Installation view of Capsule’s booth at Liste Art Fair in Basel 2024. Image courtesy of Capsule.
The gallery’s three artists explored themes of transcendence and death from an art historical perspective, from the surrealist paintings of Cai Zebin to the sculptures of Chen Lili, which combine materials such as metal lampshades, steel wheels and polystyrene foam in novel forms. The highlight of the booth was Chris O’s series of agate slices and knobs painted with details of Renaissance scenes, faces and figures. The works are priced between €5,500 and €20,000 (approximately $5,360 to $21,450).
The booth perhaps embodies the multifaceted nature of the fair, which not only encourages experimentation but also rewards it. At a time when the art market has been widely accused of taking a safety-first approach to exhibitions, Liste offers a bright picture for emerging galleries and the artistic talent they support.
Arun Kakar
Arun Kakar is Artsy’s Art Market Editor.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly described the found objects Melissa Joseph used as frames. They were first aid kits, not lunch boxes.
