Window Shoppers. Seasoned collectors spend carefully at Art Basel, the leading contemporary fair

Window Shoppers
Seasoned collectors spend carefully at Art Basel, the leading contemporary fair
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124475192106507443.html

(Source Wall Street Journal)
BASEL -- This week art lovers from the around the world have descended on this small industrial city in northwestern Switzerland for Art Basel, the world's preeminent fair for contemporary art. The turnout has been as strong as ever, but seasoned collectors are spending carefully and brand-new buyers are scarce, dealers say. The fair ends Sunday.

Signs of the economic downturn were still evident: Several smaller satellite fairs like Red Dot and Bridge canceled plans to join this round because of recession fears. Zurich dealer Bruno Bischofberger is still seeking a big spender for his lone offering, Andy Warhol's "Big Retrospective Painting." The 11-meter-wide work is a highlight reel of Marilyn Monroes, Chairman Maos and soup cans and is priced at €53 million. "It's a lot for a painting," Mr. Bischofberger concedes, "but it's a lot of painting."
Other highlights include new Old Master-style portraits by Kerry James Marshall, better known for his idyllic scenes of African-American suburbia, at the booth of New York dealer Jack Shainman. Mr. Marshall's untitled depiction of a woman holding a palette sold for $350,000, the gallery confirmed.

Zurich gallery Hauser & Wirth, meanwhile, placed Subodh Gupta's €650,000 creamy table laden with unmovable stone cutlery, "Marble utensils on table," next to Louise Bourgeois' untitled 2006 quilt-like wall hanging, which sold for an undisclosed price. The pairing feels equally haunting and homey.

Standouts among the satellite fairs like Liste include Israeli artist Elad Lassry's untitled high-concept film, in which actor Eric Stoltz assumes the persona of a Jerome Robbins-style choreographer directing a blonde in a red unitard. (The blonde evokes Mary Martin, star of Robbins's 1955 hit, "Peter Pan.") The work at David Kordansky Gallery is priced at $30,000.

Basel's organizers imported an extra dose of pageantry this year by paying to reproduce an updated version of "Il Tempo del Postino," an avant-garde theater hit curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Philippe Parreno at the Manchester International Festival two summers ago. In this so-called "visual arts opera," a group of artists including Doug Aitken and Anri Sala are each given up to 15 minutes on a theater stage to present a performance piece. (Mr. Aitken's segment involves speed-talking American auctioneers; Mr. Sala's segment features opera singers in geisha costumes who pass an aria between them, lip-synching whenever it's not their turn.) Read Article... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124475192106507443.html