Rabbit and the Moon by Dan Colen
Created last year, New York-based artist Dan Colen’s Rabbit and the Moon features a life-sized ‘earth goddess’ made out of steel, whose skin is dotted with beauty marks that approximate the stars of the Milky Way. The woman holds a rabbit above her head, the two locked in an intense gaze in a tender, mother-and-child bond. Lévy Gorvy gallery co-founder Brett Gorvy explains: “Dan has made a highly realistic but also very painterly sculpture. Even the way he’s painted her hair across her ears is very delicate. She represents this natural beauty – the sculpture is [made of] very heavy steel, but he’s been able to manipulate it in such a way that she’s floating on air.”
City in the Sky by Elmgreen & Dragset
Berlin-based artistic duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset have designed a large-scale artwork especially for Art Basel Hong Kong, called City in the Sky. In line with their fascination with reframing urban spaces in a new context, the artists took skyscrapers from New York, London, Hong Kong and the like, installing them in gravity-defying fashion. Upon closer inspection, however, the buildings are inexact replicas of real-life architectural landmarks, and are all built on a mirrored plane – the purpose being to ground viewers in their own city while staring up at an imagined metropolis.
Untitled by Richard Prince
American artist Richard Prince has had a far-reaching impact on the art world thanks to his controversial body of work, which has taken on many forms over the years. This particular work follows in the style of his ‘hippie drawings,’ which render cartoonish faces in bright colours, mixing different proportions, sizes and mediums into a riotous collage of Neo-Expressionism. One of the most talked-about canvases even before the start of the art fair, this composition was a bright spot among the exhibition hall’s many cerebral artworks.
Sofbi by Haroshi
Best known for carving sculptures out of skateboard decks, Japanese artist Haroshi has created 22 figurines for this year’s Art Basel as part of the Nanzuka Gallery booth, each of which features a head portion created using his signature technique of overlapping, pasting, carving and polishing skateboard decks to achieve a uniquely colourful and layered result. The bodies of the figurines, meanwhile, are those of manga monsters that were fabricated by the artist’s friends. This method of joinery is reminiscent of 12th-century Japanese Buddhist sculptor Unkei’s craft, who was well-known for using crystal inlays in the eyes of his sculptures to similarly imbue soul into them.
Columbus (Eco-Lumbus) + Columbus Boat by Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik is widely recognised as the father of video art, as the first to incorporate televisions and electronic media into his works beginning in 1963. Paik’s 1991 artwork Columbus (Eco-Lumbus) + Columbus Boat was on show at the Annely Juda Fine Art booth, and is comprised of 11 antiquated TVs stacked into the form of a robot atop a wooden boat. By incorporating multiple synthesisers, it not only allows others to manipulate electronic images in real time, but also to show the mesmerising effects of collaging video images.
Editor
Katherine HoCredit
Translator: Gavin Yeung. Photography: Calvin Sit
