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Gagosian Rome director Pepi Marchetti at the Gagosian NY booth.
If you’re not at Art Basel, and have any interest in what’s for sale, visit art advisor Todd Levin’s Facebook page for a photographic tour (with commentary) of the offerings. His selective survey shows a glut of unexceptional Richter abstractions, loads of pictures by congenitally mediocre Joan Mitchell, flocks of overly-vaunted Basquiats, several floor blobs from the ’60s and ’70s by Lynda Benglis, plus, some extraordinary Rauschenbergs (Gagosian, Krugier), more than one classic Magritte, lots of Cornell collages (probably disgorged by the box-depleted estate), some adorable tabletop Calders (Serrousi), a 1964 sunrise painting by Lichtenstein at Aquavella, and an excellent Miró gouache at Helly Nahmad – breathtakingly overpriced at $8.5 million, notes Levin. He also cautions that a Man Ray drawing of the artist’s famed doctored metronome Object to be Destroyed that sold at auction last year for $8,000 is offered by Ubu for $65,000. Caveat emptor.
Art Basel’s own site has posted photographs for press use. The gallery section is here, and the fair’s more museum-like “Art Unlimited” section here [ed. note: no longer accessible], featuring Urs Fischer (Eva Presenhuber), Zhang Huan (Pace), Dan Flavin (Zwirner), and Michelangelo Pistoletto (Continua), among others.