I Love This Beautiful World

Art Brut Collection de l’Art Brut After all the intensity of Art Basel I started questioning what other purpose s art has. I know for myself the process of making work is why I love it. The commercial end of things was frankly a bit brutal on the psyche of someone who usually engages in the practice of creation or helping others find their personal voices. It is hard to wrap my brain around that experience being reduced to numbers and investments. It’s also amazing that SO many people in this world find themselves compelled to make art. I’m fairly certain that other than Jeff Koons none of these people began their artistic career thinking, “Now THIS is a way to make some money!” I started thinking about the purpose of art to the artist and whether it always has to be about surviving financially by your art. As a high school art teacher I have to meet my students where they are and I hope to give them something they can take away from the experience. Whe

Liste Liste is a satellite show to Art Basel that is described as The Young Art Fair. There were a number of satellite shows that ran concurrent to Art Basel such as Design Miami/Basel, Scope Basel, Selection Art Fair, The Solo Project, Verge Basel and Volta7. In 5 days it is impossible to see all of these fairs and for me, a person with no sense of direction and no access to internet for directions, impossible to find. So Liste it was! According to the website: “Every year since its opening in 1996, the LISTE - the Young Art Fair in Basel has presented new and important galleries and highly contemporary young art. The LISTE's concept of introducing galleries in general no more than 5 years old and artists under 40 has been at the heart of its being one of the most important fairs for young art and still being considered one of the art world’s most important discoverer fair.” The venue for this event is a four story labyrinth that used to be a factory of so

Modern Work The big boys of the show, those whose pieces are worth tens of millions of dollars are generally in the galleries that have modern work. The quantity of Andy Warhol pieces at this show is staggering. His Brillo boxes, Prints, Painted Prints, you name it. Everyone wants one for their collection. I don't know whether there is a saturation of his work because he had a prolific career, if it was actually his place in art history or some other market value scheme that I'm not privy to, but Warhol madness is in the collecting crowd this year. I could never collect art simply as an investment. I don't like Warhol's work and would never desire to own it especially with an $80 million dollar price tag. According to my tour guide there was a Francis Bacon Painting worth $60 million and a Picasso worth $30 at Galerie Krugier & Cie from Geneva. Among the artists who sold pieces for over $2 million were Mark Rothko, Maurizio Cattelan, Anish K