December 6, 2016 — Pork Belly Times

Art Basel 2016

After having an Uber take some back roads to avoid the massive amounts of traffic generated by the fair, Pork Belly Times attended the 2016 edition of Art Basel. Located at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the art fair is the crown jewel of Miami Art Week, it’s the whole reason for the emergence of Miami Art Week to begin with. Art Basel gives collectors, curators, and art enthusiasts the opportunity to inundate themselves in works by Picasso, Basquiat, Koons, Man Ray, Rosenquist and beyond. The fair can be intimidating in just sheer volume of high quality work available. But fear not dear reader, Pork Belly Times gladly took on the challenge to tackle Art Basel 2016.

In terms of Modern Art, you know what you’re getting at Art Basel, and it’s the absolute best work available from the top galleries in the world. But there’s fresh and provocative Contemporary Art as well. Korean artist, Anicka Yi had a flower series, with a seemingly fleshy, skin-like frame that housed lifelike artificial flowers. Not only does Yi make sensually captivating work, she also gives them great names. For instance: Fat on Fat On Sugar On Fat, and Live From Death Row. They’re featured in the gallery below (pro tip: you can click the images to enlarge them).

Jonathan Horowitz, from Sadie Coles, directly encapsulated the current national atmosphere with his piece: “Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely.” And if you didn’t guess it by the title, the subject matter of this piece is non-other than our president-elect, Donald J. Trump. The piece features the Don taking a swing at one of his world-renowned golf courses (best golf courses in the world folks, believe me) under a fiery apocalyptic sky. Art imitates life?

You know what’s not imitation, the estimated $3 million that a collector paid for a two-paneled James Rosenquist from Acquavella Galleries. Sadie Coles also sold all five editions of Horowitz’ “Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely” for around $12 thousand a piece. Millions of dollars exchange hands during the few days the fair is in town. That’s why Art Basel has built a reputation as one of the best art fairs in the world, they bring together the best work out there, all under one roof, and it’s all available for purchase.