Basel
Art Basel
Franz West’s attention-grabbing Gekröse introduced the “Art Unlimited” section of Art Basel with a colorful flourish. The monumental, anthropomorphic form in eye-popping, pink-lacquered aluminum resembled a Jurassic cephalopod, or an oversize human intestine. The spectacle darkened with Michael Sailstorfer’s invasive installation If I should Die in a Car Crash, it Was Meant to be a Sculpture (2011). The fake fiberglass 550 Porsche Spider is gutted, going nowhere in a visceral embodiment of Roland Barthes’s sentiments in “Death of the Author.” Walead Beshty’s Copper Surrogate offered quieter pleasures in the form of simple material beauty. Like much of his work, it subverts artistic categories, filling the gap between object and creative process. The nine copper sheets rely on the metal’s reactive sensitivity to touch, which triggers oxidation followed by changes in color and surface accretions. …see the entire review in the print version of April’s Sculpture magazine.
