Art Basel Miami Beach didn’t disappoint this year, with 286 galleries from 38 countries presenting thousands of beautiful, shocking, confounding, and famous contemporary artworks. Six sculptures made me pause longer than my planned schedule (with so much to see, I keep a timer on my watch for every aisle to make sure I can see it all in a 7-hour day). These works, featured below, had a paradoxical effect of creating their own private world of captivation while also somehow literally reflecting or revealing the colors, people, and excitement of fair around them.
Here are those six artists from Art Basel Miami and the galleries presenting their work, in no particular order.
Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled (elevator), 2001. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery \\\ Photo: Attilio Maranzano
Right now, Maurizio Cattelan may be most infamous for his 6.3 Million dollar banana that sold at Sotheby’s last month. Here at Art Basel Miami, where the duct-taped banana made its first debut in 2019, Marian Goodman Gallery installed an earlier work that was easily missed if you didn’t look down. The 2001 work, titled “Untitled (elevator),” is an exceptionally detailed pair of mouse-sized elevators with doors that occasionally open with a familiar elevator “ding.” Adding to the illusion, tiny “floor numbers” above each elevator light up to imply the progress of each cab to unseen floors, opening the doors only at the ground floor. It’s familiar and surreal, asking you to question what you’re seeing while imagining the rest. I also love that one of the most amazing artworks at the fair wasn’t noticed by half the visitors that passed by as I was photographing it.
Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled (elevator), 2001 at Basel Miami 2024 \\\ Photo: David Behringer
Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled (elevator), 2001. (DETAIL) Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery \\\ Photo: Attilio Maranzano
Jeremy Shaw, Towards Universal Pattern Recognition (Centennial – Insight. NOV. 14, 1982), 2024 \\\ Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Bradley Ertaskiran
Montréal-based gallery Bradley Ertaskiran presented the truly hypnotic work of artist Jeremy Shaw. Displaying six works from his ongoing series “Towards Universal Pattern Recognition” – each was created from “original archive press photographs” that are framed in custom-cut prismatic lenses. From the front, the effect draws attention to a moment within each photograph, but from the side, the images split into a kaleidoscope fracture of movement, reflection, and distortion with every step. Each photograph captures a different and diverse range of “altered states of consciousness,” from the spiritual to the technological.
Jeremy Shaw, Towards Universal Pattern Recognition (Centennial – Insight. NOV. 14, 1982), 2024 \\\ Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Bradley Ertaskiran
Jeremy Shaw, Towards Universal Pattern Recognition (COMPUTERS IN THE CLASSROOM. 10/7/81), 2024 \\\ Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Bradley Ertaskiran
Jeremy Shaw, Towards Universal Pattern Recognition (COMPUTERS IN THE CLASSROOM. 10/7/81), 2024 \\\ Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Bradley Ertaskiran
Olafur Eliasson, The self-conscious orbital force, 2023 \\\ Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles
Design Milk just featured Olafur Eliasson’s current exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery as the #1 New York gallery pick for November – a fusion of light, sound, and color spectrums. And here at Art Basel Miami, the gallery presents a 2023 work by the Icelandic-Danish artist, composed of dozens of partially silvered solid glass spheres – an effect that produces an upside-down mirrored view of it’s environment within each orb. Reaching over 13 feet across, “The self-conscious orbital force evolved” abstracts a three-dimensional mathematical figure into two dimensions, while simultaneously giving the illusion depth with the various sizes of spheres. It’s both mathematically complex, perfectly executed, and joyously approachable. And though lacking any color itself, it sparkles and flashes with every color and movement from the surrounding fair, producing both a serenity and excitement at once.
Olafur Eliasson, The self-conscious orbital force, 2023 \\\ Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles
Olafur Eliasson, The self-conscious orbital force, 2023 (detail) \\\ Photo: David Behringer
Olafur Eliasson, The self-conscious orbital force, 2023 (detail) \\\ Photo: David Behringer
Tara Donovan, Stratagem XVI, 2024, © Tara Donovan \\\ Photo: Courtesy Pace Gallery
Artist Tara Donovan’s ethereal exhibition at Pace Gallery last spring was made from thousands of used CDs set against a view of skyscrapers. The series of works, made from countless pairs of CDs glued face-to-face are also material and mathematical marvels. The gallery here presented a single work from the series, “Strategem XVI,” towering 84-inches tall. Here its partial translucency revealed views of a booth full of exceptional artwork, including Alexander Calder mobiles, a Claes Oldenburg “pie,” and stunning blue sculpture by Peter Alexander (seen in the detail image below).
Tara Donovan, Stratagem XVI, 2024, © Tara Donovan \\\ Photo: Courtesy Pace Gallery
Tara Donovan, Stratagem XVI, 2024 (detail) \\\ Photo: David Behringer at Art Basel Miami
Jacob Hashimoto, The Cosmic Whirlwind of Past Faults, 2024 \\\ Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY
Miles McEnery Gallery presented several new kite-based wall sculptures by Jacob Hashimoto. The composition of “Cosmic Whirlwind of Past Faults” (above) highlighted what I love most about his work – an opposing gravitational quality that is both physical and weightless. “The Undoing of Light” (below) visually glitches at its center with black & white circles, all set within cloud-like forms of blue. Fans of his work should check out this link to his recent exhibition at the gallery, where 11 of his smallest kite-based works encouraged a 180-degree view.
Jacob Hashimoto, The Undoing of Light, 2024 \\\ Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY
Jacob Hashimoto, The Undoing of Light, 2024 (detail) \\\ Photo: David Behringer.
Hank Willis Thomas, “Community”, 2024. Photo: Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Jack Shainman Gallery featured a new Hank Willis Thomas sculpture titled “Community” created from mirror-polished stainless steel. Seven hands link at the wrists in mutual support as the mirrored surface reflects the viewer and the form itself functions as a sort-of portal to whatever’s on the other side.
The world renowned artist is known for his photographic-based works and sculptures. In January 2023, his 20-foot-tall memorial “The Embrace” was unveiled on Boston Common in Boston, commemorating the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King by representing the arms of their embrace after Dr. King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
For the work at Art Basel Miami, Hank Willis Thomas recently posted on his Instagram “Right now we need community more than anything. How can we come together?”
Hank Willis Thomas, “Community”, 2024 \\\ Photo: Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Hank Willis Thomas, “Community” (detail) 2024 \\\ Photo: David Behringer
It’s incredible to me how fast seven hours can fly by at Art Basel Miami and the extent to which exceptional artwork can refuel and sustain energy and curiosity. The next edition is December 5-7, 2025. See you there!
