Beauty is in the Eye of the Budget-holder: Art Basel in Paris

Imagine..

walking into someone’s house and noticing a spider sculpture on their wall. It’s a bit ugly you think to yourself, but it’s not your house so you don’t care. You appreciate some of the other art in the house.

Whilst walking by the spider you bump into the spider.

It falls (bad spidey senses) and breaks.

Your host kindly asks you to pay to replace it.

You now owe them $20 million dollars.

That is roughly how it feels to walk around Art Basel.

Lots of rooms, lots of art. Some of it you can’t figure out how it got into a gallery much less Art Basel and then you spot a few pieces that you really like.

Once you find out how much any of it costs you have a small existential crisis fully realizing that someone out there paid more for Louise Bourgeois spider art than you could ever hope to earn in your entire life.

You then realise (reconfirm to yourself, rather) how silly it is to pay $20M for a wall spider and think to yourself “I could make half of this”.

You, in this case, are me.

If you are not me in this case and you are the one who bought the spider art you probably think I am the silly one.

But wait, me again, spider buyer - it is you who is the fool. Two years ago someone at Art Basel in Basel made off with a MUCH LARGER Bourgeois spider and paid only $40M - much more bang for their buck, hm?

Enough of the nonsense.

The Basel Experience

Art Basel is an international art fair held in 4 locations (Miami, Hong Kong, Paris and Basel, Switzerland) annually. It’s the world’s largest contemporary art fair which typically features 250+ of the top galleries in the world each bringing a selection of works to exhibit and sell.

Art Basel is known for drawing in big names and bougie guests for the VIP experiences, but luckily, for a reasonable fee (roughly $50 for a day ticket in Paris), they let us plebeians in as well.

For years when living in Austin I contemplated flying out for Basel in Miami and then when we moved to London thought of attending in Basel itself. I completely forgot they even show in Paris and in October I just happened to be in town for the same weekend, so it was a no-brainer to attend while in town.

Will I go again? Should you plan to attend?

Hard to say on both fronts.

It is a unique experience. Within a few hours you’re able to walk the halls of the world’s most prominent galleries and see work ranging from blue chip to more up and coming artists. I use “up and coming” loosely - if an artist is shown at Basel they are already represented by a top gallery, so they have already somewhat “come up.”

If you really love art (whether you’re on the market for something $100,000+ or not) I think it’s worth going at least once to experience it for yourself.

If I was in one of the 4 exhibiting towns again during the show I would absolutely go. Otherwise, personally, I think it would be harder to justify the flight, hotels to attend if that was your only reason to be in town. Could be a great reason to arrange a vacation to one of the hosting locations for a larger trip, though!

What I loved at this year’s Art Basel Paris

195 galleries from over 42 countries were represented in Paris’ Grand Palais - a great opportunity to see inside of the building. But if you’re in town otherwise I do prefer the Petit Palais architecturally and it is just across the street!

Here were my top picks at Basel Parti!

Laura with Wolves (2024) by Paulina Olowska at Pace Gallery

Sold for $250,000. Slightly out of my budget but the one piece at the show I would have absolutely love to own. At 5.5 ft x 7 ft it is a whole wall’s worth of glory.

Spaces of Subjection: Imaging Imaginations V by Meleko Mokgosi at Jack Shainman Gallery

The size of this is massive 14 ft x 8 ft. I love the depiction of the family and that the painting seems to exist across time. The fine details on the child, the porcelain dog and the vase play in stark contrast to the broad unrefined strokes of the couch, the cabinetry and more. I think that was my favorite of the whole show.