Favorite 3D Works from Art Basel 2022

"Attitude Jade #3" by Daniel Firman (2020)

I will admit to suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out) when I go to Art Basel. I assiduously walk up and down every aisle during my outing -- or at least I think I do! -- but still feel worried I've overlooked something amazing. So when I saw this woman looking through a peephole, I joined a couple of other visitors to wait our turn to see what was happening. I could have been waiting a long, long time since the woman is a sculpture. These hyperrealistic works get me every time!  

Daniel Firman is a French sculptor known for his works that take viewers by surprise. My new friend Jade is part of his Attitude series, a group of figures Firman says are "trying to lean against a wall but are caught in a position that appears hopeless." The inspiration for the series was "contact-improvisation," a style of dance in which some kind of physical contact initiates the movement. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my encounter with his work. I hope I'll get the chance sometime to see the sculpture for which Firman is perhaps best known -- his elephant in the room. For some images of the elephant in different settings, click here. And for more from Firman's Attitude series, click here. 

"Ebony in Ivory, I" by Esmaa Mohamoud (2022)

On a much more serious note, Esmaa Mohamoud's "Ebony in Ivory, I" was a strikingly beautiful work that held its own surprise. The bust of the young African girl is made from shea butter, one of Africa's largest exports. So are the hundreds of shea nuts at the base of the plinth, each of which was handcast from an actual Ghanian nut. Not surprisingly, Mohamoud's choice of medium adds meaning to the sculpture. "The work," she has said, "Intends to explore the economic exploitation of young African girls who primarily make up the shea nut harvesting industry and emphasize what shea butter is primarily used for -- Black hair and skin." 

"Ebony in Ivory, I" is Mohamoud's most recent addition to a body of work that explores Black culture. Previously the young artist -- she's only 29! -- created Victorian style corsets and crinolines from basketball jerseys. That series is a commentary on race, sports and gender issues. It also harkens back to when she was a kid whose mother implored her to wear a dress. Esmaa did, but topped it with a jersey. To see some work from her aptly named "One of the Boys" series, click here. For a short video in which you can see more detailed views of "Ebony and Ivory, I," click here. Mohamoud is definitely an artist to watch.

"The Cloud - Lion" by Leandro Erlich (2014)

Leandro Erlich seems to have somehow captured a cloud in a box in his "The Cloud - Lion." As I stood there gaping, I had to know. "How did he do that?" Luckily, the gallerist was both on hand and willing to chat. When you look at the work from the side, you can see it's comprised of a number of sheets of glass, each of which has been painted. The end result is this ethereal sculpture. Wow.  

The Argentinian artist's website says his work "explores the artifices of visuality through sensory and perceptional games." A quick look at his work shows the many ways in which he's done just that. Click here to check out "Batiment," a truly fabulous work of public art he created in 2004 for an annual one night only Parisian art festival that has now been added to my bucket list. An easier addition to my "must do" list is a return trip to Miami for a visit to the Perez Museum. Erlich has an exhibit of 16 site-specific works on at PAMM through September 4, 2023. For more on that exhibit, click here. 

"Inverted Monument" by Do Ho Suh (2022)

I was intrigued by Do Ho Suh's "Inverted Monument," a work created using 3D printing. While Suh could visualize the sculpture, its actual creation required a team of engineers who employed robotic and analogue techniques to "print a complex geometry in three dimensions, without slicing the geometry into layers but following the lines, like if it was drawing or sewing in the air." Envision my head exploding. The work is made from filament. 

While I don't begin to understand how "Inverted Monument" was created, I do get its meaning. Public monuments are being re-examined today as we consider the people who stand atop them and the message we are sending by celebrating those individuals. Suh is literally turning the idea of these monuments on its head with this work. I like it. 

"Inverted Monument" isn't the first time Suh has explored the issues raised by this type of public art. In 1998, well before the issue of monuments was in the news, Suh created a sculpture entitled "Public Figures." At first, the work appears to be an empty pedestal. Hmm. Is the message that nobody deserves to be elevated in this manner? A closer look, though, reveals that the pedestal is being supported by tiny nameless and faceless people, the type of people that make up our world. It's a powerful message. To see more of Suh's work, click here and here. The second link includes a picture of his "Public Figures." 

"Child's Play 03" by James Bantone 2022

I'll leave you with a sculpture I absolutely fell in love with -- "Child's Play 03" by James Bantone. I can't quite put my finger on what it was about this work that I found so compelling. I think it was partially that this child-sized figure was sitting on an office chair with his feet unable to touch the floor. It was kind of like a kid playing at being an adult. 

A helpful gallerist shared my enthusiasm for the work. She told me Bantone's figures in this series are his alter ego. They are inspired by HIM, a transgender supervillain from the Powderpuff Girls series. I don't quite get why Bantone would choose HIM as an alter ego since descriptions of the character make him seem pretty despicable (although he does have some pretty cool powers). An interviewer asked Bantone why he looks to cultural phenomena from his childhood like the Powderpuff Girls when creating his work. Bantone responding by talking about the way these shows "shaped us while we consumed them whether we wanted it or not. What I find most interesting is that at a young age we could already sense the difference in the representation of the evil characters like HIM...without having the words or knowledge to describe why." 

"Child's Play 03" with "Untitled" by Vivian Suter 
Suter adds rainwater, mud, fishglue and dyes to her paint
 and then works on unstretched canvases. 

Bantone was a fashion photographer in a previous life (if one can have a previous life when you're only 30 years old). Like many young artists, he works in a variety of mediums. In one exhibit, photographs were torn up and stitched back together and colored, making it difficult to discern what was "real." Perhaps that's part of the message behind the stitches on his sculptures like "Child's Play." A review from that exhibit said that "Bantone's act of tearing apart and the subsequent suturing handle the depicted body as a malleable object and acknowledge their composed being..." This I understand. Aren't we all stitched together from the experiences of our lives? For more on Bantone, click here. I'll admit to not being so keen about his other work. Still, there's something about this figure that speaks to me. I suspect the visual pairing of the sculpture with Vivian Suter's gorgeous paintings didn't hurt. 

Next up: Favorite Paintings from Art Basel 2022.