Report from Art Basel 2016: Friday

By Nancy Nesvet

Art Basel 2016 is going on this week. In 3 different halls at the Messerplatz in Basel, there are 157 galleries presenting the work of myriad artists. The work might best be summed up by one of the speakers at Artists this. afternoon. Kos, an artists collective in New York City, spoke of art as a community endeavor noting that the people who have come together here are a community of artists, gallerists and art lovers and seekers. The tremendous amount of art here so far viewed by this writer falls into two categories:

The first category is art that is politically engaged. Ranging from landscapes that speak to issues including global warming, deforestation, immigration and personal and national security. Photography, sculpture, painting and installation work all engage these issues.

The second category expands the boundaries of artistic practices and blurs the definition of each practice, be it painting, photography, sculpture, performance or installation. The work begs us to think about these definitions perhaps concluding that it is all art, no matter what the concrete expression.

At Conversations this afternoon, Alison Knowles of the flux us group said that as artists, we must make something to bring people together, not just talk about it. From what I have seen at ArtBasel, this is just what the artists and their galleries have done, brought the work of their artists and brought people together to experience art.