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Harry Nuriev, Elevator, Design Miami Basel, 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

Art! Art! Art!

After a big break, the big art & design fairs return triumphantly to Basel. Our picks from Art Basel, Design Miami Basel and Liste Art Fair
Karin Bürki

Karin Bürki

Words & Images: Karin Bürki

All the art, all the people, all the excitement. The first few hours strolling through the fairs, seeing the art and meeting old friends and colleagues after a painstakingly long 14 months was overwhelming. I felt like Andy Warhol in the candy shop. Even with the mask on. This is the second thing that struck me: everyone sticked to the rules (remember, this is the European end of the 1 per cent, compare and contrast with the fuss the Covid certificate causes at an average Swiss event). Third takeway: VR rooms do have their place, but art needs to be experienced in person. Let’s look at the highlights:

Design Miami Basel

Harry Nuriev, Elevator, Design Miami Basel, 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

© Karin Bürki/Heartbrut

Harry Nuriev, Elevator, Design Miami Basel, 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

© Karin Bürki/Heartbrut

The elevator is the only room that moves up and down. In that sense, Harry Nuriev‘s space age-chanelling The Elevator environment aptly captures the ever changing mood-swings of our collective “2021: A Covid Odyssey” experience.

Harry is a Russian-born artist, architect and furniture designer. He is now based in New York, where he runs his creative practice Crosby Studios. Nuriev has emerged as one of the masters of a new style of global minimalism that is not afraid to embrace colours (remember millennial pink?) and curves. You have come across it in IRL in a home, studio, hotel or coffee place near you, but most likely on Insta, the style’s natural habitat. Think a fiercely clean and contemporary take on midcentury Scandi furniture, Memphis-meets-Japanese-design, with plenty of Bauhaus references thrown in. What sets Nuriev apart is his knack for approaching minimalism with a Versailles glow while keeping it real and honest: one of Nuriev’s most poignant designs is the sofa he created in collaboration with Balenciaga for Design Miami 2019. Made from biodegradable clear plastic, the L-shaped piece encased damaged or unsellable pieces and off-cuts from old Balenciaga stock.

Harry Nuriev, Elevator, Design Miami Basel, 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

© Karin Bürki/Heartbrut

Aric Chen takes a seat on Elevator seating by Harry Nuriev, Design Miami Basel, 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

© Karin Bürki/Heartbrut

Left to right: Designer Harry Nuriev, Aric Chen, the outgoing Curatorial Director of Design Miami, takes a seat.

About his new installation, revealed at Design Miami Basel, Nuriev said in a statement: “It’s a place where you get to be a kid again and press all the buttons, the destination unknown.” The silver space features a futuristic furniture collection, which includes a sofa, armchair and ottoman made of “finger” capsules. Despite their space-station edgy looks the pieces are actually very comfortable (we had the opportunity to test sit) and absolutely deserve to populate artsy hipster homes around the world.

Lukas Gschwandtner, Pillow Portraits, Maniera, Design Miami Basel, 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

© Karin Bürki/Heartbrut

Lukas Gschwandtner, Pillow Portraits, Maniera, Design Miami Basel, 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

© Karin Bürki/Heartbrut

Talking of seats: staying indoors for extended periods of time has drawn the spotlight on the importance on personal safe spaces – and the need for comfortable furniture. Lukas Gschwandtner‘s performance Pillow Portraits puts the chaise longue front and centre. Originally a central piece of furniture in the boudoir, the private room of a woman, it allowed her the leisure to read, write, ponder and reflect. A luxury, only the privileged could afford. Drawing inspiration from historical portraits of women on chaises longues, draped artfully on a sea of cushions, Gschwandtner developed a series of wearable pillow sculptures for his solo show at Maniera Gallery in Brussels in February 2021. In the accompanying performance, repeated at Design Miami Basel, the designer impersonates classic chaise longue poses from paintings and art works, translating the questions they raise about class and gender for contemporary interpretations and experiences. The Austrian-born designer currently works and lives in London.

Art Basel

Monster Chetwynd, Tear, Art Basel, 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

© Karin Bürki/Heartbrut

Monster Chetwynd, Tear, Art Basel, 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

© Karin Bürki/Heartbrut

Who let the Coronas out? It was impossible to look at Monster Chetwynd‘s  ballet of clear balloons on Exhibition Square outside Art Basel and not think of the virus and bubble-living. But fear not, this variant was a friendly and playful one. Tears was inspired by Salvador Dali’s jewel in form of a crying eye. How much have we missed the fun and the spectacle and the theatricality of large scale, public performance art. Thank you, Monster 🙂

Liste Art Fair

Luke Edward Hall / The Breeder, Liste Art Fair 2021, © Karin Bürki. Explore more on Heartbrut.com

© Karin Bürki/Heartbrut

The last thing I expected to see at Liste Art Fair, which prides itself as Art Basel’s edgy little sister, was to see a fine display of shamelessly figurative and romantic paintings by Luke Edward Hall. The English creative his hard to escape if you’re faintly into maximalist home interiors, young roman-greco hunks and have access to Insta. LEH paints, draws, makes ceramics and also works on restaurant and hotel projects and collaborates on a variety of fabrics and furniture collaborations. His aesthetics draws inpiration from theatre, fantasy and history, filtered through a very English lens of playfulness, romanticism and an irreverent clash of styles in bold colours. Hall’s main points of reference are the “Bright Young People” of the British inter-war period, like Cecil Beaton, Oliver Messel and Stephen Tennant, as well as Ancient Roman and Greek art and architecture.

He also writes a column in the Financial Times and has a coffee table book out, aptly named “Greco Disco”. Things are very busy for the creative with the boyish looks and Britain’s most technicolour cottage. So no, on second thought, it’s hardly surprising Hall has popped up at Liste Art Fair too, courtesy of The Breeder Gallery. With prices starting at a comparatively budget-friendly 4000 €, this is definitely an opportunity to invest into Mr Hall, who appears to be on the fast track for imminent creative world domination.