Art Basel 2021
Hall 2.1, Booth R2

Messe Basel Messeplatz 10, 4058 Basel ​

VIP Preview days: September 21 – 23

Public days: September 24 – 26 

Sean Kelly is delighted to return to Art Basel in person, where we will feature a compelling presentation of works highlighting the gallery artists which exemplifies our commitment to presenting important contemporary art. Our booth, R2, will include a new mosaic by Shahzia Sikander depicting a multilayered avatar that evinces the heterogeneity that exists in the cultures of South Asia; a plastic painting by Hugo McCloud, who uses the material as a metaphor to understand our similarities and differences as human beings, to connect to our environment, and to highlight the negative impact on our shared planet of our carbon footprint; a new “erratic” sculpture by Julian Charrière, made from a single large boulder found in the middle of otherwise empty fields. An enigma to previous civilizations, scientific study has revealed that these peculiar objects are deposits left behind by glacial ice
as they glided across vast distances; a new painting by Landon Metz, who works with a specially devised pigment dye, which he pours onto unprimed canvas, coaxing the liquid into biomorphic shapes making paintings that are often site responsive; new sculpture by Rebecca Horn, who has created one of the most important and distinct oeuvres in the world, encompassing ground breaking performances, films, sculptural installations, poetry and more; a stamped painting by Idris Khan in which the artist repeatedly stamps text onto heavily gessoed aluminum panels, ultimately eradicating the meaning of the original text to construct an abstract and universal visual language; a new Exposed Painting by Callum Innes, a process in which he paints the canvas, and then repeatedly applies turpentine to remove the paint, leaving all but the faintest traces of color; a bold new painting by Janaina Tschäpe, one of her largest canvases to date, richly painted using large scale oil sticks and water-based pigments, it marks a fresh new direction in Tschäpe’s oeuvre; an oil on canvas by Ilse D’Hollander whose body of work is distinguished by its subtle tonalities, depicting variations in scale and surface that give her work its contemplative tranquility, ethereal quality, and brilliant, deceptive simplicity; one of Mariko Mori’s newest “photo paintings” created with metallic pastel pigments processed through three-dimensional computer graphics, the work references abstraction and spiritual imagery; and an artwork by Loló Soldevilla, one of the most prominent women associated with the development of geometric abstraction in Cuba and Latin America.

For more information on the artists and works presented please visit skny.com
For all inquiries, please contact the gallery at 212.239.1181 or info@skny.com
For more information on the fair, including hours and ticketing information, please visit artbasel.com

Art Unlimited, Hall 1, U40 – Hugo McCloud

For his inaugural presentation at Art Basel Art Unlimited, Hall 1, Booth U40, Hugo McCloud will present his most monumental painting to date, a multi-panel work produced using single-use plastic bags. The Burden of Man: waiting to breathe, 2021, interweaves narratives, referencing recent international crises both obliquely and directly to address themes of migration, borders, hope, and loss; conditions internationally endemic during the Covid-19 crisis. In this work oxygen functions both as metaphor and a physical presence; a wall of oxygen tanks bisects the painting, referencing the harrowing tales of people dying for lack of oxygen globally during the pandemic and those who waited endlessly in line hoping to access some of the life-saving element; it also suggests other types of borders, particularly the one separating the United States and Mexico, where McCloud, who is American, currently lives and works. Epic in scale, the work offers the artist’s unique contemporary take on the rich historic traditions of history and mural painting.

For more information on Hugo McCloud, please visit skny.com

To view the Art Basel online viewing room for Hugo McCloud's presentation at Art Unlimited, please visit artbasel.com/rooms