All works presented were made during this momentous year

From Lynn Hershman Leeson to Ugo Rondinone, discover 10 solo booths in ‘OVR:2020’

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Of the 100 galleries participating in the upcoming edition of Online Viewing Rooms, over 40 will stage solo presentations. Here, Art Basel introduces 10 positions, ranging from the established to the emerging, and all reflective not only of the artists’ practices, but of the current moment as well.

Altman Siegel, San Francisco Lynn Hershman Leeson Within only a few months, face masks have become ubiquitous. American artist Lynn Hershman Leeson subverts the function and meaning of this defining 2020 accessory in a series of deftly-executed works on paper. Her female figures wear superhero versions, rendering them anonymous while simultaneously referencing the predominantly male protagonists of pop culture. Avatars and archetypes have featured prominently in Hershman Leeson’s practice, and return in this suite of works in a hyper-contemporary guise. Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York City Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. The New York City-based photographer’s works capture the intimate, fleeting moments and inner lives of his subjects with elegant intensity. Those presented in Nicelle Beauchene Gallery’s Viewing Room have all been taken in domestic settings, further emphasizing their private aspects. By employing unusual angles and obstructions, Brown Jr. alludes to, rather than represents, his subject matter, leaving space for interpretation and individual reading. Campoli Presti, Paris and London Heike-Karin Föll Föll’s highly conceptual painting uses disparate elements and techniques to interrogate what constitutes an image nowadays. Erasures and imprints connect the effervescent canvases on view. They not only function as formal reflections on materiality, but also address the fragility and unpredictability of the current moment. This body of work, produced by Föll during lockdown, exudes subdued tension, not unlike the one many of us may have felt over the past months.

Jack Shainman Gallery, New York City Paul Anthony Smith Paul Anthony Smith employs a unique technique in his works: picotage. The artist uses a ceramic tool with which he intervenes on photographic prints, creating minuscule dents. Accumulated, these form fence-like patterns and blur faces. In 2020, these motifs come with a particularly ambiguous connotation; they can protect, but also exclude and dissimulate. In these works, Smith - who immigrated to the United States from Jamaica - addresses migration and otherness, topics that have played an important role in his life. Sadie Coles HQ, London Ugo Rondinone The multifaceted Swiss artist continues his exploration of duality with six new sculptures from his ‘mountain’ series. The colorful stacked rocks have become a signature motif of Rondinone’s, and his repeated use of it is akin to a form of creative meditation. Whether the viewer associates them with totems, minimalist sculptures, or geological formations, these works evade clear categorization. They blur the line between nature and artifice, austerity and exuberance, repetition and variation, allowing for a compelling array of interpretations.&nbsp; Cooper Cole, Toronto Sara Cwynar How can you visualize the internet? Sara Cwynar aims to answer that complicated question. Cooper Cole will present her newest body of work, made over the past months and combining a wide variety of elements such as tweets, image of protests, figures from the #MeToo movement, and art historical paintings. These kaleidoscopic combinations will be arranged in a specific grid view in the Toronto gallery’s Viewing Room, mimicking and reflecting on the overwhelming impression one can get when losing themselves in a multitude of virtual spaces. Waldengallery, Buenos Aires Nicolás Guagnini New York City’s lockdown led Guagnini, known foremost as a sculptor, to dedicate himself to drawing and painting, resulting in the works presented by waldengallery in their Viewing Room. The humanoid figures depicted here exhale and inhale corrupt or pathogenic air. With the primal act of breathing thus jeopardized, the Argentine artist’s new works reflect on the epidemic’s cathartic impact, without shying away from the political subtext often present in his practice.

Miguel Abreu, Gallery, New York City Eileen Quinlan Quinlan’s new body of work interweaves two distinct areas o her photographic practice: black and white analog images of natural elements, and the colorful abstractions for which she is best known for. The many processes with which she creates her works help craft a complex story, inviting the viewer to examine rather than to consume them. Quinlan skillfully toys around with some of photography's central aspects – depth, light, perspective, sharpness – achieving an eerie result. Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco Sadie Barnette Barnette’s family history lies at the center of her eclectic practice. Three new series of works will be featured in Jessica Silverman Gallery’s presentation. Her ‘FBI Drawings’ combine elements from the namesake agency’s official documents with apparently naive motifs; in her ‘Text Compositions’, she explores the boundary between the semantic impact and aesthetics of specific words; and in her photographic works, she uses personal references to address the Black experience - in particular her gay father’s, a founding member of the Black Panthers. Zeno X, Antwerp Mark Manders With their technical complexity and enigmatic subject matter, the artworks presented by Zeno X are prime examples of the Dutch artist’s practice. In 2020, Manders has continued his foray into visual trickery by including recently completed ‘Notional Newspapers’ - publications entirely composed of randomly-combined words - in some of his works. Others are reminiscent of human forms or lamps, yet remain seductively elusive. Manders has also added a greenish hue to his restrained artistic vocabulary, expanding it with characteristic caution and patience.Discover all the participating galleries&nbsp;<a href="/ovr">here</a>.‘OVR:2020’ will run September 23-26, 2020, with VIP Preview days from September 23, 12 noon CET to September 25, 12 noon CET.

Exclusively dedicated to works made in 2020, it will run September 23-26, 2020

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