Every six weeks, members of Art Basel’s Editorial team pick their favorite exhibitions across the globe. Here are seven shows not to miss this December.
Group show
‘I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel…’
Fleiss-Vallois, New York City
Until December 23, 2023
As the years pass, New York’s Chelsea Hotel remains an immutable witness to the bohemian generations that once nurtured its legend. Though the scent of oil paint has dissipated, taking with it a hint of cigarette smoke, the corridors still echo with the murmurs of the artists who once called it home. As for their works, emblems of unbridled eccentricity, they had awaited a reunion to showcase them beyond the sanctuary's walls, until now. ‘I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel...’ at Fleiss-Vallois brings together over 30 international artists. With works by Ching Ho Cheng, Annette Lemieux, Martial Raysse, Claes Oldenburg, and Daniel Spoerri, the exhibition celebrates with nostalgia those who shaped the unique character of this spirited place. T.D.
Yaerim Ryu
‘You and Your Sweating Palms’
Peres Projects, Berlin
Until January 6, 2024
Korean artist Yaerim Ryu invites viewers to observe an unknown community, rendered in her comical yet eerie visual language. Her work begins with stock images as references for figures, houses, and objects. Ryu is also interested in language and its narrative power, as evidenced by her cryptic titling. The works in this show were all created in Berlin over the last 6 months and many reflect the city’s characteristically dreary climate. Each pays particular attention to atmospheric elements such as weather, wind, and temperature, evident in the droplets of sweat, rain, and the subdued hues that create a distinctive aesthetic ambiance. A.R.
Ana Karkar
‘LOVECHILD’
Almine Rech, Brussels
Until January 13, 2024
The French-American, Paris-based artist, is making her debut with Almine Rech in Brussels, presenting a new series of paintings investigating her enigmatic relationship with her father. Drawing inspiration from iconic 20th-century artistic movements, artworks, and artists such as the Vienna Secession, Egon Schiele, and Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, the artist guides the audience through a chromatic and symbolic journey. Primarily featuring naked bodies, either alone or in pairs, the paintings depict expressive distortions that challenge viewers to discern the precise outlines of figures engaged in sensuous movements. Drawing both from art history and her own life, Karkar paints the vivid and private memories that shaped her personal journey, sharing her experience of love and lineage. P.S.
Guillaume Bresson
Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris
Until January 13, 2024
Guillaume Bresson's oil paintings are saturated with drama. Piercing through the darkness, bodies tumble into a somber void; athletic figures twist their limbs as they fall, wearing denim shorts, grey hoodies, or nothing at all. The French-born, New York-based artist's interest in Renaissance iconography is evident in these moody canvases, executed with a seductive technical mastery – his brushstrokes appear both light and deft, his colors muted yet pristine. Bresson's subject matter may seem dark at first, but like his 16th-century forebears – who hardly ever hesitated to depict eroticism, humor, and shade on the walls and ceilings of churches – there is an underlying campiness in these images of thighs, biceps, and deltoids meeting the pitch-dark night. K.C.
Josèfa Ntjam
‘matter gone wild’
Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris
Until January 27, 2024
In her new exhibition, Josèfa Ntjam takes us on a journey through space and time, towards insurrection. At Fondation Pernod Ricard, viewers are invited to enter physical and mental preparation cells, where rebellion is taught through videos. They then pass through a mysterious airlock, plunge into a darkened environment depicting the cosmos, and enter the heart of ‘matter gone wild’, as the exhibition is titled. In a film of the same name, the artist conjures up ancestral traditions and Afrofuturism. Guided by Persona, a storyteller of revolutionary alterfuturist chronicles, we are taken on a cosmogonic journey by an artist brimming with fertile ideas. J.A.
Elizabeth Jaeger
‘prey’
Mennour, Paris
Until February 3, 2024
At Mennour, Elizabeth Jaeger presents her worlds in two stages. In the first room are a series of small black boxes of different scales and occurrences: a domestic scene, a prostrated bird, a fighting fish, a prison cell. In these miniature worlds, the artist suspends time by forcing concentration, as one has to get up close to see what is going on. In the next room, black and gold clay sculptures have transformed the gallery into an ecosystem resembling a soothing marsh. The reed stems are home to clay sculptures of dogs, rats, insects, slugs, and black birds; all symbols of ‘prey.’ In ‘prey’, life is everywhere, creating an ecology where all beings observe each other. J.A.
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
‘Ancient Future’
Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Miami
Until March 17, 2024
There is more than meets the eye in Detroit-based artist Jamea Richmond-Edwards’ exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami. Featuring her signature colorful paintings, a new film work, and a series of immersive installations, ‘Ancient Future’ is inspired by fantasy and the aspiration of a world without oppression. Confronting personal histories and the state of the world today, the viewer is left wondering what role they might play in creating such an idealistic future. A.H.
Art Basel’s Editorial team is composed of Juliette Amoros, Karim Crippa, Tifenn Durand, Jeni Fulton, Coline Milliard, Alicia Reuter, and Patrick Steffen. Art Basel’s commissioning editors are Stephanie Bailey, Kimberly Bradley, and Emily McDermott. The social media team is composed of Tatiana Berg, Alexis Laki, and Andi Harris.
Published on December 11, 2023.
Caption for full-bleed image: Guillaume Bresson, Sans titre, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia.