5 Covid-confronting works at Art Basel; Tagore\’s painting fetches record price at Christie\’s

A SUMMARY OF THE MOST EXCITING ART NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

While we focus on Indian art, we can’t obviously function in a vacuum. It’s a small world and everything is connected, especially on the web. So, let’s train our spotlight across the world map to see what’s going on — from art trends to socio-political issues to everything that affects the great aesthetic global consciousness. Or, let’s just travel the world and have some fun!

At Art Basel, these 5 works confront Covid-19

This year happens to be the first edition of Art Basel to take place since the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The selection of works in a way explores “how artists sought to understand and communicate the profound consequences on our physical selves, mental wellbeing, family ties and communities near and far” — and is full of new works created in the midst of the lockdown. Whether this is Chameleons (2021) by Hayv Kahraman, It Must Have Been a Tuesday (2020) by Mario García Torres, or The Pause (2020) by Nadav Kander — each is a fascinating and diverse manifestation of creativity that overcame the darkest of hours. The Art Newspaper encapsulates.

Rs 4.7cr at Christie’s for Tagore’s untitled painting

Estimated to sell for $120,000-$180,000 just last week, Rabindranath Tagore’s untitled painting of a “couple” fetched a record $637,500 or Rs 4.7 crore at a Christie’s auction, bought by “an institution in Asia”. This is “a new global auction record for the artist”, said those who helmed the live auction at Christie’s in New York, as part of the Asian Art Week, adding that this was one of his finest works to go on the block in several years. The work, signed in Bengali, is mixed media on paper laid on card and measures 56.8cmx45.7cm. The Telegraph Online has the details.

‘Bold, Black, British’

Conversations surrounding race and a lack of representation in the art world have been evolving for the last few years. At this turning point, ‘Bold, Black British’ is on view at Christie’s London, 1 – 21 October 2021, coinciding with Frieze Week and showcasing a vision of Black British art from the 1980s to the present day. Curator Aindrea Emelife aims to bring a more holistic view of Black British art in a show that incorporates painting, sculpture, music and time-based media. These include paintings by Ben Enwonwu, and sculptures by Zak Ové and Hew Locke and more. Wallpaper tells you more.

‘Artmaking is resilience’ — 2021 São Paulo Bienal

This fall, after being postponed for a year due to the pandemic, the 34th edition of the São Paulo Bienal — the second-oldest bienal in the world — has finally opened, with a new, expanded structure. Founded nearly 60 years after the Venice Biennale, the Brazilian exhibition has been held consistently every other year since 1951, and has consolidated itself as the main visual arts event in Latin America. Organized by a team of five curators—Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Paulo Miyada, Carla Zaccagnini, Francesco Stocchi, and Ruth Estévez—the bienal includes 91 artists from 39 countries and four continents. Artsy reports.