Lehmann Maupin returns to Art Basel with a presentation of new and historical works that highlight the gallery’s multi-generational, interdisciplinary program. Highlights include new works by artist Tammy Nguyen, who recently joined the gallery and whose work is prominently featured in the Berlin Biennale, curated by Kader Attia, whose work is also on view at the booth; alongside emblematic sculptures by the late Swiss artist Heidi Bucher, whose retrospective Metamorphoses is currently on view at Kunstmuseum Bern; and a selection of works by Cecilia Vicuña, who is the subject of a solo exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and featured in the 59th Venice Biennale, for which she was also awarded a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
Exploring the complex relationships between colonization, nature and society, artists such as Vicuña, Attia, and Nguyen shed light on the narratives and mythologies that have shaped cross-cultural encounters. In Lady Deer Tree (2021), Vicuña explores the symbol of the deer, sacred in a number of distinct religious philosophies from across the world, and considers the deer as a teacher who can guide humanity toward practicing wholehearted selflessness and devotion. With her Man of Sorrow (2022) Nguyen also considers intersections between ecology and culture as she questions the impact of colonialism and proselytization perpetrated in Asia by European missionaries. Here, a bird of prey morphs into a representation of Christ being cannibalized by a tropical environment.
Personal and collective histories are also at the forefront of this presentation. Publicly on view for the first time is McArthur Binion’s, Modern:Ancient:Brown (2022), a carefully constructed grid composition combining collage, drawing, and painting to create minimalist patterns over an “under-conscious” of the artist’s address books and music notes. Nari Ward uses found materials, mostly sourced from his neighborhood in Harlem, in ways that reveal the emotions and histories attached to everyday objects. Ward re-contextualizes the source materials within his work to create complex, metaphorical juxtapositions that confront social and political issues surrounding race, poverty, and consumer culture.
The gallery will also present a new body of work by Korean artist Do Ho Suh. These sculptural fabric works, which are created with the use of scripting language and architectural modeling software, continue his exploration of the often precarious idea of home in a global society. At the same time, the artist also questions Western narratives associated with cultural production. The artist shares, “I love working with CNC robots because it counters this very Western imperialist idea of the artist as an individual genius, challenging the concept of the ‘authenticity’ of the artist’s hand.”
Other highlights include brand new works by Dominic Chambers, Billy Childish, Mandy El-Saygeh, Teresita Fernández, Nicholas Hlobo, Lee Bul, Arcmanoro Niles, OSGEMEOS, and Calida Rawles.
Lehmann Maupin’s participation in Unlimited features a large-scale project by artist Helen Pashgian and world-renowned architect Kulapat Yantrasast, founder and creative director of WHY. This unique presentation by the long-time friends and collaborators consists of a site-specific pavilion designed by Yantrasast to house one of Pashgian’s celebrated 50-inch lens works. This collaboration marks the first time Pashgian’s work is exhibited at Unlimited and the first time the two have partnered to realize a public activation.