Art Basel 2018 exhibition draws world's commercial artworks

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The 49th edition of Art Basel opened to the public on Thursday with Chinese artists making a show in the thousands of artworks displayed by galleries from 35 countries and regions.

Held at the Messe Basel exhibition hall, the event will run through June 17 in the northwest Switzerland city on the Rhine River.

The commercial exhibits of Art Basel are considered the world's premier fair.

The nearby Basel Art Museum or the Kunstmuseum, as it is often known, with its more traditional works has special opening times during the exhibition as it features parallel shows at other museums in the city.

Six galleries are making their Basel debut this year, including White Space Beijing, Los Angeles' Freedman Fitzpatrick, and New York's Essex Street Gallery.

Last year more than 95,000 visitors came to the medieval Swiss city for Art Basel.

Art Basel brings the international art world together, with 290 of the world's leading galleries showing the works of over 4,000 artists.

"The Tip of the Iceberg" (1991) of US-Artist Barbara Bloom displayed at the Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland. /VCG Photo

Among the Chinese artists displayed is Yu Hong from Beijing's Long March Space with his 2017 work – "Old Man Yu Gong Is Still Moving Away Mountains."

ARTnews said that Art Basel main sector is titled Galleries and that "by some measures, the participants in this section are the most significant galleries in the world for modern and contemporary art".

Swissinfo, the website of the national broadcaster reported, "Art Basel and its circus is mainly about the arts market: a perfect setting for packaged artworks, buyers and sellers, whereas artists are just supporting actors, at best."

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency