Art Basel has come and gone and, in its wake, luxury living magazines are trying to piece together the major trends and movements we just witnessed. There’s little doubt that Art Basel is always a refreshing surprise, but it is nearly impossible to predict what is a fad and what is going to become a permanent fixture on the art scene. As a luxury lifestyle magazine, we pride ourselves on bringing you the cutting-edge and the avant-garde but, most of all, we want to be relevant. That’s not always easy for a luxury lifestyle publication, but we think we’ve identified some of the major art trends on display in Art Basel as well as some ideas on how they might impact things moving forward. While the public displays themselves were somewhat constrained by COVID-19, the innovations themselves were quite unrestrained, pioneering, and more forward-looking than ever before.
NFTs and Digital Art
While it’s no secret that Miami is the hub for everything crypto these days, it did come as somewhat of a surprise to see how much the NFT trend and digital art in general dominated at Art Basel this year. Chalk it up to Beeple’s success at selling his collection for millions upon millions of dollars, or the fact that NFT possibly offers digital art and assets another layer of ownership protection, either way, it was a big deal at Art Basel this year. One artwork from NFT artist Refik Anadol sold for over $850,000 demonstrating the genre’s viability from a commercial standpoint. Still, some detractors questioning NFT’s future in art, with Art Basel global director Marc Spiegel deeming it “confusing.”
Textile Art Renaissance
In a nod to the more subdued circumstances surrounding the show this year, textile art and even many of the other pieces featured at Art Basel displayed an electric, kinetic, and vibrant energy. South American artist Bonolo Kavula, in particular, stole the show with a collection of tapestries that merged various influences into a cohesive whole while April Bey’s Colonial Swag: Dune, Not Palm Springs (2021), Phyllis Stephens’ Jungle Fever (2021), and Diedrick Brackens’ Once More to the Lake (2021) underscored this theme.
Social Media and Art Galleries Come of Age
Another interesting trend somewhat apart from the art itself but integral to the gallery experience was Art Basel’s conscious attempt to incorporate the digital age into the gallery experience. From Instagrammable decor to participative art pieces, Art Basel 2021 is likely to be remembered for how well it marketed itself on social media.
