Hall C, Booth A 17
December 5 – 8, 2013
Preview: December 4, 2013
On the occasion of Art Basel Miami Beach 2013, Galerie Urs Meile will be presenting a selection of recent
works by our represented artists.
Ai Weiwei (*1957) has the unique ability to transform everyday observations into artworks. At our booth a
brandnew, never before presented installation of custom made bicycles will be the center piece: Forever 6
(Stainless Steel Bicycles) (stainless steel, gilding, 282.8 × 317.3 cm). Ai Weiwei’s interest is as much of formal
as of conceptual nature. He creates new shapes by combining ideas, regardless of the cultural tradition
they are rooted in. His touring solo exhibition According to what? will open at the inauguration of the new
Pérez Art Museum in Miami. One unit of the Ladies Dormitory from Ai Weiwei’s Fairytale project for
documenta in 2007 will be on view at the Margulies Collection.
We will also exhibit works from the newest project Two videos, three photographs, several related masterpieces,
and American art (2013) by Yan Xing (*1986), which he developed for his exhibition at Galerie Urs Meile
Beijing in fall 2013. Yan Xing is known as one of the prominent emerging artist in China. In his multilayered
works the artist combines a pure visual aesthetic with his talent in storytelling and references to
art, history, politics and literature.
Hu Qingyan’s (*1982) latest work Edition of 8 was chosen for Art Basel Miami Beach’s Art Kabinett. The
artist had a rock–which he selected randomly from the province of Hebei, China–copied eight times in
marble. The natural variation of the material individualizes each piece, and thus the work raises questions
concerning originality, but also serves as representative of the thing-in-itself, a reflection of the Kantian
belief that there are things in the world that exist independent of the mind and remain completely
unintelligible.
Furthermore new works by China’s most important “conceptual painter” will be shown. In the two
decades of his mature output, Wang Xingwei (*1969) has created an artistic universe all his own and was
honored in 2013 with a large retrospective at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.
Cheng Ran’s (*1981) video The Last Sentence (2013, single channel HD video, color/sound, 12’44’’) was
selected for Art Basel Miami Beach’s Film Sector. The work is concerned with people’s hopes and beliefs
and combines a discussion between a man and a women–a dialogue from Gone with the Wind (1939), but
slightly changed–with the beautiful scenery of southern Iceland. His recently published debut novel,
Circadian Rhythm (2013, paperback, English and Chinese version, 256 pages, 18.4 × 13 cm) will be presented
at the booth.
Ai Weiwei, Hu Qingyan, Wang Xingwei, and Yan Xing will also be part of the group exhibition 28 Chinese
at the Rubell Family Collection in Miami (opens December 4, 2013).
More paintings will be presented by the following artists: Chinese painters Xie Nanxing (*1970), Qiu
Shihua (*1940) and Shao Fan (*1970), German painter Christian Schoeler (*1978), and Swiss artist Julia
Steiner (*1982), who will be present with her large scale drawings.
Complete list of artists presented at Art Basel Miami Beach 2013:
Ai Weiwei – Cheng Ran – Hu Qingyan – Li Gang – Qiu Shihua – Christian Schoeler – Shao Fan –
Anatoly Shuravlev – Julia Steiner – Wang Xingwei – Xie Nanxing – Yan Xing