BASELMANIA 2011
by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp



The night before the VIP preview of Art 42 Basel, June 15-19, 2011, Lehmann Maupin and White Cube galleries hosted a seated dinner at the nearby glass-encased Voltahalle for the artist Ashley Bickerton, sporting his eternal Bali beachcomber tan and surrounded by friends like artist Marc Quinn and collectors like Attila and Bamu Tacir. According to the gallery, the Tacirs are among the Turkish collectors now fascinated by Bickerton's new work, the dark side of island life, priced at between $85,000 and $135,000. Joanne Heyler was there on behalf of Eli Broad, a longtime supporter of the artist. The disco was revving up but most headed hotelward so as to be fresh when the doors to the fair opened at 11 am the next day.

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