Art Basel

For the online iteration of the prestigious annual Art Basel fair, Pace Gallery will present Outside In. This group exhibition showcases a range of sculptures from the gallery’s program, bringing together seminal, large-scale pieces created specifically for the outdoor environment by artists whose monumental work continues to be enjoyed in parks and plazas worldwide during this time of quarantine alongside sculptural works designated for indoor environments. The digital format of this year’s Art Basel presentation has provided Pace with a rare opportunity to mount the type of presentation that would normally be impossible within the confines of the art fair booth, further highlighting the importance of outdoor sculpture projects in a time when access to art is limited to encounters with art in the public sphere and creating a global narrative between works engaging with the natural world. Outside In will be presented on Art Basel’s Online Viewing Room (June 17–26, 2020) and will open on Pace’s digital platform a day ahead of the fair on June 16, 2020 as a preview for the gallery’s network.

Art Basel East Hampton

From August 19 to 30, as part of Pace’s programming for its temporary gallery space in East Hampton, which will open in early July and run through October 12, the gallery will show significant modern masterworks that were intended for the gallery’s presentation at the—now cancelled—Art Basel fair, entitled Art Basel East Hampton. Building on the theme of public sculpture, Pace will also exhibit a number of large-scale outdoor works throughout the Hamptons this summer and fall.

Art Basel’s Online Viewing Room

Artists featured in Outside In include: Lynda Benglis, Alexander Calder, John Chamberlain, Mary Corse, Song Dong, Tara Donovan, Jean Dubuffet, Robert Irwin, Liu Jianhua, Donald Judd, Lee Ufan, Sol LeWitt, Maya Lin, Yoshitomo Nara, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Oldenburg/Van Bruggen, Lucas Samaras, Joel Shapiro, Raqib Shaw, Arlene Shechet, Kiki Smith, Tony Smith, Li Songsong, Fred Wilson, Zhang Xiaogang, and Yin Xiuzhen. Together, the works in this presentation examine the nature of sculptural practice from the studio, to the gallery, and in the outdoor landscape.

Highlights from this presentation include iconic outdoor works that offer sublime and joyful encounters with art in the landscape by Jean Dubuffet, Louise Nevelson, Alexander Calder, Tony Smith, and Lee Ufan, whose work extends beyond gallery walls. Additionally, the exhibition features architectonic sculptures by Song Dong, Lucas Samaras, and Yin Xiuzhen which similarly upend the hierarchical space of the white cube through an exploration of interiority and an engagement with material.

Bodies, organisms, and natural phenomena are both subject and object for many of the included artists whose work features in indoor environments. For example, Tara Donovan’s intricate sculptures are composed of industrially manufactured materials like Slinkys and Mylar, mimicking the organic nature of emergent structures. Joel Shapiro’s large-scale minimal sculptures abstract the human form, while painted bronze busts by Yoshitomo Nara and Zhang Xiaogang create psychologically-charged encounters with larger-than-life characters. Similarly, John Chamberlain’s statuesque assemblage of painted and chrome steel and Fred Wilson’s symbolic pairing transform the traditional notion of the figure in sculpture.