The Best Booths at Art Basel, From a $40 M. Giant Spider to a Full-On Puppet Show

The main Galleries section of the fair includes first-time participants, starting with Mariane Ibrahim, which has locations in Chicago and Paris. For its inaugural presentation at Art Basel, the namesake dealer has chosen new expressive works, including Raphaël Barontini’s Islander Empress, a collage-like and glittery portrait of an Afro-Brazilian woman mixing iconographic references (a landscape and a costume respectively inspired by Flemish 16th- and 17th-century painters Joachim Patinir and Frans Pourbus the Younger); Amoako Boafo’s monumental Puppy Blankie featuring a charismatic Black bather lounging on a beach; and Family Business, a scene depicting an outdoor reunion where artist Jerrell Gibbs has placed Black people (some of whom are his relatives) into Impressionist-like en plein air scenes in which Black people were historically not depicted. Those three works also share water as a common element. The presentation is titled “Blue Notes,” referring to the “natural smoothness of jazz,” according to the gallery. What better way to get into the swing of the fair?