In pictures: sport at Art Basel

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (17) (2004), Paul Pfeiffer, Carlier Gebauer

Men’s basketball has been an Olympic sport since the 1936 games in Berlin, where the US took the gold medal (and has done so at the majority of Olympics since then). The Hawaii-born, New York-based artist Paul Pfeiffer is not a particularly huge sports fan but often uses imagery from popular culture in his work. Here, he has removed nearly all the other players from the image except for a single leaping figure, giving it an almost divine quality. This edition, one of three, has sold to a private collector for $45,000. But there is an artist’s proof still available (price on request), says the gallery’s Hannah Hasenclever.

Untitled (Hermosa Beach) (2019), Raymond Pettibon, Carolina Nitsch

Surfing is a recent addition to the pantheon of Olympic sports, having made its debut at the 2020 games in Tokyo. However, the surfing competition this year will be taking place 10,000 miles away from Paris, in the famed surf spot of Teahupo’o in Tahiti. The waves of the Pacific Ocean are also familiar to the American West Coast artist Raymond Pettibon, who grew up around surfing. His lithograph with red gouache highlight, in an edition of 48, is on sale for $200,000 at the New York gallery Carolina Nitsch’s stand. Ride that wave!

Obverse & Reverse LVII (2023) by Darío Escobar at Nils Stærk

Although football is an Olympic sport, its age-limit rule makes it a less coveted trophy compared with the World Cup or the Euros. The Guatemalan artist Darío Escobar, who is based in Mexico City, uses everyday found items, like old footballs, to highlight societal disparities, says the gallery’s director Josefine Juliane Wiell. Sport is often one of the few routes out of poverty for many people, she adds. This piece is one of a series of football sculptures and is on sale for $50,000. Back of the net.

A Rake’s Progress (1961-63) by David Hockney at Susan Sheehan Gallery

Although this series is not strictly about running, David Hockney’s masterpiece suite A Rake’s Progress (1961-63) does include this print of two joggers, called The Seven Stone Weakling. The series was created as the young British artist was finishing his studies at the Royal College of Art and is based on William Hogarth’s cautionary tale of the same name. This rare complete portfolio, comprised of 16 etchings with aquatint, is one of an edition of 50 and is on sale for $625,000. Museums, stick on your sneakers and jog on over.

Florida Fun (1980) by Charlotte Johannesson at Hollybush Gardens

Like surfing, skateboarding is also a relative newcomer to the Olympics, having made its debut in Japan last time out. This self-portrait poster of the Swedish artist Charlotte Johannesson is unusual among her oeuvre; she is best known for combining the craft of the loom with emerging computer technology. The work is not for sale but has been included as part of a more art-historical display, which comes under the fair’s Kabinett section.

Cyclical and structural forces react with each other in ways that are both predictable and unpredictable & The natural tendency for a body to resist change in its state of motion (2024) by Jared McGriff at Vielmetter Los Angeles

There is a long history of depicting pugilism in many art forms, from George Bellows’s gestural brushstrokes to Martin Scorsese’s monochrome masterpiece, Raging Bull. Here, the Miami-based artist pairs the sport’s violence with a title seemingly borrowed from a physics book. The work is a departure for the artist, who is more of a portraitist, says Michael Smoler, the gallery’s senior director of sales. The oil-on-canvas diptych is on sale for $70,000, with significant interest already, Smoler adds. They just need that knockout punch.