Art Basel

At the annual art event that is Art Basel: Miami, in December, there was a lot worth commenting on, but there was one work in particular that sticks with me. It was this huge, six-legged monstrosity by Arcangelo Sassolino. The insect-like metal creation that looked like something out of a sci-fi horror movie. One man I spoke to noted that it was the scariest thing he had ever seen. When I replied that he must never have seen the works of Joel Peter Witkin, he quickly amended that statement. The machine randomly carved marks onto the stone beneath it, all by itself. A mechanical sculpture trying to produce art. An object actively interacting with its base.