Sanlorenzo launches “Sanlorenzo Arts” at Art Basel in Basel 2021

On display at the Sanlorenzo Lounge, two works on commission by Swiss artist Emil Michael Klein

“Suspensions” by Emil Michael Klein – curated by Flash Art

Art Basel in Basel 2021

Collectors Lounge

24-26 September

With great determination, courage and vision, Sanlorenzo has worked over the years to introduce a new approach to experiencing the sea, with innovations that have profoundly changed the world of yachting, unhinging a pre-established aesthetic and liveability code and bringing new creative languages on board.

A fundamental step in this direction has been the approach to the world of art and design, an unexplored frontier for the nautical sector. The desire to create inspirational encounters has driven the shipyard to seek an active and never predictable bond with the art world. Sanlorenzo has thus, since 2017, activated a series of collaborations with important galleries, artists and cultural institutions, including Art Basel.

Sanlorenzo continues its mission to support creativity and contemporary art, as a living expression of our time, by establishing Sanlorenzo Arts which is presented for the first time at Art Basel in Basel 2021.

Sanlorenzo Arts is a platform dedicated to navigating the complexity of the present through creativity, including its most innovative aspects. It is an active and interactive channel for projects, linked to the world of art and design, which address the most topical issues in the most original and resourceful ways, thanks to the sensitivity of artists, designers, thinkers and creatives. Sanlorenzo Arts has embarked on a journey of discovery and surprise, of continuous encounters, encouraging the construction of meaning and value, ready to set sail for new latitudes. The project aims to create a strong identity for Sanlorenzo Arts as a true producer of culture and design, and not simply as a sponsor or artistic activator.

As part of this innovative journey, Sanlorenzo Arts has invited Flash Art, the iconic international contemporary arts magazine, and its global network of curators, artists and thinkers, to conduct a dialogue between the art world and the Sanlorenzo brand.

“Just as in the yachting world we have always been considered among the leading innovators, we also want to bring our innovative vision to the world of art and design by creating a platform that will allow us to create a direct and increasingly strong connection with these entities by becoming real players.”

-Mr. Massimo Perotti, Executive Chairman Sanlorenzo

This project debuts through the collaboration with Swiss artist Emil Michael Klein, who presents two commissioned works entitled Suspensions created specifically for Sanlorenzo’s Lounge, in the Collectors Lounge of Art Basel in Basel 2021.

His work combines classic craftsmanship with modernist and formalist accents. Klein has worked meticulously to reflect and enhance the maritime theme; a curtain hanging from the ceiling, an element that returns frequently in Klein’s artistic research, recalls the hues of sand. Visitors can enter the Sanlorenzo lounge and gently caress the velvety fabric.

On 22 September 2021, Sanlorenzo Arts has organised a ‘Meet the Artist’ event to further highlight the artist’s work. Klein, in conversation with Kunsthalle Zurich director Daniel Bauman, has discussed about its practice with a focus on the project “Suspensions” commissioned and presented by Sanlorenzo.

Since 2018, Sanlorenzo has been a global partner of Art Basel, the most significant modern and contemporary art fair on the international scene, for its annual appointments in Hong Kong, Basel and Miami Beach. From 2020, Sanlorenzo has also been Institutional Patron of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the most important museum in Italy for 20th century European and American art.