Image: Galerie von Bartha
Galerie von Bartha is preparing a busy end to the summer in Basel, combining the final days of 'Fable and Form' with a one-day garage sale before turning to two new solo exhibitions for Kunsttage Basel. According to the gallery’s announcement, 'Fable and Form', the exhibition pairing Barry Flanagan and Ursula Reuter Christiansen, closes on August 8, 2026. On the same day, the von Bartha team will hold a garage sale from 10 am to 4 pm at Entenweidstrasse 10, offering items from the gallery’s inventory.
The gallery’s newsletter frames the garage sale as part of its participation in the St. Johann Quartierflohmarkt, a neighborhood flea market organized by Verein Stadtprojekt. The notice says the sale will include personal items, furniture, clothing, books and design pieces, and places the stand around the corner from the gallery entrance. The event is presented as a short, public-facing gesture on the day that one exhibition ends and the next phase of programming begins.
'Fable and Form' brings together works by Barry Flanagan (1941–2009) and Ursula Reuter Christiansen (born 1943), two artists who never crossed paths but whose practices are linked in the gallery’s presentation through narrative, imaginative and often populated worlds. Galerie von Bartha describes the show as a meeting point for works that could seem to emerge from the same realm or story, with human and animal protagonists recurring across the installation. The exhibition page highlights works including Reuter Christiansen’s large painting 'The Reservoir of Evil', Flanagan’s 'Harebell on Portland Stone Piers', 'Large Podenco Hound', 'Lament', and the plaster-and-cloth work 'pdreeoo'.
The gallery’s account of the exhibition emphasizes the interplay between Flanagan’s sculptures and Reuter Christiansen’s drawings, paintings and watercolors. In the front part of the show, Reuter Christiansen’s bird-like figures are set against Flanagan’s hare and hound works, while further back, framed drawings made when the artist was seventeen reveal what the gallery calls her imagination and ingenuity. The installation also includes Reuter Christiansen’s watercolor 'Whispering', presented in proximity to Flanagan’s 'pdreeoo', creating pairings that the gallery says invite viewers to read the works in harmony and with a measure of imagination.
Attention then shifts to Kunsttage Basel, which runs from August 28 to 30, 2026. For the event, von Bartha will open two solo exhibitions: 'Mother Tongue' by Christian Andersson and 'Bijna een vlinder' by Francisco Sierra. The public opening is scheduled for Friday, August 28, from 5 to 8 pm, with extended opening hours during the fair period.
The gallery’s project page for 'Mother Tongue' says Christian Andersson will present three new sculptures that address the question, “Can images be trusted?” and that the works invite uncertainty, curiosity and speculation rather than clear answers. The page identifies Andersson as being born in Stockholm in 1973. Francisco Sierra’s 'Bijna een vlinder' — translated on the site as “Almost a Butterfly” — is described as a new body of work by the Cotterd-based artist, born in Santiago de Chile in 1977, known for combining old-master precision with subtle absurdity. The gallery says the exhibition pushes his practice into new territory and presents paintings that unsettle perception while appearing clear at first glance.
