BASEL, Switzerland—The 38th edition of Art Basel is more crowded than ever, thanks to crowds flooding in from Venice for stop number two of the so-called Grand Tour. And a quick peek around the convention center brings on a little bout of deja vu, or shall we say "deja Venice," for Biennale artists—both those in the Rob Storr-curated exhibition "Think With the Senses, Feel with the Mind" and those representing their countries in pavilions—can be found scattered throughout dealers' booths here.  

David Zwirner has three recent, untitled works by Isa Genzken, who represents Germany at the Biennale. The pieces are made from wheelchairs draped in various kinds of fabrics, plastic sheets, and, in one case, a sleeping bag. One sculpture has a child's stroller appended, like a sidecar.

The centerpiece of Andrea Rosen's booth is Wood Clock (2007), a large sculpture by David Altmejd consisting of a tree trunk, along with sundry other items including taxidermied birds. It looks as though it could be a limb torn off from Index, his ambitious installation in the Canadian pavilion. Not surprisingly, the $85,000 piece is on reserve.  

Over at Sean Kelly is a work by Biennale artist Iran do Espirito Santo, the granite floor sculpture Broken Mirror #5, which is on reserve at €60,000. Nearby in Kelly's booth is Joseph Kosuth's 1991 neon piece #11 49 (On Color/Multi #1), still available for $150,000; Kosuth's neon words cover the Armenian monastery buildings on the Isola di San Lazzaro in Venice.

A short walk from Kelly's booth is that of the gallery Contemporary Fine Arts, which has a large work by Anselm Reyle. No, Reyle is not in the Biennale, but his work is making a splash in Venice, thanks to Francois Pinault, who has featured the artist prominently in the Palazzo Grassi. Reyle's Basel work is an abstract composition made from foil glued onto wood and painted over. It flew off the stand to a private collector for €80,000.  

James Cohan gallery had a couple of Venice stars, as well. Old master of video art Bill Viola is represented by The Shape of Light in the Space After Death (2005). The work is in an edition of 12, and the gallery is placing them very carefully, according to Cohan. (Viola had a show in Venice at the Chiesa di San Gallo near Piazza San Marco.) Also in Cohan's booth is Yinka Shonibare, who is featured in the African pavilion at Venice. In his brand new Girl Ballerina (2007), Shonibare seems to have dressed up Degas's famous bronze sculpture in his signature African fabrics—Cohan parted with the work for £50,000. (Girl Ballerina is an eye-catcher. While I was in the booth a collector stopped by intending to buy it. Hearing it had been sold, he couldn't hide his disappointment: "Oh no! I'll have to wait for the next one!")

So does the Venice Effect influence sales? Said Cohan: "It gives the extra incentive if people need it." 

Dealer Emmanuel Perrotin brought two impressive works by Sophie Calle, whose project for the French pavilion has created a lot of buzz at Venice. One of these pieces, Journey to California (2003), is unique (i.e., not part of an edition). According to a representative of the gallery, they would like to sell the €120,000 work to a museum and are waiting on a decision from one. The piece tells the story of a brokenhearted man in San Francisco who wrote to Calle asking if he could sleep in her bed during his mourning period after a particularly bad breakup. She agreed and shipped him the bed. The piece consists of the framed e-mails to and from the man, the bubble-wrapped bedding, and photographs of the bed chez Calle and in the mourner’s San Francisco home.  

Downstairs seems to be where you find the blue-chip Venice artists. At Matthew Marks, a 1991 piece by Ellsworth Kelly, Purple Blue, sold swiftly. (But next door at L & M Arts is Kelly's White Black (1988), priced at a cool $2 million—and not yet sold.)

Also in Marks's booth is the truest Venice deja vu of all—the same work by Ugo Rondinone that featured in the Swiss pavilion that he shared with Urs Fischer. You have to look hard to find the piece; it is a small circular vent built into the wall that emits incense and is in an edition of eight. Marks was reticent to give prices, but a gallery employee said that several of them have already sold.