Thursday, September 19, 2019

Latin American art takes centre stage




The works of Central and South American artists are the rising stars of the international art market, garnering record prices and heavyweight critical acclaim. Emma Crichton-Miller reports
Luiz Zerbini 2016 work Monster
Luiz Zerbini 2016 work Monster
At last year’s Frieze London art fair, a Brazilian gallery dominated by a vast, fringed, abstract hanging screen won the prize for best stand. Just across from the extravagant theatrics of Hauser & Wirth’s Bronze Age c3500 BC-AD 2017, Galeria Luisa Strina managed to encapsulate, with a few outstanding works, the depth and breadth of its programme. Items on display ranged from wall pieces by pioneering Brazilian conceptual artist Cildo Meireles, subject of a solo exhibition at Tate Modern in 2009, and some compelling constructions made out of debris by the sculptor Fernanda Gomes to the fringed screen by Alexandre da Cunha constructed from industrial mop heads. A black and white video installation by his contemporary Renata Lucas showed empty industrial buildings prowled by exotic wild animals.
São Paulo painter Luiz Zerbini
São Paulo painter Luiz Zerbini | Image: Mariana Maltoni
The award was a welcome 43rd birthday present for this venerable gallery, which has nursed the careers of several generations of the most avant-garde Brazilian artists since its founding in São Paulo in 1974. But it was also a resounding cheer for Latin American art. With another leading São Paulo gallery, Mendes Wood, receiving one of just four special commendations, this was a public acknowledgement of the strength, maturity and originality of art from the region. It was also a recognition that while there has been a spate of museum exhibitions in Europe and the United States recently, these only scratch the surface of a well-established, vibrant art scene that is at last achieving full visibility on the international stage.
Indeed, once you start to look, Latin American art is everywhere, not just in our museums but in the marketplace. Major global art dealerships have, over the past few years, been ensuring that they field at least one artist from Latin America. At Lisson Gallery, for example, are the Mexican painter Pedro Reyes, the heroic centenarian Cuban abstract painter Carmen Herrera and the Puerto Rican conceptual artists Allora & Calzadilla. At Phillips New York in November 2016, Herrera’s 1965 canvas Cerulean reached $970,000, easily exceeding its estimate of $600,000-$800,000 – more than double the previous record for a Herrera, achieved the year before by another 1965 canvas, Basque (and in turn superseded in 2017 by a 1956 work that sold for $1,179,000).
Carmen Herrera 1965 canvas Cerulean, which sold at auction in 2016 for $970,000
Carmen Herrera 1965 canvas Cerulean, which sold at auction in 2016 for $970,000
Stephen Friedman represents the Venezuelan artist Juan Araujo, giving him his first UK solo show in 2015, the lyrical multimedia artist Tonico Lemos Auad from northern Brazil, and the painter Luiz Zerbini from São Paulo. Gagosian shows the Brazilian installation artist Adriana Varejão, whose conceptual slashed wall-piece Parede com Incisões à la Fontana II (Wall with Incisions à la Fontana II, 2001) spectacularly broke the world auction record for a living Brazilian artist in 2011 at Christie’s London, surging to £1.1m from an estimate of £200,000-£300,000.
Cuban abstract painter Carmen Herrera
Cuban abstract painter Carmen Herrera | Image: Jason Schmidt © Carmen Herrera, Courtesy Lisson Gallery
Hauser & Wirth shows the Italian-Brazilian Anna Maria Maiolino, the late Brazilian Lygia Pape and the Argentinian Guillermo Kuitca, and handles the estate of Mira Schendel, a leading figure in Brazilian modernism, known for her delicate – frequently monochrome – works, who was the focus of a much‑acclaimed retrospective at Tate Modern in 2013. Alison Jacques, besides representing the Brazilian installation artist Fernanda Gomes in Europe, embraced Latin American art when she took on the estates of Cuban-American Ana Mendieta (in 2009) and another groundbreaking Brazilian female artist, the late Lygia Clark, and now also represents the sculptor Erika Verzutti, who exhibited last year at the Venice Biennale. Another star, the Mexican Abraham Cruzvillegas, who has dubbed his method of building conceptual sculptures, films and installations from everyday materials “Autoconstrucción”, is shown at Thomas Dane Gallery. As Greg Hilty, curatorial director at Lisson Gallery, says, this new visibility of Latin American art is the result of “a gradual process of correction and growth of understanding over a couple of decades.” What’s different now is that “it’s become impossible to ignore the richness and complexity of art from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and other countries. These artists demonstrate both a sophisticated take on ‘western’ modern and contemporary art histories and a fresh vision generated by their own dynamic societies.”
The late Brazilian neo-concrete artist Lygia Pape
The late Brazilian neo-concrete artist Lygia Pape | Image: Projeto Lygia Pape, Courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Graham Steele, senior director at Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles, comments, “This is an area of the art world and the art market pioneered by curators. What has changed is that now serious international collectors are reaffirming its significance.” He suggests that after the economic crisis of 2008, collectors woke up to the value in art from regions beyond Europe and North America: “The hegemony of London, New York and Paris has been shattered definitively.” Moreover, whereas for years dedicated collectors of Latin American art, including formidable Venezuelan-born collector and philanthropist Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, had hailed from the region, now it is “people in north London, people on the Upper East Side”.
Lygia Pape 1976-2004 gold-thread installation Ttéia 1, C
Lygia Pape 1976-2004 gold-thread installation Ttéia 1, C | Image: Projeto Lygia Pape, Courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Jacques says of Lygia Clark – whose 1959 black and white, geometric, paint-on-plywood piece Contra Revelo (Objeto N 7) was pushed above the top estimate of $800,000 to make a record $2.2m at Phillips New York in 2013, and whose first full retrospective outside Brazil was at MoMA in 2014 – “Rarely do you have an artist at this level who has not already achieved full recognition – for me, it was a lucky situation that no one had thought of trying her market in Europe before.”
Mexican conceptual artist Gabriel Orozco
Mexican conceptual artist Gabriel Orozco | Image: Enrique Badulescu, Courtesy White Cube
Until the 1960s, countries in Central and South America had enjoyed flourishing art scenes in their major capitals, and people, ideas and artworks flowed between Latin America, Europe and the United States. Distinctive traditions of modernismabstract art – concrete and neo-concrete – and later pop art had emerged in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, drawing on European precedents but responding to unique political and cultural circumstances. But then a curtain fell. A military coup in Brazil in 1964, the “Dirty War” waged by the state on dissidents in Argentina between 1974 and 1983, and political turbulence in Uruguay, Chile and later Venezuela all meant that artists turned inward, addressing the specific context they confronted, with their work increasingly under official state scrutiny. Others fled into exile, while European and American collectors turned their attention elsewhere.
Gabriel Orozco 2005 painting Roto Spinal achieved $665,000 at auction in 2013
Gabriel Orozco 2005 painting Roto Spinal achieved $665,000 at auction in 2013
As Cecilia Brunson – who opened her eponymous gallery in London five years ago to show art from Latin America, including her native Chile – says, “What developed was an insular art that grew out of resistance, a powerful art of survival.” José Olympio Pereira – a collector and currently head of the International Advisory Board of the Bienal de São Paulo – adds, “We have a very high quality of art production. We are a melting pot of different cultures and races, all influencing each other, and I think that lends itself to creativity.” There were dedicated and knowledgeable local collectors, so artists did not need to look outside to find an audience. There was, as Hauser & Wirth’s Steele puts it, “intense internal discussion and an intense internal market”.
Allora & Calzadilla recent installation Manifest
Allora & Calzadilla recent installation Manifest | Image: Allora & Calzadilla, Courtesy Lisson Gallery
It was only in the new millennium that certain artists from the continent began to emerge again onto the international scene. In 2002, Tate appointed its first associate curator of Latin American art. In 2004, the ingenious, multifaceted Mexican conceptual artist Gabriel Orozco (represented by White Cube and Marian Goodman Gallery) had a solo show at the Serpentine Gallery. Today, his highly recognisable red, blue, white and gold Samurai Tree paintings, with their geometric construction, regularly fetch six-figure sums at auction, with a record $665,000 achieved at Sotheby’s New York in 2013 for the 2005 work Roto Spinal. The colourful abstract painter and collagist Beatriz Milhazes – who is represented by White Cube gallery and whose work is inspired equally by early Brazilian modernist Tarsila do Amaral, Matisse and Mondrian – is also much sought after: her exuberant acrylic canvas Palmolive sold for $1,685,000 at Christie’s New York in 2014.
The Puerto Rican conceptual art duo Allora & Calzadilla
The Puerto Rican conceptual art duo Allora & Calzadilla | Image: Allora & Calzadilla, Courtesy Lisson Gallery
Then there is the Brazilian star Ernesto Neto (represented by New York’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery), with his sensuous, coloured fabric environments inspired by both the crafts and the jungles of Brazil, who was given a solo show, The Edges of the World, at London’s Hayward Gallery in 2010, and who installed a shaman’s tent at 2017’s Venice Biennale. From Colombia, the sculptor Doris Salcedo first exhibited her politically charged works at Tate Modern in 1999, before going on to snake the memorably sinister black fissure Shibboleth along the floor of its Turbine Hall in 2007. Today she is represented by White Cube – and in 2015 her ominous, battered, cement- and steel‑bar-filled wooden wardrobe Untitled (1992) fetched $665,000 at Phillips New York. In fact, so successfully has Latin American art performed at auction recently that earlier this year Phillips announced it was ceasing to present the work in dedicated Latin American sales. Instead, pieces by artists from the region are being incorporated into general 20th-century and contemporary art auctions.
Beatriz Milhazes 2004 acrylic canvas Palmolive, which sold at auction in 2014 for $1,685,000
Beatriz Milhazes 2004 acrylic canvas Palmolive, which sold at auction in 2014 for $1,685,000 | Image: Christie's Images 2018
An initial step along this path was Art Basel’s choice in 2002 of Miami for its first sortie outside Switzerland. “It was felt there was this huge market waiting in Latin America,” says Marc Spiegler, global director of Art Basel since 2012. “Miami is the place where Mexicans meet Brazilians meet Venezuelans. In Latin America, there was a very active art scene – it just wasn’t connected. And we weren’t paying attention.” In the early years, comparatively few commercial galleries from Latin America could attend Art Basel Miami Beach, but by 2017 there were 19 from Brazil, eight from Mexico, five from Argentina and one each from Colombia, Peru and Cuba, able to offer a platform for their artists.
Abstract painter and collagist Beatriz Milhazes
Abstract painter and collagist Beatriz Milhazes | Image: Vicente de Paulo, Courtesy White Cube
Brazil has undoubtedly the most mature infrastructure. You have only to go to São Paulo to be astonished by the number and quality of the galleries. Rio de Janeiro, meanwhile, has its own scene and market. Culturally at an odd angle to the rest of the continent, owing to its Portuguese language and unique colonial history, Brazil has a pride and self-confidence that persists, even when shaken by financial turmoil and political scandal, as now. It was this confidence that inspired Fernanda Feitosa, a former lawyer working for JP Morgan, to set up SP-Arte – the São Paulo International Art Festival – in 2005. As she says, “I knew I could do an art fair even without looking outside – I had good artists, good galleries and good collectors.”
The late Brazilian artist Lygia Clark
The late Brazilian artist Lygia Clark | Image: Alison Jacques Gallery, London © O Mundo de Lygia Clark-Associação Cultural, Rio de Janeiro
Since then SP-Arte, located in the iconic Oscar Niemeyer-designed Bienal Pavilion, has become the leading art fair for modern and contemporary art and design on the continent, now attracting more than 40 international galleries and 30,000 visitors. Feitosa says, “This is not a bubble – this is belated recognition of a consistent strength.” Pereira adds that alongside up-and-coming stars such as Rodrigo Cass there are successful mid-career artists like Odires Mlászho or older artists such as Carmela Gross, whose work deserves to be much better known.
Lygia Clark 1964 work Estruturas de Caixa de Fósforos
Lygia Clark 1964 work Estruturas de Caixa de Fósforos | Image: Alison Jacques Gallery, London © O Mundo de Lygia Clark-Associação Cultural, Rio de Janeiro
It is the awareness, however, that so far we have encountered just the tip of a vast iceberg that has inspired a new initiative for Spiegler and Art Basel. Rather than setting up a fully fledged international Art Basel in Latin America, last autumn they launched the first of a series of Art Basel Cities events in Buenos Aires. This is a long-term collaboration to boost the whole cultural ecosystem – artists, galleries, not-for-profit spaces and public institutions – as well as promote the city to a global audience. It will culminate in September with Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires, a week of public art programming throughout the city. As the notable Argentinian collector Juan Vergez says, after pointing to the many successful Argentinian artists on the international scene (among them, conceptual artist Tomás Saraceno, the flamboyant performance artist Marta Minujín, the poetic abstract artist Guillermo Kuitca and the younger sculptor Eduardo Basualdo), “We still have here in Buenos Aires a lot of undiscovered talent, hidden gems of art. We are hoping that Art Basel Cities will help introduce them to the world.” For the continent as a whole, the introductions are just beginning.

Fresh talent at The Beirut Art Fair






Fresh talent at The Beirut Art Fair

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the extravaganza is strengthening its focus on emerging artists from Lebanon and beyond


Beirut Mutations (2015) by Sirine Fattouh at Letitia Gallery
Beirut Mutations (2015) by Sirine Fattouh at Letitia Gallery | Image: Courtesy of the artist and Letitia Gallery, Beirut




The eyes of the art world will turn to Lebanon this month as the Beirut Art Fair opens its doors from September 18 to 22. The show, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, will present three exclusive exhibitions focused on the MENA region and Lebanon itself, as well as Project, a new platform dedicated to local and international emerging artists. The showcase takes place during Beirut Art Week, from September 18 to 25, and will present more than 50 diverse galleries from 18 countries, representing artists of 35 nationalities. It is expected to attract over 40,000 visitors.

The Shadow (2017) by Ahmad Ghossein at Marfa’ Gallery
The Shadow (2017) by Ahmad Ghossein at Marfa’ Gallery

“This anniversary is a momentous occasion to celebrate a decade of artistic discoveries,” says the fair’s founder and director Laure d’Hauteville. “The fair has played a key role in revealing to the public emerging artists from the Arab world and beyond, and to art forms considered less mainstream such as video art and graffiti. For this tenth edition, we will reinforce our commitment to unveiling new talent and new scenes by presenting an even wider panel of renowned and promising artists.”
The show highlights the best of the region’s art and galleries, but welcomes participants from all over the world. There are 30 newcomers at this year’s gathering, from countries such as ItalyFranceCuba and China, while 20 galleries will return to the event. Among the exhibitions that are expected to draw the crowds are Lebanon Modern: Unexpected Trove – The Unseen Works of Hussein Madi, dedicated to the Lebanese artist born in 1938; and A Tribute to Lebanon, which explores western creations inspired by Lebanon, including pieces by David Hockney.

Draft Zero (2017) by Ahmad Ghossein at Marfa’ Gallery
Draft Zero (2017) by Ahmad Ghossein at Marfa’ Gallery

Among the galleries to visit is Paris-based In Situ – Fabienne Leclerc, which will show work by the Lebanese duo Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (€10,000-€45,000), including Dust in the Wind Cedar VI, from 2013. Beirut’s Letitia Gallery will present the work of Lebanese artist Sirine Fattouh, who divides her time between Beirut and Paris, including the photo montage Beirut Mutations and The Sleepers, a range of sculptures made of clay and brass coated with silver ($1,500-$3,000).

Steel (2019) by Anachar Basbous at Agial Art Gallery
Steel (2019) by Anachar Basbous at Agial Art Gallery | Image: Courtesy Agial Art Gallery

Marfa’ Beirut will represent the Lebanese artist and filmmaker Ahmad Ghossein, with works such as The Shadow, an inkjet on glass dating from 2017, and Draft Zero, a lightbox acetate sheet from the same year ($2,000-$8,000). The Agial Art Gallery, meanwhile, is showing Steel, a striking abstract sculpture by Anachar Basbous, which was created this year (POA).


PUBLIC gallery on launching their business with Artsy








Q&A: PUBLIC gallery on launching their business with Artsy

PUBLIC Gallery was founded in London in May 2018 by Alex Harrison, with Harry Dougall joining as co-director shortly thereafter. They joined Artsy one month after the gallery’s founding with a goal to establish and grow PUBLIC’s reputation and collector base before committing to unpredictable and high-cost initiatives, such as participating in international art fairs or renting pricey real estate.

Now, after just over a year on Artsy, Harrison and Dougall are ready to expand PUBLIC Gallery to a new space and participate in their first international art fair. We chatted with them to learn how they successfully scaled their business and reputation using Artsy.


Tell us about PUBLIC Gallery.

Harry Dougall: The most important part of our gallery’s ethos is to be open to everyone and allow as many people to engage with and see the art as possible—regardless of whether they are a collector or not. We’ve tried to create a welcoming environment where anyone can see, learn about, and be moved by art for free.
Alex Harrison: Whilst we are a commercial gallery at the core, we try to stay true to our name and what it stands for, so we need to be accessible. We couldn’t ever become an appointment-only gallery!

Describe your exhibition program.

HD: Currently, we mount 12 solo exhibitions a year, roughly one every month. We found that a lot of promising early-career artists have lots of opportunities to do group shows, but nowhere near as many [opportunities] for solo exhibitions. 
AH: For a young gallery like ours, solo shows have been a great way to create a unique gallery program that attracts exciting artists and collectors alike. Also, we love that it gives us the opportunity to work closely with each artist to create an experience truly tailored to their work.

How did you hear about Artsy? What made you bring PUBLIC Gallery onto Artsy?

HD: I’ve known about it for a while because all the galleries, auction houses, and institutions I’ve worked with partner with Artsy. Just before I left Phillips, a specialist said to me, “You’re starting a gallery? Wow. Good luck. One piece of advice—get on Artsy.” Clearly, you have friends in your partners and collaborators! So, I knew from the beginning we needed to partner with Artsy. As soon as I joined the gallery, I told Alex about Artsy, and that I felt it would be integral to our growth and development. Luckily, he was easily persuaded, and we joined Artsy pretty soon after the gallery opened. 
AH: We felt Artsy could help grow our artists’ and gallery’s presence and collector base globally without taking big financial risks early on, like going to a lot of art fairs or moving into a high-rent space with more public and collector footfall. Art fairs and premium real estate are fundamental parts of running a commercial gallery—but when your gallery is as young as ours, those investments can be very risky. Being on Artsy allows us to address the challenge of creating a global presence that we want to address without physically doing it at every art fair. We’ve stayed on Artsy because there’s nothing else out there that allows galleries to tell the story of the gallery and the artists in the same way.

Alexi Marshall – The Redemption of Delilah, Installation Shot, 2019 (Courtesy PUBLIC Gallery)


How does Artsy contribute to your digital strategy?

AH: As [directors of] a young gallery, we have to be very deliberate about where we put our energy and time. Our focuses for our digital strategy include Artsy, Instagram, our website, and online press. We put a huge amount of effort into enabling people to view and experience our exhibitions online in as much detail and clarity as possible—you can’t forget that the vast majority of people will come across [our gallery] online first, so we need that first impression to count. Artsy helps firstly with that initial discovery and then with presentation, allowing the viewer to quickly understand what our gallery’s all about.
HD: Artsy allows galleries to tell a story without becoming some retail e-commerce site, like you’re buying a T-shirt. Because you’re not. You’re buying art, and there’s so much that goes into working with artists and maintaining and building careers—you want something that allows you to have that control and narrative. We actually made the decision a while back to redirect traffic from our “Artists” tab on our website to our Artsy page, since we felt it was a seamless way for people to see the story of our gallery and artists, and make a purchase.
AH: We’ve also found that Artsy has excellent SEO, which makes our gallery and artists easily discoverable online. If a collector is interested in a particular artist of ours and is searching for their work online, our Artsy page with their work will usually be in the top results, which is great for generating new inquiries and increasing our gallery’s online presence.

Joan Cornellà – I’M GOOD THANKS, Installation Shot, 2019 (Courtesy PUBLIC Gallery)


Do you have tips for galleries trying to strengthen their collector relationships online?

AH: It’s all about quality conversation and engaging on a human-to-human level—even though it’s happening online. Artsy’s Conversations feature allows you to reach out and maintain relationships with collectors across the globe who have never set foot in your gallery.
HD: It’s crucial to not just see an [online] inquiry as the collector, one work, and your gallery—you need to see it as an opportunity to build a relationship and learn about what their interests are. You can always go back to them and present them with exciting new works by other artists you think they might like. 
AH: Yes, maintaining relationships with collectors online is just as important. Be sure to reach out to the collectors who have inquired [in the past], and find out about them and their collection. Tell them about what you’re doing and what might be of interest to them. 
HD: Above everything else, this ability to engage and build relationships with collectors is why we love Artsy—it gives galleries control and puts the ball in everyone’s court. We are empowered to build relationships, and then take those relationships offline to meet in-person.

Felix Carr – Only My Right Hand Is Mine, Installation Shot, 2019 (Courtesy PUBLIC Gallery)


Do you have a favorite collector anecdote from Artsy?

HD: It’s particularly rewarding when we can sell work from an early-career artist to a collector on Artsy with a significant collection. Sometimes, they will tell us where a piece of work they’ve just bought is going to hang, and what other important artist’s work it might be next to. It’s a great feeling when they give us that context.
AH: We love it when collectors from Artsy come to meet us in-person. We’ve had a few situations where international collectors who have previously purchased work on Artsy come to the gallery to see the space and current exhibition. It’s a great feeling when people want to take time from their travels and busy schedules to come and see our exhibitions and meet face-to-face.

Vojtech Kovarik – LOVERS AND FIGHTERS, Installation Shot, 2019 (Courtesy PUBLIC Gallery)


Do you have any favorite tools on Artsy?

HD: The technology of Artsy, in terms of the user interface and ease of use, is really strong, and makes everything really simple—from both a gallery perspective and a collector perspective. 
AH: Aside from Artsy Conversations, we particularly love Artsy’s image viewer. If you’re based in Hong Kong and you want to buy a piece now, and we’re in London, it’s crucial that you can see the work in really high resolution and zoom right in to see all the details. Other features like View in Room help give a sense of scale. All together, they help increase the confidence of a collector, which is fundamental to selling art online.

Looking ahead

With help from Artsy’s global network of collectors and digital tools, Alex Harrison and Harry Dougall successfully established PUBLIC Gallery’s global presence and reputation. They are now focused on expanding their gallery to a new space, and they will be participating in their first international art fair in 2020. After finishing their first residency with great success, they’re excited to continue their residency program with exciting residencies planned throughout this year and into the next.