With Latin Flavor

Supplement dedicated to arteBA. Buenos Aires, May 14, 2011.

A vast presence of galleries from the continent once again confirms the international profile that arteBA is known for; here is one of the many possible ways to visit the fair. 

After two long weekends that delayed the end of the summer, arteBA once again marks the beginning of the art season. And it celebrates its 20th edition with an important presence of Latin American galleries. To increase the understanding of the region in our country, arteBA and the Art Department of the Torcuato Di Tella University organized the Panorama of Latin American Contemporary Art series (reported on Página 12 newspaper).

A tour of the fair can start at Revolver gallery (Peru). There, Giancarlo Scaglia exhibits sculptures made from melted black garbage bags. The young artist reflects on the fate of revolutionary avant-garde movements in his country. Arroniz Gallery (Mexico) presents Agustin Gonzalez and Argentineans Mauro Giaconi and Luciana Lamothe. Brazil is well represented by the São Paulo galleries Vermelho, Baró and Oscar Cruz.

Vermelho features works by Nicolás Robbio and Carla Zaccagnini, who explore the conceptual and formal possibilities of drawing. Baró presents Brazilian (Rosana Ricalde) and Argentinean artists; among the latter, Roberto Jacoby, an essential referent of conceptual art in Latin America, stands out. He is currently having an exhibition at the Reina Sofia in Madrid, which consecrates him internationally. 

The Nueveochenta gallery (Colombia) presents the installation Algunas cosas crecen sin esplendor (Some Things Grow Without Splendor), by Luis Hernandez Mellizo, which addresses the architectural articulation between popular and elite culture. In Uruguay’s Sur gallery we find Rio de la Plata masters such as Joaquín Torres García and Antonio Berni, with his Wedding Cake. This painting is from the last period of the artist from Rosario, when his work makes a turn towards pop, mixing social issues with a sense of irony verging on sarcasm. 

In this 2011 edition of arteBA, Argentinean art can be visited chronologically. Key pieces by Juan del Prete, at Alejandro Faggioni and Renoir. Like years before, at Rubbers, the always renewed work of Luis Felipe Noé stands out. Rómulo Macció presents his recent works at Isabel Anchorena, and Agalma, Ernesto Deira’s paintings. Castagnino Roldán exhibits Pablo Suárez’s Bañado en un mar de lágrimas (Bathed in a Sea of Tears), a sculpture not seen since its exhibition at the 1999 Fortabat Prize. Also featured is Marcia Schvartz’s The Wolf, repatriated from a Boston collection.

Roberto Aizenberg’s surrealist sculptures at Laura Haber Gallery have the metaphysical tone characteristic of this artist. There are works of the abstract and concrete variant such as those by Manuel Alvarez (Teresa Anchorena), Carmelo Arden Quin (Van Eyck), Macaparana (Jorge Mara-La Ruche), Martha Boto and Enio Iommi (Del Infinito).

GC Arte exhibits Sameer Makarius’s production for the second time. Among the conceptual artists are those who were part of the Grupo de los Trece (Group of Thirteen) in the 1970s, such as Testa (Matilde Bensignor), Romero and Zabala (Carla Rey), and the independent artists David Lamelas and Margarita Paksa (Faría + Fábregas Galería). Ro dedicates its entire space to Marta Minujin, whose work could be seen in the exhibition organized by Malba (Buenos aires Museum of Latin American Art) in 2010. 

Expressionist painting by artists from the 1980s is on view in several galleries, with works by Duilio Pierri (Masotta-Torres), Kuitca (Cosmocosa), Prior, Garófalo and Cambre (Vasari). There is also an interesting representation of artists from the 1990s such as Harte (Fernando Pradilla), Dorr (Dabbah Torrejón), Siquier and Miguel Rotschild (Ruth Benzacar). Many of them were part of the recent exhibition Recovering Beauty, at the Blanton Museum in Austin. 

We could end with the younger artists of the 2000 generation exhibiting Jardín Oculto (Hidden Garden, Cotelito) and Alberto Sendrós with the key figure of Matías Duville, who added the Guggenheim Fellowship, which he has just won, to his international recognition.

BY LAURA BATKIS