São Paulo Hosts SP-Arte, Latin America’s Most Important Art Fair

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Considered one of the most important art fairs in Latin America, the SP-Arte opened in São Paulo on Thursday, with 164 galleries displaying over works of arts by more than two thousand Brazilian and foreign artists for visitors and buyers alike.

In its 15th edition, the fair this year has spilled out onto the gardens surrounding the Bienal building. Despite the overall gloomy mood in the political and economic fronts in Brazil, the pre-opening event on Wednesday, exclusive for guests and press, had long lines of people trying to get in.

“The fair, and all the movement that happens parallel to it, openings etc., ends up promoting a series of meetings between artists, curators, professionals from Brazilian and international museums,” Isabella Lenzi, curator for the Portuguese consulate in São Paulo and working with guided tours during the four-day event, told The Rio Times at the pre-opening event.

SP-Arte has a bit of everything, from renowned artists, like Brazilian Neo-Concrete artist Ligia Pape and Chinese activist Ai Weiwei, to those in vogue in the contemporary art scene like Brazil’s Jose Leonilson, Colombia’s Doris Salcedo and Austria’s Knopp Ferro.

From paintings to sculpture, design and architecture to performances.

This year’s SP Arte edition dedicates the Solo sector exclusively to artistic production in Latin America. Chilean curator Alexia Tala ‘deconstructs the Eurocentric vision that Latin America has of itself’ proposing new perspectives based on critical concepts of anthropology, ethnography, architecture and the cultural history that unites the Latin peoples.

The Masters sector, under the curatorship of Tiago Mesquita, allows for the ‘viewing or reviewing works by historical artists and also features names and productions still unknown here – as is the case with Rydias’, says Lenzi.

The selection encompasses artists from the global south of the 1950s and 1980s. “I gave priority to artists who think beyond, after the utopian promises of modernity have dissipated,” says Mesquita.

“For the artists it is a place not only to show their work and meet a lot of people, but also allows them to compete for residence and production support prizes,” notes Lenzi.

In regards to this year’s works, the curator says she has noticed an increase in productions which touch on issues related to ecology.

“If in the past Galeria Estação station, was alone in the rescue and valorization of production of so-called “popular” and self-taught artists, was almost alone, today we see many galleries presenting very similar productions,” comments Lenzi.

“I also see a return of craftsmanship and of the materials coming from nature; many works with fabrics, weaves, knots, branches, trunks, roots. I also see an increase in the presence of women artists and Afro-descendants,” concludes the curator.

With an ample diversity of works to see, visitors get a taste of where the global art market is heading and maybe find themselves encouraged to start a collection of their own.

“SP-Arte has consolidated its mission and has actively collaborated with the professionalization of the market, the expansion of collecting and the formation of art public in Brazil,” says Fernanda Feitosa, founder and director of SP-Arte.