PINTA returns to New York. November 13 – 16, at the Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building

Maria Freire. Abstracción, 1954. Bronce, 16” high. Courtesy Sammer Gallery

By Raisa Clavijo

PINTA, the Latin American Fair for Modern and Contemporary Art will take place for the second consecutive year in New York City, presenting carefully-selected, notable galleries from the United States, Latin America and Europe. The fair will display a wide panorama of the evolution of the region’s modern and contemporary art. Of note within the exhibition are pieces by many of the greatest exponents of the abstract, concrete, neo-concrete, kinetic and conceptual movements.

Created with the mission of increasing interest in Latin American art within the United States, PINTA opened its first edition with encouraging sales figures and large numbers of visitors. It is foreseen that this year the fair will be solidified as a significant point of reference for collectors and the general public.

On this occasion, PINTA is dedicated to Fernando Bryce, a Peruvian artist whose work enjoys well-deserved international renown. Bryce compiles documents and images from newspapers and magazines, a process through which he obtains a wide selection of material that can range from the political to the touristic, which he then captures in his ink-on-paper drawings. His works reconstruct Latin American history with a critical eye. Through them, the artist reflects on the way in which communications media can manipulate the nuances of historic events and even define the image of a territory. Many of his works grace significant permanent collections such as those of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York and the Tate Gallery in London. During the presentation at the headquarters of The Americas Society (680 Park Avenue, NY) that will inaugurate PINTA on November 12th, Bryce will participate in a discussion along with the art historian, Miriam Basilio, in which they will talk about themes such as: authorship, history and the contradictions of modernism in the Latin American context. 

This year PINTA’s selection committee has chosen 53 galleries from 14 countries. More rigorous selection and fewer exhibitors make the fair a more intimate place in which the gallerist will be able to establish much more personal contact with his clients.

Amongst the offerings, of note is that of the PanAmerican Art Projects (Dallas - Miami), which includes the Cuban, Gustavo Acosta, among its artists. On this occasion, Acosta, whose work enjoys strong acceptance in the South Florida art market, presents large paintings, a kind of silent urban cartography, drawing aerial maps of the depersonalization and solitude of contemporary society. Cities full of empty houses or great highways teeming with lights are spaces in which human presence is barely suggested by the twinkling of thousands of car lights and by the flicker of light bulbs in windows.

For its part, Magnan Emrich Contemporary of New York will present Alejandro Almanza Pereda, whose oeuvre begins with the association of materials and objects, and creates situations containing unsettling semantic connotations. His installations with concrete bricks laid over incandescent lights allude to the risks and contingencies of everyday life. Sammer Gallery of Miami will present the beautiful geometric structures of the Uruguayan, Maria Freire, and Leon Tovar Gallery of New York will display the work of Jesús Rafael Soto, another symbolic figure of Latin American geometric abstraction. El Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud of Sao Paulo will display pieces by the Brazilian sculptor, Iole de Freitas, works in which materials appear to come alive and become integrated in the space. Miami’s Hardcore Art Contemporary Space is betting on young artists with solid and prominent careers, as is the case with the Peruvian residing in New York, Grimanesa Amorós, and the Venezuelan, Nela Ochoa. Nela Ochoa will display her wonderful work in which she reproduces the genetic code of living beings. Grimanesa Amorós will exhibit “Aurora,” a series of luminous sculptures inspired by the natural phenomenon of the aurora borealis. Through the use of light, which is one of her principal expressive resources, the artist achieves works of singular beauty that awaken the spectator’s sensibilities to everyday phenomena.

The fair organizers’ intelligent initiative has been the creation of PINTA’s Museum Acquisition Fund, which provides resources allowing various institutions to augment their collections with the works of Latin American artists. Among the beneficiaries are: Museo del Barrio, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Modern Art, New York (MOMA); Blanton Museum of Art, Austin; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA); and Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI). Additionally, during the inaugural ceremony on November 12, guests will be able to make donations benefiting the PINTA Research Fund for Latin American Art History Students at New York University.

With this new edition of PINTA, Latin American art is provided with a platform within the New York art scene. Furthermore, the exhibition serves to promote collectorship and the interest of the American public in the diversity and vitality that characterize this continent’s artistic creation.

For additional information visit: www.pintaart.com

Raisa Clavijo: Curator and art critic. BA in Art History (University of Havana, Cuba), MA in Museology (Iberoamerican University, Mexico), Former Chief Curator of Arocena Museum (Mexico). Editor of Wynwood. The Art Magazine.