This year marks the 10th anniversary of SP-Arte, Brazil’s high-profile international art fair held each year at the Oscar Niemeyer-designed Biennial Pavilion in São Paulo’s Parque Ibirapuera (April 3–6). This year’s edition, the largest to date, has 78 Brazilian galleries and 58 international galleries, including dealers Marian Goodman, Kavi Gupta, Michael Werner, and Stephen Friedman, all making their debut at the fair this year.
“Recognizing the importance of Brazil within the international scene, we welcome the opportunity to present our artists and to deepen our knowledge and understanding of this country,” Marian Goodman said in a statement. The gallery will be presenting works by three artists who have recently had exhibitions in Brazil, including William Kentridge, Tacita Dean, and Christian Boltanski. Other artists in the gallery stable whose works will be on view include Thomas Struth, John Baldessari, Steve McQueen, Julie Mehretu, and Gabriel Orozco.
John Baldessari, Mannequin (with Onlooker) (2008), archival inkjet print with acrylic paint on photographic paper mounted on dibond. Photo: Marian Goodman Gallery
A new section entitled “Solo,” organized by curator and Inhotim contemporary art center director, Rodrigo Moura, will show emerging art from 13 galleries. artnet News will be reporting on the fair from São Paulo this week, starting on the April 2 preview day. In the meantime, here’s an advance look at what some leading galleries are bringing to the fair.
Galeria Fortes Vilaça, one of Brazil’s most prestigious contemporary art galleries, is showcasing about a dozen artists, including Agnieszka Kurant, Erika Verzutti, Iran do Espírito Santo, and German artist Janaina Tschäpe. Among the eye-catching works on offer is Franz Ackermann’s “Digging Deeper” (2013), mixed media on paper, and Tschäpe’s Inside My Forest (2013), mixed media on watercolor paper.
Janaina Tschäpe, Inside My Forest (2013), mixed media on watercolor paper. Photo: Eduardo Ortega. Courtesy Galeria Fortes Vilaça.
Rio de Janeiro gallery A Gentil Carioca is showing the work of several Brazilian artists including Rodrigo Torres’s No Man’s Land, made of cut and pasted money (2013), and Pedro Varela’s Untitled, an acrylic-on-linen landscape.
Lisson Gallery, London, will be showing works by Ai Weiwei, Allora & Calzadilla, Haroon Mirza, Anish Kapoor, and Cuban-born, New York–based artist Carmen Herrera, who turns 99 in May. Herrera’s works were in demand at the recent Armory Show, where several paintings sold for prices up to $100,000.
Carmen Herrera, Untitled (2013), acrylic on canvas © the artist, courtesy Lisson Gallery, London
Galerie Agnès Monplaisir, from Paris, will be exhibiting works from the 1970s by Colombian artist Olga de Amaral in the Solo section, while more recent works by de Amaral will be in the main section of the fair. Prices range from $124,000 to $495,000.
Bosque I y II (2009), linen and acrylic © Diego Amaral, courtesy Galerie Agnès Monplaisir
Galleria Continua from Milan will be participating in SP-Arte for the second time, exhibiting works by Michelangelo Pistoletto (pictured below), Ai Weiwei, Shilpa Gupta, Daniel Buren, and Carlos Garaicoa.
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Louvre (Ragazza) (2013), silkscreen on polished stainless steel mirror.
Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins
For its first outing at SP-Arte, Michael Werner is bringing an eclectic selection of works by emerging and blue chip artists alike, including Aaron Curry’s Phantom (2010), a painted wood sculpture, Enrico David’s wool, cotton, and thread Untitled (2013), and A.R. Penck’s primitive-looking painting, Terminate the X (VII) (1989).
A.R. Penck’s Terminate the X (VII), (1989), oil on canvas. Courtesy Michael Werner Gallery, New York and London.
Kavi Gupta, of Chicago and Berlin, is also a first-time exhibitor at the fair, bringing recent works by Jose Lerma, Portrait of Paul (2013), an archival print and military training parachute, as well as Portrait of Keynes in Yellow (2013), a work made of pigmented silicone on glass-less mirror. Also on view will be Angel Otero’s SK-ML (Fence Series) (2013, below), a combination of oil paint and oil paint skins collaged on canvas, and Roxy Paine’s Untitled (2011), made of epoxy, Thermoset polymer, oil, lacquer, wood, and glass.
Angel Otero, SK-ML (Fence Series) (2013), oil paint and oil paint skins collaged on canvas. Courtesy Kavi Gupta, Chicago, Berlin.