ArteBA confirmed its place as a springboard for Argentine art

ArteBA 2024 closed its doors in a climate of euphoria caused by big sales. Artists and gallery owners were happy to say that, in almost all cases, transactions exceeded figures that seemed unattainable when the fair opened.

The truth is that from the assembly to the selection of the works they coincided this year for to highlight the quality of Argentine artsurprising in several stands. It is not surprising then that, Despite the intensity of the crisisin the midst of a celebration where the attractiveness of the works was extremely tempting, buyers were not long in coming.

Perhaps the best examples are those of the Barro galleries, where they hung a painting by Guillermo Kuitca from the 80s, in front of two imposing drawings of Duville. In Ruth Benzacar, the clouds of Thomas Saraceno dazzled visitors.

The Nora Fisch or Vasari galleries were frequented by several buyers, as was the Cott Gallery, where they say that the curator of the Malba, Marita Garciachose the strange painting “The home of the furniture girls” of Veronica Gomeza work intended to establish a dialogue with artists such as Remedies Varo and Leonora Carringtonthe surrealist stars of Latin America.

The Pasto gallery sold the “Little soldier boy” of Manuel Brandazzaa work made with clay from the Paraná River. It is worth mentioning the Mite gallery and the fascinating drawings of Maximo Pedraza.

The presence of the stands of former members of the board of directors along the route, such as Andrés von Buch, Alejandro Corres, Andreas Keller and Luis Inceraamong others who created the best editions of a fair that has been running for more than 30 years with repeated ups and downs, brought up the great theme of the objectives of the arteBA Foundation. Firstly, the possibility of becoming the springboard for the take-off of Argentine art can once again become a reality..

Furthermore, the donation from the Lapachos Holding Group made it possible to purchase several paintings by the Tucuman artist. Sandro Pereira at The White Lodge gallery. Although the Museum Acquisition Program with the support of the Zurich company was never suspended, in this edition the arrival of the Reina Sofía of Spain, financed by the Argentine Foreign Ministry Agency, gained strength, which purchased a work by Londaiberewhile the Museum of Art Center Dos de Mayo in Madrid took a series of “Drawings of strength” of Veronica Meloniand the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona chose “Oruguism” of Rosario Zorraquin.

The Lima Art Museum chose a work of Fernanda Laguna and the Guggenheim in New York took “The martyrs of the Ocean”of Santiago Garcia Saenz. Guillermo Tempestapresident of Banco Santander Argentina, the sponsoring institution of the arteBA Foundation, when choosing a work he stayed with “Compost and a painter’s hand” of Carlos Huffmannand “Blue Grass Forest” of Vicente Grondona.

At the time of celebration, the awards were added. The Pinamar Award was won by the artist Donjo Leonand the one awarded to Collecting was taken Amalia Amoedoa reference for the stimulation of contemporary Argentine and Latin American art.

Laura Hakelin charge of the Collection Love Amoedosays that she added to her collection a wonderful set of ceramics, drawings, photos, documentation and an edition of the artist’s original book Ana Lopez About the project “Living with viruses” which he made in the year 2000 together with poems by Marta Dillon, in response to the AIDS crisis in Argentina.

From the same artist he also acquired the diptych “Girl with cloud”from the series “A dream from the last century” (1999), referring to the same theme. In the young galleries section, Utopia acquired “Barbie Virgin of Luján” from the Series “Barbie Plastic Religion” (2024) by the Rosario duo Pool & Marianelain the Popa gallery.

Finally, the Remax award for the best stand was justly won by Julian Misrahi from the Del Infinito gallery. There the radiant colors of Julio Le Parc and the wavy shapes of Beto de Volder. And there was also a special mention for the Piedras gallery.

Among the spaces, the striking orange colour of the Valerie’s Factory gallery, which arrived in the main section for the first time this year, attracted all eyes. Among the young stands of Utopia, the Grasa gallery also stood out for its walls and floor, which were entirely covered with printed fabrics.

For the Modern Museum the Friends purchased “Terra communis” of Trinidad Metz Breaa monumental sculpture, “The thing of art”of Joaquin Arasan intervened and digitized Super 8 film; “Rhizome Skin” of Julia Padillaand “Cerbera” of Amanda Tejo Viviani. The Museum of Contemporary Art of Buenos Aires added three works. To start, an acrylic on canvas Edgardo Gimenez which belongs to the geometric series of the 90s.

And the work is also geometric. “Triangular prisms II” of Maria Suardiand “Continuity-movement No. 2” of Alicia Orlandian artist renowned worldwide, but not entirely in Argentina. In this sense, arteBAa provided the opportunity to discover, through the market, several artists who were condemned to oblivion by the frequent indolence of Argentine institutions.