Does Art Sell In Argentina?

[Valentina]

If so what kind is the most popularly bought? In some places art being not a necessity is not a good sell. Please advise!

 

[Ries]

Certainly, art does sell. But Argentina is not a go-go art market, with many collectors throwing around big money.
The really rich Argentine collectors dont buy too much locally- they will all be up in Miami in December at Art Basel.
Not many Argentine artists make a living off their art- many teach, or work full time at other jobs, even pretty famous ones.

Go to ArteBA, in May, and see the range of Argentine galleries, and what is actually selling.
http://www.arteba.org/

 

[Valentina]

Certainly, art does sell. But Argentina is not a go-go art market, with many collectors throwing around big money.
The really rich Argentine collectors dont buy too much locally- they will all be up in Miami in December at Art Basel.
Not many Argentine artists make a living off their art- many teach, or work full time at other jobs, even pretty famous ones.

Go to ArteBA, in May, and see the range of Argentine galleries, and what is actually selling.
http://www.arteba.org/

Thank you! Appreciate that, will check it out!

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Certainly, art does sell. But Argentina is not a go-go art market, with many collectors throwing around big money.
The really rich Argentine collectors dont buy too much locally- they will all be up in Miami in December at Art Basel.
Not many Argentine artists make a living off their art- many teach, or work full time at other jobs, even pretty famous ones.

Go to ArteBA, in May, and see the range of Argentine galleries, and what is actually selling.
http://www.arteba.org/

I know Porteño art collectors with impressive inventories of Berni, Ferrari, Kuitca and many others.

 

[Ries]

I know Porteño art collectors with impressive inventories of Berni, Ferrari, Kuitca and many others.

Berni has been dead since 81, Ferrari just died at 92. I am a fan, but the fact that somebody bought their work 20 or 30 years ago hardly tells you much about the argentine market today.
Certainly, there are collectors of local art.
The most impressive I have seen was the Vergez Collection, in San Telmo- its amazing, both Argentine and international work, in a 4 story building dedicated to the collection. Unfortunately, not open to the public, and invisible to the city at large.

And there are several decent galleries that sell contemporary art that can handily compete on the world stage-
Braga Menendez, Rubbers, Ruth Benzacar, Daniel Abate, Wussmann, and Zavaleta Lab are some of the best.

But I would guess the original poster is a young artist, looking for a scene and opportunity.

I would suggest she visit Patio Del Liceo, on Santa Fe, which is a complex of small galleries, an art bookstore, artist studios, a music store, and various arty hipsters.
https://www.facebook...208515089189784
it would be a more appropriate entre to the scene than one of the high end galleries.

there are a bunch of smaller, intermittent galleries, and private curators showing work in spaces by appointment only- a lot of the really interesting stuff that goes on is pretty transitory.
I tend to watch Ramona for openings and interesting events-
http://www.ramona.org.ar/

there is also a tiny gallery space in the basement of Malba, next to the bookstore, that has been showing young local artists, and I have seen some really great stuff there.

 

[JPinBA]

Like everywhere else in the world there is always a lot of buzz about art, meaning everybody talks about art, but in reality there are hardly any buyers at all.

Art is mostly a hobby, also for the gallery owners. They have other businesses that support their gallery activities. This includes the high end galleries that Ries mentions. They must make their money one way or the other, but not with art. The top galleries may sell one or two artworks per exhibition of one month, for a price of between 4.000 and 20.000 pesos for a living artist. Well you can do the math yourself... it does certainly not cover the cost.

Then there are some auctions going on in Banco Ciudad and also in a few galleries. They do quite alright. Some of these auctions are a real success and you can google the results yourself. But they prefer Argentinian artists that are already dead. You need DNI if you want to bring in your own art .

Many interior design places on Arenales and in Palermo, Recoleta and Puerto Madero also exhibit art. They work with curators. Ask and you will get their contact details. If your work fits in the collection, you are in. It's as simple as that.

When you go to the sunday markets in Recoleta near the cemetary or in San Telmo near Plaza Dorrego, you will see crowds of people everywhere, but only just a few people where there are stalls with art. So yeah... make your own conclusions.

Go have a stroll yourself and you will notice who is always there, and more to the point what kind of art they have. Sexy nudity or a touch of tango is still always good, is my impression.

So that's how it is, but also how it has always been. Let's not forget that in Paris a hundred years ago there only were a handful of rich collectors. It's not that Matisse or Picasso had a long list of buyers. On the contrary.

Be bohemian, be authentic, and keep it a worryfree zone... meaning do not pay too much attention to what other people say. Cheers B)