BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA – Contemporary art from 98 galleries across Latin America, North America and Europe converged in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, for the annual arteBA exhibition this past weekend. From Friday until yesterday, the work of established and emerging artists enlivened the white walls of the exhibition and drew art aficionados, critics, collectors, curators, students and more across the smooth cement floor.
On that same floor a few nights earlier slept a group of young artists. They had traveled from Chile to display their work, not finishing until late.
"We arrived in Buenos Aires the day in which you had to begin to mount the work," says Sebastian Salfate, one of the group members. "That night, we slept here, sprawled on the floor."
The group is from an art space in Chile called Galería Daniel Morón. The artists devoted months to raising money to afford the trip to Buenos Aires to display their work at the fair.
“It was a long journey,” Salfate says. “We sold food. We threw parties. Since December of last year, we were raising money.”
The work of Salfate and his fellow artists was displayed in a section called Barrio Joven Chandon. The section for new artists congregated the work of more than 85 Latin American artists from 17 galleries and art spaces.
Salfate says that the affluence of the public in Buenos Aires makes arteBA a prime opportunity for emerging artists to gain local and international recognition. The exposition also offers a platform for them to sell their work.
The work of Salfate's group deals with pop culture. For example, prevailing in the group’s exhibit were objects reflecting the regional passion for football: pennants, cleats, balls and cups.
“We are a collective of four people that work with popular culture, with objects of easy access that anyone can use,” he says. “The group tries to achieve an openness to art.”
In the Barrio Joven section, the pieces can’t value more than $3,000, Salfate says. But in the rest of the fair, the work can sell for much higher prices.
The much-anticipated arteBA exhibition, which wrapped up yesterday, amassed contemporary art from dozens of galleries spanning the globe. The annual fair offers a prized platform for established and emerging artists to share and to sell their work. Visitors say the vast number of works in one place draws them back several times during the five days of the event, with many voicing plans to buy art as well.
The arteBA Fundación organizes the annual contemporary art fair in order to offer a platform for artistic manifestations that reflect the current spirit, according to the institution’s website. To participate, each gallery has to submit an application, which is evaluated by a committee headed by art critic Laura Batkis.
Nearby Salfate’s group at the exhibition was the work of Lorena Bicciconti, 33, an Argentine artist from a collective called 36 veces. She traveled more than 600 kilometers to display her colorful work.
“I want to shake people,” Bicciconti says, as visitors wander past her pieces. “Adults often forget color. That’s why I use it in excess because I look for a shock.”
The emerging artist says she sees arteBA as a possibility to make her work known because there are no exhibitions like this in Bahía Blanca, the city where she lives in the south of the province.
“What’s important about arteBA is the visibility you achieve,” she says. “Here, there is a lot of contact with people. Here, one begins to become known. It’s a unique possibility.”
The arteBA exhibition is a well-known event in the art world in Buenos Aires that offers locals a chance to display their work. With the quantity of art, many visitors say it’s necessary to visit the exhibition multiple days in order to appreciate it all.
“I am going to come two or three times more in the next few days,” says Gabriela de Benedectis, an art history student in her 50s.
There’s also a strong emphasis on buying art at the fair, unlike at other exhibitions.
De Benedectis says she plans to buy the pieces that she likes. She’s says that she’s not a collector, just someone who is passionate about art.
Another visitor, Teresa Mello, is an art history student as well. She says that she too comes to the fair not only to look, but also to buy.
“I come to buy,” she says. “I am from Brazil, but I live here in Buenos Aires. I visit arteBA every year.”
