African American and Afro-Latino artists

African American and Afro-Latino artists gain greater visibility in this edition of Art Basel

The first day started strong in sales — a work by Philip Guston reached USD 20 million — and you can see works by Jackson Pollock, Alighiero Boetti and Alexander Calder, as well as a study by Liliana Maresca. But the majority presence of the galleries of the Americas was felt, analyzed the director of Azur
The new edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, number 21, has started and the attention of dealers, gallerists and collectors is focused on whether the market will respond as expected. The auction seasons have suffered a noticeable drop in sales compared to 2022, but there are also signs of recovery in the last part of 2023, especially with the November auctions in New York where several sales records have even been achieved. artists. A mystery that we will answer over the next few hours, although some sales figures for the day are already known: a Philip Guston for USD 20 million, a Henry Taylor for USD 1 million, an Amy Sherald for USD 850,000.
Of the 277 galleries from around the world that came to the most important event in the world art market, 25 are doing so for the first time. And another novelty of this edition is that the Tribeca Festival will be represented, with a series of conferences - there is a dialogue between Robert De Niro and the French photographer JR -, live music and the premiere of Origin, by Ava DuVerney.

As always, the fair takes place at the Miami Beach Convention Center as usual and is divided into six sections: Galleries, Meridians (curated by Magalí Arriola, with 19 large-scale works), Kabinett (28 installations presented by galleries outside the main section), Positions (works by emerging artists), Nova (recent works by up to three artists) and Survey (artistic practices of historical relevance). But this year the tour inaugurates a new design to improve the visitor experience, who will find more places to sit.
The catalog of artists ranges from the primary market of living artists to galleries that present projects by others that had been forgotten and, of course, the blue chips of the 20th century, those that dominate the platforms of the most important auction houses. A recommended gem, which may perhaps go unnoticed by some, due to how different it is from the iconography, is a Jackson Pollock from 1943 that the Acquavella gallery has. She is a beauty that goes beyond Pollock's classic dripping.
Among other things that caught my attention, there is a magnificent canvas by Alighiero Boetti at Tornabuoni Art, where I also saw several important sculptures by Pablo Atchugarry. In Helly Nahmad there is a museum Alexander Calder and in Galería Continua a large mobile by Julio Le Parc. I would also highlight the work of Joan Mitchell in Edward Tyler Nahem and that of Guillermo Kuitca in Sperone.

In Conversations there will be debates that will explore the relationship between the Americas, with a focus on Latino and Afro-Latino artists, and on a first look it is easy to notice that this year the galleries came with a lot of African-American art. Not so much as a postulate of protest, as in other moments, but as a demonstration of the power of this painting, as a sign that the periphery can be the center of the art scene.

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African American and Afro-Latino artists