Merrill Lynch arteaméricas — Diego Costa Peuser

Over the past four years, Mer­rill Lynch arteaméri­cas has stead­fastly emerged as the pre­mier forum for Latin Amer­i­can artists to dis­play their work. Enter­ing its fifth year, the Miami-based fair con­tin­ues to sat­isfy the thirst that the pub­lic, art col­lec­tors and crit­ics from around the world are dis­play­ing for this type of art, while also pro­vid­ing an avenue that unites the cul­tures it rep­re­sents. Mer­rill Lynch arteaméri­cas is the first art fair to focus exclu­sively on con­tem­po­rary Latin Amer­i­can art in the United States. It fea­tures art gal­leries from every coun­try in the Amer­i­cas, which in turn fea­ture the best works by emerg­ing artists in the Latin art scene.

The South Florida fair has become an indis­pens­able vehi­cle to pro­mote and effec­tively present the value of Latin Amer­i­can art to the world. Miami has long-since been rec­og­nized as the gate­way to the Amer­i­cas, mak­ing it the per­fect loca­tion for a fair of this type. Addi­tion­ally, Miami is cur­rently under­go­ing a par­tic­u­larly favor­able trans­for­ma­tion into a unique cen­ter of cul­ture, which con­tin­ues increas­ing its appeal. Today Miami is the focus of very impor­tant real estate invest­ments, it hosts three pres­ti­gious art fairs, and the recently cre­ated art dis­trict in Wyn­wood hosts almost sev­enty spaces devoted to art. The increas­ing strength Latin Amer­i­can art is acquir­ing thanks to the grow­ing inter­est of Amer­i­can muse­ums, and the peri­od­i­cal vis­its of well-known col­lec­tors con­tribute to con­sol­i­date it as a true cen­ter for art-related transactions.

The upcom­ing edi­tion of arteaméri­cas will be tak­ing place from March 16th through the 18th at a new venue, the Miami Beach Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. It will fea­ture a sym­po­sium on Latin Amer­i­can art which will dis­cuss the diverse visions regard­ing the var­i­ous art move­ments in South Amer­ica and the Caribbean. Because video cur­rently plays a very impor­tant role in the art world in Latin Amer­ica as well as the rest of the world, this year’s arteaméri­cas will also fea­ture the pres­ence of the Inter­amer­i­can Devel­op­ment Bank’s Cul­tural Cen­ter which will exhibit 18 videos selected by a judg­ing panel which includes Irma Aresti­z­a­bal and Jose Igna­cio Roca.

In 2007, arteaméri­cas would like to high­light the work of its guest artist Enio Iommi. He is an Argen­tine artist, born in Ciu­dad de Rosario, Santa Fe, in 1926. In 1945, when he was just 19 years old, he cre­ated his first sculp­tures, and only one year later, he par­tic­i­pated as found­ing mem­ber of the group “Arte Concreto-Invensión.” After trav­el­ing the world and receiv­ing per­sonal invi­ta­tions by the gov­ern­ments of many coun­tries, he was named to the National Acad­emy of the Arts in 1975. Now, at 80 years of age, he is one of the most rep­re­sen­ta­tive artists of the con­crete art move­ment in Argentina.

Mer­rill Lynch arteaméri­cas has become an event of inter­na­tional promi­nence, fea­tur­ing the works of renowned and estab­lished artists such as Fer­nando Botero, Rufino Tamayo, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and giv­ing rise to emerg­ing con­tem­po­rary artists from every coun­try in Latin Amer­ica. The 2007 event will show­case the best 70 gal­leries from 20 coun­tries in the Amer­i­cas and Europe and will rep­re­sent well over 300 artists. The art fair is pre­ceded by con­fer­ences and lec­tures from rec­og­nized art col­lec­tors and art experts as guest speak­ers, and to fur­ther ful­fill the increas­ing demand from the emerg­ing arts scene that is flour­ish­ing in Miami, local muse­ums and foun­da­tions also par­tic­i­pate by host­ing exhibits and open­ing their doors to the pub­lic. This com­pre­hen­sive approach makes the event more than just an art fair; it helps bridge the gaps and delin­eate the dif­fer­ences that exist among the var­i­ous coun­tries, and pro­vides the com­mu­nity with a uni­fied hub of knowl­edge for the appre­ci­a­tion of Latin Amer­i­can culture.

Since its incep­tion, this pop­u­lar and unique art fair has con­sis­tently impressed vis­i­tors and crit­ics with the qual­ity of its exhi­bi­tions, and has enjoyed an exten­sive and diverse audi­ence which has been con­tin­u­ally respon­si­ble for out­stand­ing sales. Its inti­mate size gives the fair even more ele­gance and exclu­siv­ity, as appli­cant gal­leries are selected after a rig­or­ous selec­tion process by a com­mit­tee of art experts. The art avail­able at Mer­rill Lynch arteaméri­cas ranges from $2,000 to more than a half-million dol­lars, and the exhi­bi­tion will include paint­ings, sculp­tures, pho­tographs, instal­la­tions and videos.

One of the main goals that arteaméri­cas aims to achieve is to be able to bring to light the most salient char­ac­ter­is­tics of con­tem­po­rary Latin art and help the pub­lic rec­og­nize the immense cre­ativ­ity and indi­vid­u­al­ity of the artists, ulti­mately plac­ing it on an inter­na­tional frame of reference.