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Latin American Art Growing in Popularity

A new generation of Latin American artists are ensuring that works from the region are attracting international buyers in increasing numbers. Up until thirty years ago the majority of works coming out of the region were purchased by wealthy Latin American families who would often build their collections up over many generations. Whilst South American buyers and those of Latino origin still make up the lion share of buyers from this diverse and exciting region, Virgilio Garza, Head of Latin American Art at Christies says the category is going increasingly international “The demographics of the clients has changed, little by little there were a lot of American collectors buying Latin American art seriously. Now in the past four years there are other players who have changed the dynamic. There are Europeans, Middle Eastern, some Asian buyers looking for specific things and even Russians have been regular buyers.” Auction house Bonhams have become aware of the increasing interest in the regions’ art and told Alternative Latin Investor they are working towards a fully committed Latin American catalogue in the future. Cindy Cronk, a street art specialist for Bonhams, based in California, sees a long term potential for South American art “I think its been on the radar for a while. Its slowly growing which is actually more stable than say with contemporary Chinese artists, now their works aren’t selling. I think it’s encouraging to see it slowly building up. I think it gives it more stability.”

´Latin American Art´ is a contentious and very broad term that incorporates pre-Colonial, Colonial, an Independence period, Muralism from the last century and the modern era that has seen the emergence of exciting new talents. Though the given label has been shunned by some modern artists keen to emphasize movements within their own countries, Virgilio Garza feels the creation of the category was fundamental to its present day popularity “As a term Latin American art is very, very broad because it doesn’t really limit a time span. Latin America is so complex and there are a lot of regions so you cant really speak of one Latin American art. Ever since the beginning, the sale (at Christies) started including Spanish colonial works from the 18th century up to the present. So, in one sale you really covered centuries of art from many different regions that historically never really communicated with each other too much. Even though there was a Latin American identity there was a lot of artists, developed in the early 20th century, who were looking at Europe rather than Brazil. The catalogue and the category were very important for that reason because it really created awareness. For example Mexican collectors actually learnt about the art of other countries in Latin America just by receiving the catalogue, looking at it and coming.”

Up until the 1970’s the majority of Latin American art was sold here and there, often mixed into impressionist, modern or fine art sales. In 1981 Christies made a landmark decision and held their first auction in New York dedicated solely to Latin American art. Virgilio Garza from Christies recalls there were incredible bargains to be had at the time “I remember all these Mexican families created very important collections by buying at auction back then. At the time a lot of great, great things were available more easily than now. For example if you look at a sale in 1982 you would find that there are masterpieces like Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and now you really have to go out of your way to get one of those.” Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is probably the best-known Latin American artist throughout the world today. She painted self- portraits and depictions of Mexican culture combining Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism. Whilst Kahlo died in 1954 it wasn’t until the 1980’s that her work began to the sort of attention that today sees her works sell for amongst the highest prices ever attracted by a female artist. Virgilio Garza says the “Kahlo effect” was very significant “In the 80’s Latin American works were priced at a million dollars and that was a big thing and then in the 90’s Frida Kahlo came along and there were a couple of works in the field that sold and she surpassed the two million dollar mark which was an important landmark. Then not long ago, Frida Kahlo surpassed the US$5 million dollar mark it may not sound that impressive if you see other figures from the contemporary or impressionist world, but it’s important.”

Christies currently hold two Latin American auctions each year, one in May and one in November. In 2003 the May sale realized US$5,702,796 (see table), whereas, to give an indication of how interest has grown, by May last year their auction set a world record for the field by auctioning works to a value of over US$33 million. This auction also contained a world record for a single piece by a Latin American artist as Rufino Tamayo’s, Trovador sold for US$7,209,000, eclipsing the previous record of US$5,616,00 paid for Frida Kahlo’s Roots in May 2006. Trovador led a series of important new records for Mexican modern art including Leonora Carrington, Pedro Cornel, Juan Soriano, and Emilio Baz Viaud. In addition to the Mexican success, other notable Latin American records were set for Jesús Rafael Soto, Gonzalo Fonseca, and Mario Carreño.

As the Christies sales table shows, the art industry is not immune from the current global crisis. At their last auction held in November last year Christies only realized just under half the amount of the previous record sale but Garza is not concerned for the long-term prospects “We are very optimistic because our field is not one that has huge ups and downs. People are still buying and we think that we may be going back to 2006 levels more or less when the market was good but it wasn’t as high as it was at the end of 2008 beginning 2009. We have a very exciting sale coming up in May so we hope people are going to respond.” And whilst prices may be down at present Garza feels it offers opportunities not available in other sectors of art “It’s a very young category. I always say it and ill keep saying it, we are very good value and there is great quality. If you have a million dollars you can build a serious collection as opposed to other categories where the art is so expensive your money may not go that far.”

If a Tamayo, a Rivera or a Kahlo is beyond your reach it may be worthwhile investigating the latest strand of Latin America art attracting much attention according to Virgilio Garza “Something that has been happening and its an incredible phenomenon is that a lot of artists from the 60’s and 70’s are being rediscovered big time. What is attracting interest is lot of geometric abstraction, Pop Art artists like (Venezuelan) Jesus Rafael Soto, who had had a very important career in the 60’s and 70’s then sort of fell out of fashion. There are different schools and movements but I would say geometric abstraction from the 60’s & 70’s is very hot now. Those are artists that were forgotten and the 80’s weren’t very good to them. In the 90’s little by little people were looking at them again. Now there is a real market for them.” During his exclusive interview with Alternative Latin Investor Virgilio Garza, Head of Latin American Art at Christies gave us some more of his hot tips for investing in the market at the moment “I would say a very successful artist who sells both in Latin and the contemporary sales is Vik Muniz from Brazil. There is a another Brazilian who we have sold very well called Adriana Varejao as well as a Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco who sells more with the contemporary sales.”

Whilst works by artists such as Kahlo have undoubtedly been fundamental in giving Latin American art the profile it now enjoys, there is a new, refreshing generation who are taking the regions’ art in new directions. Cindy Cronk from Bonhams specializes in street art and finds inspiration in what is happening in Sao Paolo, Brazil “My personal interest is in street artists coming out of Brazil. In Sao Paolo there is a gallery called Choque Cultural and they offer some really interesting artists. I like Calma and Zezão a lot but there is some amazing artists just working on the streets there. Graffiti and mural art they are actually bringing in. Sometimes they’ll actually do it on gallery walls. They do a lot of screen prints, which are actually quite affordable to anyone starting out. We have urban sales, but I think eventually if its strong enough we could build an entire Latin American sale from the early works through to what is going on now.”

As well as contemporary artists emerging from the Brazilian street scene there is an important generation of young artists in Mexico City doing very well internationally and Puerto Rico can boast a new scene that is gaining international recognition. Besides her passion for artists from Brazil, Cindy Cronk feels that other countries provide interesting options for the collector and that interest in her home state of California has never been greater. “I think every Latin American country has some artists such as Fernando Botero is from Colombia. The museum of Latin American Art here in Long Beach that’s another example of the strength of Latin American Art, especially here in California. That they have a museum dedicated to it is partly due to the collectors. We have some serious collectors here in Southern California and the museums have benefited from that as they have donated their collections to these museums. MOLA is getting ready to have an exhibit on Oswaldo Guayasamin from Ecuador, its very intense art.”

As Latin American art enjoys a more international profile attracting interest from investors from all over the world, it should be remembered that until recently it was wealthy families from countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina that patronized South American artists. Cindy Cronk told Alternative Latin Investor that the majority of their clients still come from the U.S.A and Mexico but that they now have to compete for that special work with a world market “all the great Mexican artists, like Diego Rivera, typically are going to collectors in Florida, California, a little bit in the south west like Arizona, Texas and in Mexico. We have some serious collectors in Mexico but people are bidding on this from all over the world. Since our company is based in London we have a huge client base and its truly international. During our sales we will have two tables filled with phone bidders…that’s people bidding from all over the world!” And if you do plan on bidding and are new to investing in art, Cindy has some sound advice “As with the western world the established artists are still selling and the prices are still really strong and I think that Art will always be a good investment. The number one rule that I tell people is buy what you like, but you definitely want to do your research. I think you are going to get a quicker return if you are investing in the more established artists. For me looking towards the urban artists I think there will be some who will maintain their prices and actually really end up having successful careers. It’s a good time to buy art, especially right now. I think the prices are back to reality a bit.”

About the Author

The Alternative Latin Investor staff is comprised of finance and journalism professionals who create articles through a process of research, data gathering, and industry interviews in order to provide unique content regarding alternative asset investment within the Latin American region. For more information visit us at www.alternativelatininvestor.com