The 20th edition of São Paulo’s SP-Arte—Brazil’s main art fair—will open a few weeks before the 60th Venice Biennale (April 20 to November 24), a historic moment for the country’s art world, with Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa. curator of the exhibition. Fernanda Feitosa, founder of SP-Arte, says that the nation’s commercial sector is ready to “capitalize on the moment”. The fair will gather this month 180 exhibitors, including from more than 15 Brazilian cities.
“There are 30 Brazilian artists at the Venice Biennale, our largest representation ever,” says Feitosa. “Almost all of these artists have been exhibited at the fair and are known to our public. Of course, this brings us pride, as our efforts over the years have been legitimized.”
Regarding Pedrosa’s curatorial approach, Feitosa praises his “international perspective” and his unique approach to Brazilian art, adding that it was a starting point for the SP-Arte curator. Pedrosa directed an artistic program for the fair from 2011 to 2014; later, he was appointed chief conservator of the Museo de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), working with Heitor Martins, president-director of the museum and Feitosa’s husband.
I thought that Brazil has a wide artistic production, we are an important financial center, we have galleries and we have collectors who want a place to see the artists of their time.
Fernanda Feitosa, founder of SP-Arte
Feitosa launched SP-Arte in 2005, more than a decade after she began amassing her private art collection while traveling to fairs in South America and Europe with Martins. “At that time there was a group of Brazilian galleries exhibiting in foreign fairs, but nothing was happening in São Paulo,” says Feitosa. “I thought that Brazil has a wide artistic production, we are an important financial center, we have galleries and we have collectors who want a place to see the artists of their time.”
In the first edition of the fair there were 40 exhibitors, mainly made up of Brazilian galleries such as Galeria Raquel Arnaud., known for introducing geometric abstraction, Constructivism, Neoconcretism and kinetic art in Brazil. The venue will bring the works of Iole de Freitas and other outstanding artists from its program to this edition. The fair coincides with the retrospective that Raquel Arnaud will stage in her space in the Vila Madalena neighborhood of São Paulo, to celebrate her 50th anniversary, with works by artists Lygia Clark, Sérgio Camargo and Tunga.
“Their success is our success; As an important name in Brazil, it is essential to contribute to this ecosystem,” says Galeria Raquel Arnaud director, Myra Arnaud, about the gallery’s ongoing participation in SP-Arte. “It’s also important to remember how we got to where we are, because now there are many galleries, but in the 1970s it wasn’t like that; It was a time when many artists moved because of the dictatorship, and there was no market here. That has changed. It’s an interesting moment in the Brazilian art world.”
The size and scope of SP-Arte has also evolved over the years. For example, SP-Foto was launched in 2007 and lasted until 2019, then SP-Arte returned as part of the Brazilian routes. in 2022 In the same year, the fair introduced a design section, which makes up about 40% of the 2024 list. The fair wanted to hold an edition in Brazil in 2014, but since then it has not returned to the Brazilian capital. Casa SP-Artea permanent space linked to the fair that organizes rotating exhibitions, opened in São Paulo’s Jardins district in 2023 with an exhibition of works by Hélio Oiticica.
In each edition, the number of exhibitors has increased. But the most significant change that SP-Art has seen over the years has been the influx of international gallery participants amid Brazil’s volatile economy. The fair’s turning point came in 2012, when the government of São Paulo introduced a tax exemption window, temporarily reducing the standard import tax of 58% to 20%, creating an incentive for foreign galleries who had previously been hesitant to participate in the fair. .
Show the money: a work depicting the Brazilian flag made of ink banknotes Courtesy of SP–Arte
Between 2012 and 2016, the fair had the largest number of international galleries, and editions included David Zwirner, Lisson, Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian and White Cube. But most of these galleries have been out since 2016 amid the deepening of Brazil’s recession, exchange rate swings and the lack of guarantees that the government will maintain the tax-free period (which will be confirmed this month, shortly before the fairs next open). edition).
“During that time, those [global] the galleries met several clients from Brazil, so it was a good moment for everyone,” says Feitosa. “The world has changed, and the presence of international galleries has decreased, but their importance in Brazil and the presence of international artists in Brazilian collections has not changed because SP-Art provided that initial bridge of communication.”
The lack of American mega-galleries “means that more Brazilian galleries have joined,” and doesn’t exclude several Brazilian exhibitors who have achieved blue-chip status over the past two decades, Feitosa says. Mendes Wood DM, for example, was founded in São Paulo in 2010, but has since opened spaces in Brussels, Paris and New York, establishing a conceptually and geographically diverse roster of artists and clients. The venue has participated in the last ten editions of SP-Arte and this year will present a mix of Brazilian, European and American artists such as Sonia Gomes, Paulo Nazareth, Kasper Bosmans and Lynda Benglis.
According to Pedro Mendes, co-founder of Mendes Wood DM, the diversity of the gallery’s programming has allowed it to weather the “difficult times” that have plagued the Brazilian art market. “Since half of our program is international, we are very familiar with different bureaucracies. However, it is the strength of this program that has allowed us to navigate these times effectively.”
• SP-Art, Biennial Pavilion, Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, April 3 to 7
