Art from Brazil

Tropical growth
Government intervention threatens the spread of Brazilian art

Jun 7th 2014 | SO PAULO | From the print edition

BRAZILS footballers can
legitimately claim to have
turned a sport into an art. But
the country does not want for
flair when it comes to other
forms of artistic expression.
Brazilian artists are as sought

Flower power

after by curators and collectors

as the Canarinhos are by football-club owners.
To the cognoscenti, this isnt news. Stephen Friedman, a London gallerist who represents
several big Brazilian names, points out that the countrys art has enjoyed a special cachet in
the art world for more than a decade. In 2003 Beatriz Milhazes, the latest in a line of
Brazilian abstract painters (and represented by Mr Friedman), made a splash at the Venice
Biennale. She is now regarded as one of the finest exponents of the genre working today. In
2008 a new record price of $1m was paid for a Milhazes work. Two years ago Meu Limo
(pictured) sold at Sothebys in New Y ork for $2.1m.
Ms Milhazes is no isolated success. Works by Adriana Varejo, a prized feminist artist, also
command seven figures. Auction sales of Brazilian artists works outside Brazil soared from
6.1m ($8m) in 2005 to nearly 22.1m in 2012, according to Art Economics, a consultancy.
The share of Brazilian works by value in Latin American auctions at Christies, Sothebys and
Phillips, grew from 5% in 2006 to 25% last year. On May 28th an abstract sculpture by Lygia
Clark, who died in 1988, fetched $1.2m, twice the high estimate, at a sale in New Y ork.
Museums seem just as keen. In May a Clark retrospective opened at New Y orks Museum of
Modern Art. Last year Tate Modern in London hosted a survey of works by Mira Schendel,
mother of Brazils minimalist geometric tradition, who also died in 1988. War and Peace,
arguably Brazils most famous artwork by its modernist-in-chief, Cndido Portinari, is on
display at the Grand Palais in Paris until June 9th, in a rare trip away from the United
Nations headquarters in New Y ork, where it adorns the foyer of the General Assembly.

International shows of Brazilian artists, including young ones, nowadays attract art buffs
from Warsaw to Taipei, says Ana Letcia Fialho of Latitude, an outfit which promotes
Brazilian art abroad. Jos Teixeira Coelho Netto, curator of the So Paulo Museum of Art,
puts the rising popularity down to Brazils potent mix of quality, thanks to a strong avantgarde tradition dating back to the 1950s, and novelty. This tradition was hidden from the rest
of the world as the country turned inward during the military dictatorship of 1964-85. The
combination makes Brazilian art seem both familiar and exotic.
When political and economic stability returned in the mid-1990s an art ecosystem began to
grow again. Corporate sponsors, such as Ita, a big bank, loosened their purse-strings. New
galleries mushroomed. Of the 51 members of the Brazilian Association of Contemporary Art,
who together represent about 90% of domestic sales, half have been created since 2000.
Growing ranks of art consultants began courting collectors. Fairs such as SP-Arte in So
Paulo and ArtRio sprang up to cater to them.
Brazilian collectors growing clout and sophistication, combined with a natural preference for
local art boosted by near-50% tariffs on imported works, in turn stoked curiosity among
foreign buyers. This prompted more galleries to show off their wares abroad. In the early
1990s a handful were active internationally. Currently more than 20 are. They regularly
participate in the art worlds main showings, such as the Art Basel fairs or Frieze in London,
which attracts more foreigners to Brazil. Only one foreign gallery took part in SP-Artes
inaugural fair ten years ago, recalls Fernanda Feitosa, its boss. In April there were 58,
including Gagosian and David Zwirner. In late 2012 White Cube, an important London
gallery specialising in contemporary art, opened in So Paulo.
Whereas Brazils import tariffs helped its home-grown artists, a new law may prove a threat.
Last October President Dilma Rousseff signed a decree which in effect hands the state control
over any work deemed to be of public interest. Such a piece could not be restored, loaned or
even moved without permission. What counts as being of public interest is up to a 21member committee, nominated by the Brazilian Institute of Museums (Ibram) and other
agencies, to decide.
Having met for the first time in April it has yet to single out any pieces. Angelo Oswaldo,
who heads Ibram, insists that works will not be expropriated, merely monitored. But the
effects of the decree are already being felt. Alfonso Costa, a collector and dealer from Rio de
Janeiro, says he has begun refusing to lend works, most recently a Schendel, to exhibitions
lest Ibrams radar picks them up. It would be a shame if vague regulations nipped the
blossoming of Brazilian art in the bud.

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