MIAMI BEACH — After seven years in New York City, Pinta brings its eighth edition to the ever-expanding Miami Fair Week, setting down just across the street from Miami Project and down the block from Art Miami. Once again, the fair presents a showing of art from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, this time from 52 exhibitors — most of them international, with a handful of Miami galleries in the mix.
Immediately upon entering the fair’s main tent, one is struck by an onslaught of geometry — from the thin overlapping lines of Jesús Soto’s wall-mounted works in wood and plexiglass to the career-spanning single artist presentation of Carlos Rojas’s thickly blocked canvases at Bogotá’s El Museo. It’s no coincidence: The 15 galleries in the Modern section were curated by Osbel Suarez around the theme Geometric Abstraction, in an attempt to reveal some oft-overlooked participants in the movement.
Still, there are plenty of striking figurative works on view, such as Javier Abdala’s sculptural Van Gogh portrait, collaged from hewn wood and metal at Guerra Galería, and Pat Andrea’s cartoonishly surreal works on paper at Teresa Anchorena. Three dimensional pieces, too, are in no short supply — especially somewhat whimsical ones: Buenos Aires’s Dacil Art brought in giant balls of Merino wool by Teresa Pereda; Salar Galería de Arte brought some of Sonia Falcone’s pots teeming with brightly colored powders from her show at the Venice Biennale; and Cuban artist Kadir López Nieves’s Rubick’s Cube of American presidential portraits at La Acacia, though pointedly political, seems at least somewhat tongue-in-cheek.
Meanwhile, over in the smaller adjacent tent are the fair’s two specialty sections with six galleries apiece: Next, featuring emerging galleries curated by Sonia Becce, and Brazil Contemporary, curated by Moacir dos Anjos. The former sports two eye-catching Bogotá galleries, with spare, wiry sculpture by Adriana Salazar at LA galería across from Humberto Junca’s intricate drawings on the tops of wood schoolroom desk-chairs, which are set up in Sketch Gallery’s booth in rows, as if for a classroom of fantastically talented doodlers. And on that note, a highlight at Brazil Contemporary is Iris Helena’s delicate black ink prints on unconventional surfaces — e.g., a giant grid of Post-Its or the blistered silver backs of pharmacy pill packets.
Overall, the atmosphere of the fair is laid back, even casual. And as for the turnout? “Not too many people, but good people who want to buy some Latin American art,” said Gaby Soto of Miami’s Juan Ruiz Gallery, standing beside her booth’s wooden sculpture by Cuban artist Kcho of an upended boat bristling with numerous oars. Before this year, Soto showed for 17 years at Art Miami, and she noted the advantages of switching to the smaller, more intimate fair. “We are very happy because people who come to this show are focused on whatever we have in our booth. When someone comes inside of this show, they want to see everything we have.”
