Undaunted by Brazil’s current economic slowdown and political scandals, organizers of ArtRio are bringing the five-year-old fair back to the cidade maravilhosa September 9 through 13. Art+Auction senior associate editor Sara Roffino talked to Ana Letícia Fialho, author of The Contemporary Art Market in Brazil, which is issued annually, about her findings and expectations.
What are some of the key findings from the 2014 report?
The Brazilian economy was very slow in 2014. People were pessimistic and fearful, so the first surprise is that in spite of the negative context, half of the galleries included in the report did better business in 2014 than they did in 2013. Even in a year that was not good from a general economic point of view, it was not bad for the art market.
There was a reported 11 percent decrease in sales at SP-Arte in April. Do you see this as a sign of a market contraction?
Maybe it’s not expanding as fast as it was for two or three years, but this is more of a settling down and finding a level of sustainable growth. It’s natural that small modulations would happen.
Noticeably absent from this edition of ArtRio are Gagosian and Pace galleries, and White Cube just announced that it is closing its São Paulo location. What does this mean for the Brazilian market?
We’ve always had a strong national market. That international galleries are not coming to the art fairs in the same numbers as in previous years doesn’t really have an impact on the Brazilian galleries. The base of the business is this national market, which is healthy.
How are young galleries faring, compared with more established ones?
Young galleries are actually growing the most, attracting the new collectors. The extension of the market is not happening at the top, but within the young, more affordable range. The galleries that showed some difficulties in 2014, compared with previous years, are those in the middle.
In the 2013 report, gallerists cited high taxes as the biggest impediment to market development. What was the impact of taxes in 2014?
The tax regulations for the art market are the same as the regulations that apply to anything else. That’s the conversation the Brazilian Association of Contemporary Art is trying to have with the government — for art to be seen as its own sector, with regulations that would enable the art market to develop in a better way.
A version of this article appears in the September 2015 issue of Art+Auction.
