The Venice Biennale is over, but its stars can be found in Miami

The 60th Venice Biennale ended November 24, but fairgoers in Miami are feeling its influence this week. The Art Basel Miami Beach stands feature numerous artists who either took part in the central exhibition by Adriano Pedrosa, Foreigners everywhereshown in a national pavilion or one of the many satellite exhibitions around Venice.

Indigenous Brazilian artist movement MAHKU is showing new paintings with Carmo Johnson Projects in the “Positions” section following their facade installation on the Giardini Building, which was inspired by the chants of the Huni-Kuin culture. The Japanese Brazilian painter Tomie Ohtake (1913-2015), whose blue-washed wave abstraction from 1978 was part of the salon-like exhibition at the Giardini, is represented at the Nara Roesler gallery stand with a pink painting from 2004. Three energetic mixed-media cityscape paintings by Filipino-American artist Pacita Abad (1946-2004) from the mid-1990s at Arsenale were shown; In Miami, the Tina Kim Gallery is showing one of Abad’s glittering dreamscape compositions from 1986.

Kapwani Kiwanga, who represented Canada in Venice with an installation of seven million colorful glass beads, is showing mixed media ceramic paintings at the Goodman Gallery booth. The American painter and sculptor Jim Dine, who exhibited current large-format works in a 14th century palazzo as part of the Biennale’s supporting program, is represented at the main fair with a bronze sculpture. Three Graces (2008), at the Templon stand. Acaye Kerunen – who was featured in the first Ugandan pavilion in Venice in 2022 and curated the same pavilion this year – is showing a new clay wall hanging with dyed and woven fabrics at the Pace Gallery stand.

The rapid feedback loop between the world’s most prestigious biennale and America’s largest art fair is hardly surprising, according to Vincenzo de Bellis, Art Basel’s global director of fairs and exhibition platforms, who says that “the prerequisites exist between a biennale and a fair.” have become much more similar since the introduction of both systems.” However, he also considers the two-year biennial cycle to be too slow given the rapid dissemination of information in the art world. “Biennales and fairs complement each other,” with the former taking place retrospectively while the latter presenting artists’ latest productions.

MAHKU’s standalone stand in the “Positions” section of the fair reflects De Bellis’ point of view and features the group’s latest paintings, which interpret Huni-Meka chants in bright colors. “We don’t paint what we physically see in the forest, but what we see in our minds and feel in our bodies,” says a MAHKU member The art newspaper. They hope sales at the fair will give them the funds to buy land in the Amazon rainforest and eventually open the MAHKU Institute of the Forest, where they dream of establishing programs that “honor the respect we have for “have the knowledge of our ancestors”.

The Venice Biennale brought renewed attention to Abad’s work. “Her itinerant biography and cross-cultural approach to art-making positioned her work outside traditional contexts and narratives, contributing to her relative obscurity,” says Tina Kim, adding that the posthumous revelation has sparked “growing interest among collectors across Southeast Asia.” .

The biennial can also accelerate the career growth and commercial success of living artists working in regions outside traditional market networks, Kerunen has learned. “Being chosen to curate Uganda’s pavilion underscores her extraordinary vision and the strong community she has built,” says Georgina Rees, Director at Pace. For Kiwanga, representing Canada in Venice has “broadened awareness of her work to an international audience and we have seen broader institutional and client integration of her practice,” says Jo Stella-Sawicka, senior director of the Goodman Gallery.

South American artists at the forefront

The strong presence of artists from South America at this year’s Venice Biennale is reflected in the Miami Beach edition of Art Basel, where 70% of the exhibitors in the Positions section are from Latin America. “South America has always been at the core of our Miami show,” says De Bellis, pointing to a “development in which some of the Biennale’s most important artists are receiving ‘market legitimacy’.”

The Ohtake case proves De Bellis’ point. Ohtake’s inclusion in the Biennale this year not only confirmed the timeless appeal of her compositions, but also “confirmed for many collectors and scholars who were already interested in her work that they were on the right track,” says Daniel Roesler, Nara Roesler’s Partner and Senior Director.

A prominent exhibition in Venice can also recontextualize an established artist’s career and broaden interest in their work. Dine saw his accompanying exhibition as an opportunity to prove that “there is no hierarchy between his masterful skills in sculpture and painting,” says Anne-Claudie Coric, managing director of Templon, adding that the gallery has seen increasing demand for Dine’s sculptures recorded outdoors.

“We didn’t necessarily plan an overlap with the Biennale,” says De Bellis, adding that “we all learn through decolonization and inclusion, which happens first through institutions and then is absorbed by the market.”