Pablo Contrisciani

Ying-Yang
Installation. Mixed Media.
Ephemeral Trends. Arte Americas 2003 Art Fair. Miami. Florida

Merrill Lynch Arteamericas Miami 2003, held from March 20 through March 23 2003 at the Coconut Grove Convention Center, opened a new road for art in Miami City. Expectations were divided, and it was difficult to conceal a certain gloomy feeling due to the war in Iraq, the beginning of which coincided with the inauguration of the Fair.
The event opened with a cocktail party attended by a large number of invitees, among them, multiple personalities from the art world, executives and collectors from Merril Lynch, and a group of specialists and amateurs.
Arteamericas Miami 2003 is the first fair in the United States focusing exclusively on Latin American art. The organizers of the event ?Leslie Pantín and Emilio Calleja, president and vice-president of Arteamericas, respectively, and Diego Costa Peuser, general director of the fair? were responsible for the implementation of this project, sponsored by Merril Lynch, Private Client Group.
Miami City, which has become a multicultural center, facilitates an ideal artistic interchange among the nations of the continent, contributing at the same time to adequately showcase Latin American art and favor its insertion in the United States art market.
The quality of the fair was guaranteed by the presence of a Selection Committee composed by Brian Dursum, Director of the Lowe Art Museum; Carol Damian, Director of the Visual Arts Department of Florida International University (F.I.U.), and Milagros Bello, Senior Editor of Arte al Día magazine. In the course of three different sessions, this jury selected the best artistic proposals.
The Fair also featured TRENDS Latin American Contemporary Art, a space curated by Milagros Bello, which included works by the following artists: Adriana Barrios, Ani Villanueva, María José Arjona, Henry Bermúdez, Silvia Riquezes, Sydia Reyes, Beatriz Cher Killigan, Elba Damast, Nelson Viera, Andrea Camargo, Facundo De Zuviría, Tatiana Parcero, Rogelio López Marín, Liliana, Ricardo Migliorisi, Pedro Vizcaíno, Tulio Romano, Evelyn Valdirio, Lucía Pizzani, Federico Uribe and Pablo Contrisciani. It featured visual arts (painting and sculpture), and new trends such as video-art, installation and performance art.
The wide corridors, which enabled visitors to have an excellent view of the works on show, were a conspicuous trait in the structural design of the fair. A complete and detailed 96-page catalogue featuring excellent reproductions of the works on display accompanied the exhibition.
Apart from the private cocktail party for Merrill Lynch executives, preview events included a guided tour of the fair. It was conducted by the art scholar Carol Damian, who explained the diverse trends in Latin American art, and analyzed the works exhibited by the different galleries

THE GREAT LATIN AMERICAN MASTERS
The presence of great masters of Latin American art was one of the landmarks of the fair.
Walker Fine Art (Dallas, U.S.A.) presented a retrospective of the late Chilean painter Roberto Matta, a member of the Paris Surrealist group, who passed away recently. The gallery projected an excellent video about the artist, explaining the meaning of his creations and the postulates of his art.
Walker Fine Art showed masterworks by Matta, among them, "Nada" (1943), a magnificent nocturnal oil-painting in thickly laid greens and grayish tones, dominated by his anthropomorphic figures representing archetypes from the Unconscious; "The Lovers" (1960), a monumental and well-achieved drawing highlighting the struggle and the fervor of the contact between two lovers; and "Nude Hiding in the Forest" (1969), which confirms the synergic encounter of the sexes in Matta´s oeuvre.
Diana Lowenstein Gallery (Miami, U.S.A.) also presented works by Matta. In this particular case, works from the 1990s, dominated by a strong abstract informalism, and by violent and frontal brushstrokes. Other masterworks by the artist presented by this gallery included "Est-Eruption" (1994) and "Llevas Cielo" (1992). Another gallery which represented Matta in a very consistent way was ArtSpace Virginia Miller Galleries, featuring "Cumpliré mi furor" (1968), an excellent piece revealing powerful forces in tension.
The Cuban painter Wifredo Lam received a well-deserved tribute, with great opportunities for collectors to purchase his works. Cernuda Arte (Miami, U.S.A) exhibited "La pareja" (1942), a very austere work verging on abstractionism. A "Totem" (1953) denoting an excellent construction was presented by Walker Fine Art.
The wonderful René Portocarrero exhibition at Pan American Art Gallery (Dallas, U.S.A.) was another surprise. More than 15 works ?pastels, water-colors and oils?by this Cuban master enabled collectors to assess the contribution of this giant of Latin American art. "Diablito" (1962, dedicated to Nicolás Guillén) and "Untitled" (Cristo) (1944), with thick impastos and expressionist strokes, constituted oil-painting incunabula. Most noteworthy among the many outstanding works on paper were "Catedral" (1961) and "Flora" (1942) which reveal the artist´s tellurian and energetic creativity.
The presence of the great masters of sculpture could be appreciated in the monumental work in white marble of master Cárdenas, and in the work of Víctor Valera, presented by Durban Segnini Gallery (Miami, U.S.A.), and exhibited at the entrance to the fair. .
Great masters of Venezuelan Modern art, little known in Miami, were very well represented by Galería de Arte Ascaso (Venezuela). Outstanding, among others, were master Héctor Poleo´s lyrical paintings of the Paris period, and the bronze sculptures featuring indigenous themes of master Francisco Narváez.
The great masters of international kinetic art, which originated in the 1950s in Paris, at the Denise René Gallery, and brought about a change in the way of perceiving the virtual movement in the artwork, constituted another important highlight. Ninoska Huerta Gallery (Venezuela) presented three-dimensional works by Jesús Soto and Carlos Cruz Diez, which attested to the powerful optical impact of kinetic art and its enriching trompe l'oeil. "Independence", a piece of the 1970s of the Colombian master Alejandro Obregón rendered in vibrant colors and showing clever centrifugal lines, could be appreciated at ArtSpace Virginia Miller Galleries.

MAGNIFICENT BOOTHS
The quality and visual organization of some magnificent booths rendered them really outstanding. Among them was the one of Praxis Gallery -Mexico (Mexico), which featured Santiago Carbonell´s neo-Classical skill, evident in his "Tiempo de mártires y santos", in which the dominant traits were the perfection of the light effects and the mysterious psychology of his characters, with their cryptic gestures and enigmatic glances, in a magnificent theatrical atmosphere. It also showed the mastery of Roger Mantegani and Roberto Cortázar. Arte Ascaso Gallery (Venezuela) presented the time-honored Venezuelan masters that opened a new era in Latin American art: Alirio Palacios, with his portentous horses in ink, which emphasize the Latin American spirit and strength; Jorge Segui´s sculptures of female figures, with their powerful archetypal and sensual impact, and the paintings of Carmelo Niño, denoting a radical magic-realist vision. Diana Lowenstein Gallery (Miami, U.S.A.) presented monumental sculptures by the Argentine artist Hernán Dompé, reminiscent of pre-Hispanic totems, which recall the vital strength of our ancestors and dominate the surrounding space.
The magnificent neo-Constructivist paintings of Oscar Páez ?two-dimensional structures with interior niches and indigenous stones? recall the millenary Latin American origin.

THE GALLERIES WITH THE STRONGEST IMPACT
Different galleries were distinguished for the visual impact of their staging. The monumental paintings of Juan Carlos Delgado and Luz Elena Caballero were particularly noteworthy at the booth of El Museo Gallery (Bogota), confirming, once again, the quality of the Colombian artists. The "Mickey Mouse MR" sculptures by Nadín Ospina were another highlight. Jerald Melberg Gallery (Charlotte, U.S.A.) presented the paintings and sculptures of the Argentine artist Raúl Díaz, showing the lyrical-chromatic poetics of this artist, who proposes a mysterious protagonist depicted by means of bluish lines and subtle minimalist geometries.
ArtSpace Virginia Miller Galleries (Miami, U.S.A.) contributed a wide variety of works by contemporary artists from different countries, among them the one entitled "The Way", by the Venezuelan Alfredo Arcia, a surrealist scene on the human condition in today´s world; the metal dresses "Gala 1" and "Gala 2", a satirical metaphor for the oppression of women, by the Brazilian Adriana Carvalho; and Gino Rupert´s (Spain) work "Gabriela", a visual array derived from collage, painting and photography. Also noteworthy were the works of Arturo Elizondo (Mexico) and Moisés Barrios (Argentina). Juan Ruiz Gallery (Venezuela) had a strong impact by showcasing excellent works of the Cuban Carlos Quintana, the Venezuelan Felipe Herrera, and the contemporary Colombian sculptor Hugo Zapata.

TOP QUALITY WORKS
Works of the highest quality could be seen at Alejandra Von Hartz Gallery (Miami, U.S.A.), which presented sculptures by Susana Lascano, characterized by their minimalist purity and Zen balance. The paintings of Ximena Mandiola revealed a careful geometric abstract neo-Pointillism. Barbara Gillman Gallery (Miami, U.S.A.) presented an extraordinary work by Gilberto Ruiz, "The Joy of the Sea of the God", which shows a suspended woman; equally promising were the photographs "Clouds" and "Centrust", by Rafael Salazar. Alonso Art Gallery (Miami, U.S.A.) evidenced its emphasis on great contemporary art by presenting the masterly drawings with strong erotic resonance of the Cuban artist Tomas Esson and the maps of Ibrahim Miranda. The Americas Collection (Miami, U.S.A.) presented the neo-Constructivist works of the Argentine artist Antonia Guzmán, which stress the basic architectonic guidelines of the Latin American habitat. Spatium Gallery, Latin American Art (Venezuela), showed the post-Modern paintings of Evelyn Valdirio: American bank notes featuring the face of Jesus or of Carlos, (the terrorist) known as The Jackal, as metaphors for the social, political, and moral crisis of Latin America. The sculptures by Nurit Birnbaum highlight the ethnic profile of the Latin American woman. Ninoska Huerta Gallery (Venezuela) hosted the works of the Venezuelan Karim Borjas, who proposes writing and calligraphic strokes as symbols that represent civilization. Latinarte Gallery (Miami, U.S.A.) presented three-dimensional works by Pablo Contrisciani, a proposal representing a theory of chaos in chromatic terms. The works of Audino Díaz attest to the visual effect of stone.

NEW ARTISTS
The Fair propitiated the discovery of Latin American artists who were little known in Miami and who presented interesting proposals. Mention may be made of Marta Loza, at Cronos Art (Miami, U.S.A.), Antonio Bonilla at Fernando Valladares (San Salvador), Felipe Cuchi at Galería Calle Cristo (Puerto Rico), Aizcorbe at Galería Granillo (Buenos Aires), José Trujillo at Trench Gallery (Uruguay), Verónica Riedel at Pirámide (Guatemala), and Julio Lavallén at VYP Gallery (Buenos Aires).