What’s Hot in Brazil: Trending Artists Under Age 35 at ArtRio
An art fair that brings over 2,000 artists from 13 countries is an opportunity to take the temperature of a wide-ranging contemporary art scene—and in the case of ArtRio, to discover the established and emerging artists from Brazil and abroad. Timed with the opening of the fair, we’ve pulled the numbers for the most followed artists during Artsy’s fair preview. This list of artists under age 35 features a combination of Latin American artists, American artists, and a Russian outlier, many with multidisciplinary practices—from Tatiana Blass, known for her wax-covered sculptures but showing a painting with Galeria Millan, to Pablo Accinelli, who brings both typography and sculpture to the fair. Many of the artists are recipients and nominees of the PIPA Prize and have been participants in the São Paulo Biennial—touted as stars of the next generation—and so far, all are holding up their ends.
10. Camila Soato
The Brazilian-born Soato, whose work is on view in the booth of Artur Figaldo Galeria, uses traditional oil painting techniques to create narrative scenes in thick impasto—often filled with irreverent, satirical imagery. In 2013, she was awarded the Popular Vote for the PIPA Prize, awarded to up-and-coming artists in partnership with Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Modern Art (MAM-Rio).
This New York artist, originally trained as a painter, is known for her painterly use of graphite, achieved by layering combinations of pencil lead on paper to create a metallic luster. In the works shown by Gallery Nosco, folded, graphite-covered paper has been reborn as sculpture. She also has work on view at the Mattatuck Museum in New Haven, Connecticut, through mid-October.
Brazilian multimedia artist Daniel Escobar is known for using ephemera—from maps to tourist pamphlets—to construct tableaux and dioramas referencing urban landscapes. At ArtRio, Zipper Galeria is showing works from his series “The World,” which includes pop-up imagery of England, New Zealand, and Cuba, made using images clipped from travel guides.
Argentine artist Pablo Accinelli, once a student of Alejandro Puente and Diana Aisenberg, lives and works in Buenos Aires, where he is represented by Ignacio Liprandi Arte Contemporáneo. At ArtRio, the gallery is showing his works made using invented typography—and, notably, he’s also showing typography works in a newly opened exhibition at Miami’s CIFO Art Space, titled “Fleeting Imaginaries,” as part of his commission from the Cisneros-Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO).
6. Chiara Banfi
Two galleries are showing Chiara Banfi’s works at ArtRio: São Paulo’s Vermelho Galeria and Rio’s Silva Cintra + Box 4. Banfi’s work is known for referencing music, and at the fair, you’ll find work from her series “Discos Vazios” (or “Empty Discs”) in which vinyl records are displayed beside the their album sleeves.
You may remember Brazilian artist Adriana Minoliti from Buenos Aires fair ArteBA last year, where she was awarded the Latin American Painting prize, chosen among six artists selected by curator Pablo León de la Barra. At ArtRio, she is showing work with São Paulo-based Galeria Oscar Cruz that, like much of her work, draws from geometry, eroticism, and the human figure.
São Paulo native Tatiana Blass is often cited for her live performance at the 2010 São Paulo Biennial, where she poured hot wax into a grand piano while a pianist tickled the ivories to Chopin. The next year, she was awarded the PIPA Prize for a work where a man, cast in wax, sat melting beneath a beam of light. Last year, she had her first solo show in the U.S. at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, and at the fair, she’s showing with São Paulo’s Galeria Millan.
3. Sofia Borges
In 2012, São Paulo-based artist Sofia Borges was often lauded as the youngest artist to be included in the 30th São Paulo Biennial. In 2014 alone, her exhibitions will span London, Los Angeles, Lyon, São Paulo, Doha, and Beijing. Borges is known for her experimental and conceptual photography. At ArtRio, she is showing a black-and-white print with Galeria Millan.
2. Oleg Dou
Moscow-born Oleg Dou, part of the new generation of Russian photographers, has been a favorite on Artsy for a long time. Dou was introduced to Photoshop at age 13, and, inspired by 19th-century portraits capturing children’s funerals, went on to develop a rendering of human faces—manipulated by computer software—that is distinctly his own. He is showing at ArtRio with two galleries: Galeria Senda and Galeria Laura Marsiaj.
Brazilian-born Thiago Rocha Pitta, a newly announced addition to Marianne Boesky’s roster, is currently on view at Galeria Millan in São Paulo in “Atlas / Oceano,” a solo exhibition titled after a work made during a residency in Norway, based on a mythological figure. At ArtRio, he is showing with Galeria Millan and A Gentil Carioca, and in both booths, his photographs incorporate imagery of a boat, a recurring theme throughout his work.
