"A decade ago, the Colombian art market was at its peak. The country's marquee fair, Artbo, had double the gallery numbers that it has now. Everywhere you turned, it seemed clear that "Colombia was having a moment". But the fair, created and led by the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, has proven itself remarkably resilient and able to evolve even though, in the words of Paula Bossa, the director of the local gallery Casas Riegner, "Colombia's art market is complicated.""
"After a decade under the leadership of María Paz Gaviria, the daughter of a former Colombian president, the fair is now led by a director of a younger generation, Jaime A. Martínez. Martínez, an art historian and former gallerist who previously lived and worked in Berlin, is prioritising quality and discovery. "Artbo is very elegant and I try to maintain that feeling, but it is also the space to discover Latin American and Colombian art," Martínez tells The Art Newspaper."
Artbo remains a central platform for Colombian and Latin American art despite a decade-long contraction in gallery participation and a complicated domestic market. The fair's 21st edition coincides with the inauguration of Ensayos sobre la Felicidad and a leadership change to Jaime A. Martínez, who prioritises quality and discovery. Domestic market challenges include the 2023 peso devaluation, inflation, shifting politics and post-pandemic adjustments, while the international art market faces structural crisis. Artbo presents 46 galleries and leverages international visitor interest to support circulation, sales and museum acquisitions for Colombian and regional artists.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]