Landmark pieces by Argentina’s top 20th-century painters, galleries from all over the country, and emerging artists will all converge this weekend at arteba, Argentina’s storied art fair.

The 2023 edition, which runs through Sunday, September 3, at the Costa Salguero Center in Buenos Aires, will feature upwards of 400 artists from 58 art galleries across more than 15 cities.   

Fundación arteba President Larisa Andreani and Vice President Eduardo Mallea officially inaugurated the exhibition on Thursday at the fair’s “First Visit.” In attendance were Argentina’s art-scene insiders, along with the head of Santander Argentina and Chairman of the Santander Argentina Foundation Guillermo Tempesta Leeds, and Santander Argentina’s CEO Alejandro Butti. Santander Bank is the main sponsor of arteba 2023.

This year’s selection of galleries and participants was chosen by an independent committee formed by: César Abelenda, head of Pasto Gallery; independent curators Carla Barbero and Sonia Becce; Leopol Mones Cazón, head of the Isla Flotante Gallery; and Marina Pellegrini, head of Vasari Gallery.

Arteba’s Main Section showcases well-established galleries, which feature both new and renowned artists. Highlights include Uruguayan gallery Sur and its paintings by Rosario-born Antonio Berni. Some of these paintings, like El carnicero (The Butcher) from the 1950s, will be back on the market for the first time in three decades. 

Another historic piece from Emilio Pettoruti — The Pipe, from 1924 — will be shown at the Roldan gallery stand. Other works by top-tier artists like Luis Felipe Noé, Carlos Alonso, Julio LeParc, Guillermo Kuitca, and Luis Benedit will also be on display. 

“We’ve been coming here to arteba since the beginning, so we have a history here,” Sur director Matín Castillo told Telam .“Argentina is going through complicated times, but arteba is always a very relevant event, and the country has a great level of art collectors and cultural audiences. People know what they are looking at, they’re interested, and that doesn’t happen everywhere. So, the expectations for sales are good.” 

“We’d already sold pieces before the fair started, which surprised me,” said Florencia Giordana, head of Rolf Gallery. “The phone started ringing as soon as we announced what we were going to display at our stand. This includes the work of renowned artists from the audiovisual scene like Silvia Rivas, a pioneer of video art; Andrés Denegri, who has a piece that won us the best stand award in Arcomadrid; and Graciela Sacco, whose bocanada series was exhibited in Basel París.”

Arteba’s other main section, “Utopia,” focuses on ground-breaking and experimental artists, along with innovative new art productions, galleries, artist-managed spaces, profit and non-profit organizations and art marketing platforms. Six of the projects in Utopia were the products of a MICA Utopia Grant — a new program by Fundación arteba and the Ministry of Culture to promote federalism and help galleries from the interior with less exposure participate free of charge. 

One such beneficiary was the Laguanacazul gallery from Patagonia. “It’s the first time ever that an art space from El Calafate, in Santa Cruz, has attended the fair,” gallery director Toia Ibáñez said. 

A major standout at the expo was the MC gallery’s Fancy Monas — a collection of NFTs depicting monkeys dressed like women by pop artist Edgardo Giménez. Giménez is currently having a retrospective exhibition at the Buenos Aires Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA, by its Spanish acronym) called “There Will Be No One Like Him.” Fancy Monas are his first digital works.

“People love them, and we already sold a few,” said gallery manager Maria Calcaterra. “I don’t usually work with such a contemporary thing, but people like them a lot, especially younger buyers.”

Argentina’s current political-economic tensions have, of course, filtered into local artists’ work. For example, visitors will be able to notice US dollar notes depicted in several pieces but perhaps most notably in a sculpture by the famous collective, Mondongo. The work on display at the Barro gallery features a giant dollar bill made with thousands of nails sewed together with silver lurex thread on a fakir bed.

Nahuel Ortiz Vidal, head of Barro, is optimistic about this year’s edition of arteba. “We’ve already sold a piece by Faivovich & Goldberg — an artist duo that works with meteorites — for US$20,000, a piece by Lucrecia Lionti for US$12,000, one by Nicanor Aráoz for US$15,000 and a delicate piece by Matias Duville for US$35,000,” he told Télam. “Argentine art pieces are very affordable in comparison with the rest of the region. And there’s been a market renovation, with lots of new buyers.”

Arteba is open for general audiences from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Costa Salguero Center, Avenida Costanera Rafael Obligado 1221. Ticket prices are AR$2500.

*with information from Télam