Sometimes it's good to have no expectations, therefore you'll be encouraged with even small surprises and have no tower to crumble with disappointments. I thought I went in to Arte Americas with no expectations, but it seems I did have at least one -- I expected crowds.
When I arrived at about 12:30pm on the opening day I expected to have trouble finding parking and to see large masses entering the exhibit hall and browsing the displays, especially since it's free to enter between 12-2pm. With the lack of attendance, I worried if I was in the right place -- where was everyone?? There were only handfuls of people here and there. Was this problem due to lack of advertising or lack of interest? I'm not sure.
Upon entering, I began my journey down the rows of cubicle-like gallery displays, starting in the middle. Just as the website stated, I did find a mix of established and emerging artists, but noticed that a good many of the galleries were from Miami and were not international. How do these galleries choose which artists to display at Arte America? If it's meant to be a fair of Latin American art, I suppose the Miami galleries must have discriminated in some way in order to only show artists of Latin American descent. I'm not entirely sure that's fair. But I'm also not entirely sure that's what they did. ;)
When viewing art at these sort of events, I often feel watched. Gallery owners, art dealers, and even some of the artists are politely stationed in their respective posts, waiting for you to enter and perhaps make a purchase. I found I enjoyed when one of these such people would approach me and discuss the art or give me an informational brochure. I didn't enjoy the ones who just sat and watched my movements, averting their eyes if I glanced their way. I believe it's important to engage potential customers to get him/her excited about the art. Half the fun of art is trying to figure it out, getting inside the maker's head -- much of which can be done with simple visual dialogue between looker and artwork, but sometimes it's helpful to speak to someone too.
Overall I found that the quality of craftsmanship was very good in the artworks presented, but the sort of art that takes risks wasn't much available at Arte America. Here are a few photos from the day:
Fabio Mesa's paintings, with electrical lighting placed behind each canvas to shine through unpainted portions
Ana Ocha with her sculptural wall piece that can be installed according to the lighting per site
Lack of crowds at Arte America on March 25, 2011
Miguel Florido's trompe l'oeil-style painting of a crumpled paper
Visitor inspecting Roberto Picco's miniature displays
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