Miami Art Week, with its parade of parties, celebrity sightings, brand activations and the hype surrounding Art Basel, can sometimes feel unserious in its spectacle. The high-stakes, commercial-first vibe, exemplified by multi-million-dollar sales and constant talk of market jitters, can overshadow the creative spirit that ostensibly underpins the whole affair. There’s a reason locals love to hate Art Basel Miami Beach and its clustered orbit of satellite fairs.
But amid all the chaos, there are pockets of thoughtfulness where art is more than a commodity. Pinta Miami, for example, is a refreshing alternative, or perhaps an antidote, to the South Beach scene. This fair is dedicated exclusively to Ibero-American and Latin American art, offering a focused, curated and high-quality deep dive into the art of a region whose cultural production is increasingly essential to understanding global contemporary art. And it highlights practices, narratives and voices—often those challenging dominant Western hierarchies—that are not always present in the megas.
The fair’s 19th edition opens today (Dec. 4) at The Hangar in Coconut Grove, and Observer caught up with Irene Gelfman, Pinta’s global curator, to discuss the fair’s evolution into a key cultural hub for Ibero-American art, its evolving mission and its impact on the international art scene.
Pinta is the leading fair dedicated exclusively to Latin American art. How has that broad mission evolved over the fair’s 19 years?
Pinta Miami has gone from being a fair that presented Latin American art to becoming a continental platform that actively connects and strengthens the region’s cultural ecosystem. What began as a single annual event has expanded into a network that now includes Pinta Art Weeks in cities like Panamá, Asunción, Lima, Buenos Aires and soon to come Medellín and Santo Domingo. These programs deepen Pinta’s mission by taking visitors into studios, local galleries, institutions and neighborhoods, giving each city a central role and offering a closer look at its artistic pulse. Today, Pinta not only showcases Latin American art—it builds the spaces, conversations and relationships that help the region’s artists and scenes grow internationally.
A major part of this evolution has been the fair’s curatorial vision and overall quality. Over the years, Pinta has expanded its team of curators and advisors, refined the selection process for galleries and strengthened its editorial line to highlight rigorous, thoughtful and diverse artistic practices. Programs like Special Projects, FORO and the curated sections now bring forward voices that challenge dominant narratives, elevate Indigenous and diasporic practices, and introduce new conceptual approaches. This curatorial focus has raised the bar for the fair, ensuring that each edition reflects the richness and complexity of Latin American contemporary art while maintaining a consistently high level of presentation and discourse.
What themes anchor this 19th edition, and how do they speak to political, social and cultural conversations happening across the region right now?
For this year’s edition, I am looking forward to gathering in one place some of the most brilliant artists, curators, museum directors and foundation representatives engaged in Latin American/Latin(o)x art for an honest discussion about critical issues that impact their artistic practice. The idea is to gain awareness of the fascinating artistic production today in Latin American art and works.
This year, Pinta Miami features two sections distinguished by their conceptual depth and powerful discourse: RADAR, curated by Isabella Lenzi, and NEXT, curated by Juan Canela. Both function as platforms to illuminate practices that traverse territory, memory, identity and the connections between body, matter and knowledge. They explore urgent and poetic themes related to nuanced Latin American identity and the environment.
RADAR, titled Ombligo de la tierra (Navel of the Earth), brings together artists who work from an intimate relationship with material—textile, organic, or ceramic—conceived as an archive, living body and source of knowledge. For instance, Sandra Monterroso’s “Tradition, Body, and Spirituality in Latin American Women.” The Guatemalan artist creates work deeply rooted in memory, spirituality and colonial history. Through performance, video, installation and object-based media, she addresses personal and collective wounds that shape bodies, territories and female identity in Latin America, drawing from her maternal Maya Q’eqchi’ lineage. Monterroso activates symbols and gestures that challenge modern paradigms and propose a decolonized reading of the present. Her practice becomes an act of healing and reconnection with the sacred, where the mythical and political coexist in timeless poetics.
NEXT brings together galleries experimenting with new working models and expanded forms of artist support. This edition features four artist-gallery duos that open conversations where landscape, memory, spirituality, visual poetry and popular culture converge. Juan Canela, curates NEXT, where visitors will encounter artist Ana Teresa Barboza and her presentation “Territory, Textiles, and Landscape Transformation.” Barboza examines the tensions between nature, the body and technique through a practice that merges embroidery, weaving and other artisanal methods. Working with fibers of diverse origins, she develops a visual language that links manual processes to the life cycles of the environment. Her work offers an expanded vision of landscape, one in which threads map relationships among living beings and the artisanal traditions tied to each territory. For Barboza, textiles are not merely a support but a medium of sensitive inquiry expressing the interdependence between ecosystems and the transformations of the natural world.
Are there specific countries or movements that you felt were particularly important to highlight at this year’s fair?
This year, Pinta Miami expands its geographic scope, welcoming galleries from 25 cities—more than double the number present in 2015: New York, Buenos Aires, París, Miami, Asunción, São Paulo, Weston, Rosario, Ciudad de México, Gijón, Santiago de Chile, Panamá, Bogotá, Madrid, San Juan, Santiago de Compostela, among others. Among the new participants are Galería T20 (Spain), Galería Arteconsult (Panamá) and Mateo Sariel Galería (Panamá). Approximately 35 percent of the participating galleries will be exhibiting for the first time.
Can you discuss any artists or galleries making especially significant debuts in this edition, or presentations that will surprise fairgoers? Or to put it another way, who should our readers be watching?
I am particularly excited about three artists whose work brings a crucial contemporary lens to historical and cultural practices in Latin America. First, the Peruvian artist Ana Teresa Barboza is a must-see. She has a deep engagement with the tradition of the ancient Andean quipus (knotted string records). You may find her work as a Special Project where she presents the installation Threaded Stories, an immersive proposal exclusively created for the fair. In the RADAR section with Galería Fernando Pradilla, we find Sandra Monterroso. A direct call for ecological awareness, Monterroso’s pieces now exclusively use natural, non-harmful dyes. This commitment, rooted in her Maya Q’eqchi’ heritage, restores ancestral knowledge through contemporary textile art. Finally, the collective effort of the duo David y Portillo in the MAIN Section engages in a compelling critique by problematizing and working within the contemporary dimension of the textile medium, offering a dynamic and thought-provoking new perspective on this vital art form.
Are there trends you’ve noticed in collector behavior around Latin American art? In what ways has Pinta responded to those shifts?
We’re seeing several major shifts in collector behavior, especially within Latin American art. First, collectors—particularly younger ones—are increasingly seeking the story behind the work. They want to understand an artist’s relationship to their materials, their heritage, their environment and their broader community. Practices rooted in place and lived experience are receiving heightened attention. Second, there is a growing interest in artists working outside traditional Western art hierarchies. Indigenous artists and those reclaiming craft-based or community-based practices, historically excluded from “fine art,” are gaining prominence. The conversation around what counts as art is expanding, and collectors are responding enthusiastically. Third, collectors are looking for deeper engagement. They don’t just want to walk through booths—they want curatorial context, educational programming and opportunities to connect with the broader cultural ecosystem around the fair.
We’ve responded directly to these shifts. Our two main curated platforms—RADAR and NEXT—offer clear conceptual frameworks and highlight artists whose practices carry strong narratives and conceptual depth. This curatorial approach provides the context and storytelling collectors are increasingly seeking. Prices at the fair range from $2,000 (particularly within NEXT) to over $2,000,000 in the MAIN section, reflecting both the accessibility of the platform and the strength of the market. We’re also strengthening the ecosystem through long-term sustainability initiatives, an expanded program of awards and deeper institutional collaborations. We see collecting as a collaborative and ongoing practice that connects artists, galleries, collectors and institutions—building vibrant and resilient networks around Latin American art.
When visitors arrive at Pinta Miami, they experience this from the moment they enter The Hangar, a luminous venue surrounded by natural landscape and situated in the historic, cultural neighborhood of Coconut Grove. The fair is intentionally boutique in scale, with carefully curated sections, spacious design and a layout that makes navigation intuitive and the artwork experience intimate. The quality of the presentations—featuring some of the most relevant voices in contemporary art—upholds the excellence that characterizes all Pinta fairs globally.
For collectors, this translates into discovering works that are visually compelling, conceptually rigorous and deeply connected to the region—elements that can meaningfully enrich any collection. Interest in Latin American art continues to grow, as evidenced by its strong and consistent performance in major international auctions. The diversity of perspectives, socio-political themes and historical narratives represented at Pinta Miami position the fair as a key differentiator during Miami Art Week.
At the same time, the general public is increasingly seeking exposure to artistic expressions that are not always present in major international institutions but are essential to understanding global contemporary art today. In this sense, Pinta Miami serves as a space of dialogue and discovery—not only for seasoned collectors but also for new enthusiasts. It offers a unique platform to engage with the social, cultural and political realities shaping Latin America today.
Miami is a major international hub for Latin American culture; how does the city shape the energy and identity of Pinta each year?
The unique identity and energy of Pinta Miami are deliberately shaped by our positioning within this major international hub for Latin American culture. We recognize that while Miami Art Week can be hectic and crowded, our choice to return to The Hangar in historic Coconut Grove for the fourth time provides a symbolic anchor that fundamentally defines us. This beautiful, leafy, and historic waterfront neighborhood allows us to assert that Latin American art is not a niche event, but rather a central and embedded cultural force, deeply rooted in the community, identity, and history of this city.
Pinta Miami offers a contrasting, more intimate and focused energy—a place to step away from the overwhelming buzz and engage deeply with the art. This dedicated setting facilitates the kind of nuanced interaction we value: from the Sculpture Garden to the interactive Performance Cycle, we cultivate an immersive experience focused on deep, focused dialogue.
As Pinta approaches its 20th anniversary, how do you see the fair evolving in the coming years?
I see Pinta Miami evolving into the definitive, indispensable cultural hub for Ibero-American art globally. By implementing a layered curatorial strategy—coordinating expert teams for sections like RADAR and NEXT—we ensure every gallery meets high-quality presentations. The FORO program, which successfully moved over 200 specialists in 2024 to dialogue about vital regional topics, ensures Pinta’s impact transcends the market, deepening our connections with institutions and new collector markets worldwide. The future is about leveraging our large network to not just present art but also elevate the discourse around it and significantly expand the global institutional and collector reach for every artist and gallery within our fold.
More Arts interviews
