With Latin American auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s scheduled November 19 through 21, Art+Auction’s Sara Roffino checked in with private dealer and appraiser Carmen Melián, formerly a Sotheby’s senior specialist and senior vice president in Latin American art, for a forecast of what to expect.How do the New York sales function within the larger Latin American market?These are the only really global venues for Latin American art, both in the market and for the public to learn about these artists. The sales include everything from the past 500 years, so the catalogues are essentially up-to-date survey books. The auctions give an overview of the entire market.What is happening in that market right now?The Latin American market is not a bloc, and it doesn’t move like one. It rises and falls in different areas according to local economies. For example, Brazil is in a bit of an economic standstill after years of booming, but Colombia is doing very well. About half of Latin American art is bought by Latin Americans and the other half goes to international collectors. Every country has their own nationalism and the half that Latin Americans buy is dependent on the economy of each country.What do you foresee for Brazilian artists, considering the economic standstill?The market for modernists like Emiliano Di Cavalcanti and Cândido Portinari is more Brazilian than international, so they are more vulnerable. On the other hand, Vik Muniz has a wide market—and the wider the market, the more stable it is.How has the Cuban art market changed since diplomatic relations with the United States were resumed earlier this year?There is definitely a renewed interest in Cuban art, which is great news, as the country has a rich artistic history and has produced very important artists. That being said, there is a misconception that this is the first time in 50 years that the world will be able to discover what Cuba has to offer. Cuba has not been shut off from the rest of the universe, and many Cuban artists are already known to the international art world through the Havana Biennial. For the past 20 years, American museums and cultural institutions have organized trips bringing groups of collectors to Havana, where they have purchased works. Cuban artists have been showing throughout Latin America and in Europe as well as the United States. Tomás Sánchez and Kcho, for example, both show with Marlborough in New York as well as internationally.
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