Compared to its international counterparts, the Brazilian art scene remains small. But a just-released study on the Brazilian contemporary art market makes the case that it is a vibrant, expanding scene, and offers some data points to back this up.
Latitude, which was formed in 2007, defines itself as a platform for Brazilian art galleries abroad. The organization has just released its second annual study, conducted by researcher Dr. Ana Leticia Fialho, and focusing on data from a group of galleries; a modest 44 were analyzed this year, though that improves on the 32 galleries surveyed by Latitude last year. The results, the report claims, “prove that Brazil is a competitive player in the international art market with sales that do not show signs of slowing.”
Among the headline findings: Within Brazil, 81 percent of the surveyed galleries reported growth in their business over the past year, with the average growth rate standing at a healthy 22.5 percent. The number of galleries in business is also on the rise: half of the galleries in Latitude were created since 2000, another 11 were created since 2010 — and the number continues to rise.
Export sales in 2012 were $27 million (the number is based on a separate government survey of 52 galleries), up more than $8 million from the previous year, and an increase of roughly 350 percent since 2007. Latitude's researchers said the main destinations of exports were the U.S., U.K., Switzerland, France, and Hong Kong. The largest growth was in exports to the U.K., where demand grew 200 percent by value between 2011 and 2012.
While the majority of sales reported by the Brazilian galleries were done in the gallery space, the study also underscores the importance of participation in Brazilian and international art fairs. The Sao Paulo-based SP-Arte was identified as the fair where Brazilian galleries sold the most work, followed by Art Basel Miami Beach, which was the top-selling international fair.
To coincide with the report, Latitude also launched a new website (www.latitudebrasil.org) as a resource for information about international and local projects featuring Brazilian participants. The project, which currently has 47 primary market galleries, located in five Brazilian states, is a partnership between Apex-Brasil (the country’s trade and investment promotion agency), and the Brazilian Association of ContemporaryArt (ABACT).