{"id":1644996,"date":"2026-05-04T15:32:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?p=1644996"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:30:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:30:51","slug":"art-fair-report-pinta-lima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/2026\/05\/art-fair-report-pinta-lima\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinta Lima Offered Curated Content\u2013and Context\u2013for the Curious"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An energetic VIP preview kicked off the 13th edition good attendance and sales activity from the opening moments. Courtesy Pinta Lima<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At first glance, Pinta Lima is an art fair that’s easily absorbed: you needn’t earmark more than an hour or two to browse the 50-something booths and special presentations, if you’re merely passing time. It’s visually pleasing and offers something for most of its 16,000 attendees. But for those wanting to discover, learn and connect, this fair rewards slower looking and promotes conversation. Normally, we’d characterize a fair of this scale as “boutique,” but in the case of Pinta Lima, that seems an injustice. Intimate is a better choice, but still misses the mark. The art presented is more than the sum of its parts; it’s the telling of a larger story, the connecting of both shared and disparate histories through objects\u2014perhaps “immersion” is the better descriptor.<\/p>\n

Pinta Lima functions as a central node within the broader Pinta network, which stages fairs and Art Weeks across Latin America and the U.S. The strategy is deliberate: to build a transnational platform that extends beyond any single city, designed to surface, promote and connect Latin American art from and to the entire region.<\/p>\n

While ZONAMACO has spent two decades consolidating Mexico City as a regional hub<\/a>, Pinta, by contrast, is building a similar ecosystem on a continental scale\u2014connecting multiple markets rather than anchoring in just one. Here, Peruvian contemporary art asserts its presence within the global circuit through a dynamic convergence of local and international dialogue.<\/p>\n

Pinta Lima is decidedly curation-driven, from gallery selection through actual presentations, to the collateral programming and panel discussions\u2014perhaps more so than any of its peers. The fair’s Special Projects, NEXT and RADAR sections, and particularly its FORO panel discussions, give space to and highlight curators and practices that operate in a delocalized manner, building bridges across multiple cities, regions and art vernaculars. The model recalls ARCOMadrid, which helped institutionalize curator-led sections within the fair format<\/a> several decades ago.<\/p>\n

Leading this transformation is Irene Gelfman, global curator Pinta and artistic director, whose multi-year curatorial overhaul has helped focus both the Lima and Miami editions<\/a>. This tight curatorial focus permeates the fair, and the resulting materiality is immediately evident, with textile\/fiber and ceramics a significant presence in most booths. It’s these objects that often have the deepest roots, recontextualizing indigenous craft processes and traditions in a contemporary practice.<\/p>\n

The fair is organized into three parts: the Main Section includes established galleries forming the central core, with NEXT and RADAR in near proximity. NEXT, curated by Juan Canela, attempts to redefine the term “emerging,” for both galleries and artists, stemming from the premise that “the future of Latin American art is not built solely on established names or familiar frameworks, but on processes grounded in experimentation and imagination.” In practice, this often meant galleries without a physical presence, artists producing work via residencies rather than a fixed studio, material experimentation and more. RADAR, curated over a six-month span by Guatemala-based Ilaria Conti, presented works which brought together rural, marginal and indigenous communities, cultural practices and “material intelligence.” The result is sculptural ceramics which read as textiles, textiles which read as paintings, photographic works of performances reinvigorating traditional labor and craft\u2014all of which communicate generational knowledge and wisdom.<\/p>\n

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