The New Panamerican Art Projects
Written by Irina Leyva   
Sunday, 04 June 2006 19:32
Panamerican Art Projects opened its doors in December, 2006 with an exhibition featuring the works of Leon Ferrari and Oscar Bony, both from Argentina, and a video piece by California artist Tracey Snelling. Coming from Dallas, Texas, the gallery is among a growing number of national and international art galleries that have settled in Miami, attracted by the significant growth and current transformations happening in the Miami’s art market. However, Panamerican Art Projects - formerly known as Panamerican Art Gallery -, had already participated for several years in local events such as Art Miami and Arteamericas and acknowledges the importance of having a presence in the city throughout the whole year.

Panamerican Art Projects started as Galerie Malraux in Los Angeles, California. Back then, the gallery was working with Caribbean art, mainly from Haiti and Jamaica. In 1994 the gallery moved to Dallas, Texas, implementing several structural changes. It adopted a new name - Panamerican Art Gallery - with the purpose of expanding its concept to the whole Americas and began turning its interest towards Cuban art, particularly from the period known as the Avant Garde, and American art, specifically from Texas. In 2003 the gallery moved again. It stayed in Dallas, but acquired a new and bigger 4,500 square foot space in the Turtle Creek area. In the following year, the gallery started to represent artists from Argentina, emphasizing its new continental directions. In December 2006, the gallery changed its name again - this time to Panamerican Art Projects - coinciding with the opening of a new space in Miami. The new name is now extended to both locations and manifests the interest of the gallery in moving towards incorporating innovative contemporary art to its exhibitions and roster of artists.



Today, artists represented by the gallery could be catalogued under four main regional groups. Argentina, Cuba, United States and Jamaica. Among the Argentineans are Leon Ferrari, Jose Eduardo Benito, Carlos Gallardo, the estate of Oscar Bony, Santiago Porter, Tomás Espina, Hernán Dompe, Claudia Brito Sousa, the estate of Kazuya Sakai, Ernesto Berra and Andres Waissman. From Cuba the gallery represents Agustin Bejarano, Florencio Gelabert Jr., Diego Torres, J. Roberto Diago, Carlos Guzmán, Pedro Pablo Oliva, the estate of Guido Llinas, Jorge Luis Pardo, Jorge Luis Santos and Jose Manuel Fors. The list of artists from the United States includes Ted Larsen, Tracey Snelling, Ellen Frances Tuchman and Rusty Scruby and from Jamaica, it includes artists such as David Boxer, Milton George, Hope Brooks, Gene Person and George Rodney. Many of the artists represented by Panamerican Art Projects, although having a consolidated career, are practically unknown in the Unite States. With this in mind, the gallery has designed an ambitious exhibition schedule, has created a residency program and ultimately, has bet on Miami as the ideal ground for promoting them.

Apart from the work of these artists, the gallery has a notable inventory of works accumulated through several years of dealing with American, Latin-American and Caribbean art. This comprehensive inventory includes an important stock of works from the Cuban Avant Garde, - which the gallery is known for - , and a very important selection of Haitian Art. Its new location in Miami, not only hosts their inventory - which offers by the way - a good opportunity for locals to see these works otherwise rare among Miamians - but also includes several contemporary works from the newly represented artists and have plans to increase its acquisitions. Panamerican Art Projects in Miami has a 6,000 square foot exhibition space, designed in a way that could host up to three exhibitions simultaneously. There is also a video box to accommodate the increasing amount of artists working in this media, a sculpture garden, and one apartment for artists’ residencies. Although this is still in a formative stage, the idea is to bring artists to work in the city and create installations and pieces in situ. The details of the residency program will be announced later this year.

The gallery is currently hosting its second exhibition after its successful opening show last December. Currently on view at the gallery are works by Santa Fe based artist Ted Larsen and Cuban artist Roberto Diago. Larsen creates abstract landscapes using pieces of metals found by the artist around abandoned buildings and salvages yards. On the other hand, Roberto Diago is interested in exposing the social conflict of his natal Cuba. His recent works reflect the very poor neighborhoods in contraposition with the socialist propaganda. Included in the exhibition is a recreation of his installation at the 9th Havana Biennial of 2005. After the exhibition, this particular installation will travel to Brooklyn Museum to be included in a group show of Contemporary Caribbean Art.

Panamerican Art Projects Miami
2450 NW 2nd Avenue
Miami, FL 33127
305.573.2400
www.panamericanart.com