art world - São Paulo

The series art world - São Paulo is the third phase in a project begun in 2009 in New York City with the series art world. This project seeks to study the façades of art galleries located in important centers of the world art market. The perspective investigated here is the relationship between the architectonic configurations of the gallery façades, observed through a symbolic approach, and the way in which a given culture/city relates to the art, the market and to the public in general. The “art world” project was originally conceived with a study design comprising the initial investigation of the three largest art markets in the western world: New York, London and Germany (Berlin + Köln). However, while preparing for the German stage of the project – which is still underway– I took an interest in shooting the art galleries of São Paulo, for three reasons. First, it is the largest art market in my native country, so I thought it would bring “local color” and a more personal dimension to the project. Second, this market is going through an excellent period of growth, and attracting the interest of the Brazilian audience in relation to collecting and appreciating art, as a consequence of the country’s favorable economic situation. Third, I expected the façades of the galleries in São Paulo to present –as in fact turned out to be the case– interesting features that are related to the complex matrix of the Brazilian culture, as well as to the still early stages of development of a local art market and to the clearly visible influences of foreign ideological models in the construction of an “external image” for some of the galleries, which can also be associated with the import of management models for the art business.