The Cuban artist living in Miami wanted to show his painting titled Musa in the 33rd edition of Art Miami.
In an interview with DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS, Villamil spoke about the creative process behind his paintings.
“They are works in oil on canvas and this one that is behind my back, Musa, which is the largest, was almost six months in the making, but not just working every day. I had exhibitions in New York. Furthermore, working for this space, for Aldo Castillo’s gallery, I wanted a large-format piece where I could fully express myself,” said the artist.
“And so far it is one of the largest works I have done and I have the hope of growing in format, in detail, in history and in many feelings and colors to offer,” he added.
But what is the inspiration behind Musa, we asked him.
“The muse itself, as Picasso said: if the muse exists, let it find you working. Well, in my case, she is resting a little to continue weaving this many dreams, aspirations that one has in life along the way. My muse, I simply want to tell you humbly, does not rest. I’m constantly trying. The year is already ending and with this number of projects and important things that they are inviting me to, for me it is a very big blessing to leave my mark, my time here,” said the artist.
For his part, the gallery owner and art curator Aldo Castillo commented on Fredy Villamil’s style.
“Fredy Villamil is one of the most important artists that we represent in the gallery, who come from Germany, South Africa or Italy. And Fredy is very, very important for our collectors, because in his work you can see great influences from artists of European modern art, including Picasso or Chagall. But also many things from his own land. “His work has caused a great impact,” said Castillo.
The proposal of two fairs
With a varied offer for art lovers and collectors and the proposal to show the most relevant works of art of the 20th and 21st centuries, more than 170 international galleries representing the work of more than 900 artists participate in the 2023 edition of Art Miami. , which consolidates the presence of this fair as a leader in the global contemporary and modern art market, in addition to being a platform for established and emerging artists.
The galleries come from London, Tokyo, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Seoul, Tel Aviv, Venice and Hong Kong, as well as the American cities of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco.
Two fairs coexist in the same space. On one side is Art Miami and a few steps away you reach Context Art Miami, a fair that has been committed to emerging artists since its first edition 11 years ago.
Julián Navarro, director of Context Art Miami and Art Wynwood, spoke about the offer of this sister fair of Art Miami.
“There is a lot of variety here in the contemporary sense. It is very interesting how you can find here who are going to be the new teachers of the future. And then from here you can find at Art Miami the great Latin American, American, and European masters and see how these two markets coexist in a single fair. There are very interesting artists here, Latin American, American. We have David Hierro, who is a very, very established photography artist. Tiffany Trend is a performance artist who has been working for the last 20 years, even one of her performances is going to be done tomorrow. There are also artists from Latin America, Europe, Asia. It is very interesting to come here and many people tell me that they did not know an artist and they buy it for the first time. And that, that always fills me with pride,” Navarro said.
“We are very happy to return to the original format of the fair, to the format from 2019, before the pandemic, with many international galleries, a level, a spectacular quality. You can find fresh works, emerging works, established artists. And what interests me most of all is that during this last year we were traveling all over the world looking for that new talent, those new galleries that were making interesting proposals, new proposals and we have seen it,” he added.
Navarro also explained what makes the difference between both fairs and that Context Art Miami emerged to meet a need for the viewer, also with the purpose of finding new talents in the plastic arts.
“It is very interesting because Art Miami is the original fair of the city of Miami. He is 33 years old and a few years ago people started saying that they wanted to see fresh things, interesting things, things in a contemporary context. So the word is the context, Context Miami, and it was to look for all those artists who were emerging from direct representation with the galleries, living artists and thus be able to differentiate the two fairs,” he explained.
