07/12/2001
by Celso Fioravante

Isabella Prata is a reference point in Brazil for collectors, gallerists and young artists. As well as a promoter of emerging Brazilian art and a collector, she is also the president of the Contemporary Nucleus of the Museum Of Modern Art in São Paulo and is involved with the promotion of the acquisitions of the museum. Thanks to her efforts, the museum collection includes works by artists such as Vik Muniz, Franklin Cassaro, Marcelo Krasilcic, Marepê, Cabelo, Rivane Neuenschwander, José Damasceno, Laura Lima and Paulo Buennos. Her debut in the art world dates back to the early Nineties. In 1994 she organised the exhibition Delle Americhe, that saw the participation of international artists like Mike Kelley, Meyer Vaisman, Richard Prince and Roni Horn. Two years later she supported an initiative aimed at tracing a map of emerging Brazilian art, that led to a large exhibition entitled Antarctica Artes com a Folha with 62 artists from all over Brazil. We discussed with her the situation of the contemporary art market in Brazil.

Celso Fioravante: In your opinion, at present should Brazilian contemporary art aim at the national or the international market?
Isabella Prata: I do not believe one may talk of a Brazilian contemporary art market. What can 50 art galleries do in a country with more than 170 million people?

C.F.: What could be done to promote its development?
I.P.: I believe that one way out could be the recognition on behalf of the business world of the problems that hold the art market back and a consequent investment on their behalf in cultural projects. Brazilian law allows businesses to devolve a part of their taxes to promote cultural initiatives, but this opportunity is not taken advantage of. There is no need to create something new. The opportunities already available should be taken advantage of fully. That is why I believe that a greater awareness is necessary. In addition, the government should give more help to museums, while firms and banks should not limit their investments to their own initiatives. The Banco del Brasile, for example, assigns a part of taxes for the management of its own cultural centre, but could finance other institutions instead, like the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro. It is also very important to involve the public to a greater extent, convincing people to become members of museums. A student for example can become a member for about $ 20 (€ 23) a year.

C.F.: Which strategies are you adopting to promote emerging Brazilian art?
I.P: My objective is to introduce emerging artists on the market, present them to collectors and sell their works. In order to do this I would like to create a structure similar to a co-operative, able to finance itself and not be exclusively dependent sponsors. I think that by keeping a percentage from the sale of the works by the young artists we deal with, it is possible to create sufficient funds to finance the co-operative itself. I often visit the studios of young artists, at times I buy their work myself, while at other times I point their name out to other collectors. In this way some of them are already introduced into the market, as in the case of the painter Fábeio Moraes. I sold about 20 of his works and now he is represented by the Portuguese gallerist André Viana, who will also open a gallery in São Paulo in March.

C.F.: What are the differences between this project and normal gallery work?
I.P.: The main difference is the fact that in this project I do not have an exclusive contract with the young artists whom I promote. The project does not even have plans for a fixed sale room, in the form of an actual gallery. And it does not even contemplate a fixed number of artists. As we have already seen, in Brazil there are very few contemporary art galleries and the existing ones are not enough to absorb all the young artists.

C.F.: How did the idea of creating the Contemporary Nucleus of the MAM-SP come about and how does it work?
I.P.: Between 1991 and 1992 I worked as co-ordinator of the exhibitions of the Modern Art Museum in São Paulo and I began to understand the numerous problems of the Brazilian art market: for example the lack of funds to invest in projects or the low number of employees of the museum in comparison to the amount of work to be carried out. It was at that time that I began to think about how to bring the sponsors closer to art and how to make myself somehow the spokesperson of this process. In 1999, with Camila Figueiredo, who had just returned from an internship in the Juniors Associates of the MoMA in New York, we created the Contemporary Nucleus at the MAM-SP with the aim of finding new members for the museum. In 2 years, the Nucleus has brought 150 new members who pay an annual fee of about $ 240 (€ 270), while in exchange the museum organises a series of exclusive activities for them: debates, visits to the artists’ studios, courses and cultural trips in Brazil or abroad. In one and a half years we have already organised 74 initiatives, introduced a new department in the museum and obtained $ 250.000 (€ 281,780) in funds. This means being able to cover 10% of the annual fixed costs of the museum.

C.F.: With reference to your own collection. When and how did you start collecting?
I.P.: There was not an actual starting point. When I got married, in 1985, I had already bought a few works of art, like an engraving by Portinari. One day, my husband and I went to Raquel Arnaud’s Gallery and we bought a work by Mira Schendel. In time we started to buy small works to keep at home, until someone made me notice that the group of works of art was already a collection. After that I also bought a piece by Leonilson. And because I felt that there was more relation between Leonilson and Mira Schendel than between Leonilson and Portinari, I sold the Portinari.

C.F.: How many works of art are in your collection?
I.P.: About 350 works by Brazilian and foreign artists. I am Brazilian, I live in Brazil, but I do not manage to see the world in such a restricted way. Many artists all over the world are dealing with the same topics as Brazilian artists.

C.F.: What was your last acquisition?
I.P.: A painting by Fabrício Lopes, a young artist I have just met. Among the foreign artists, the last work was a video by Gabriel Orozco.