Tropical growth

摘要

Brazil's footballers can legitimately claim to have turned a sport into an art. But the country does not want for flair when it comes to other forms of artistic expression. Brazilian artists are as sought after by curators and collectors as the Canarinhos are by football-club owners. To the cognoscenti, this isn't news. Stephen Friedman, a London gallerist who represents several big Brazilian names, points out that the country's art has enjoyed a special cachet in the art world for more than a decade. In 2003 Beatriz Milhazes, the latest in a line of Brazilian abstract painters (and represented by Mr Friedman), made a splash at the Venice Biennale. She is now regarded as one of the finest exponents of the genre working today. In 2008 a new record price of $1m was paid for a Milhazes work. Two years ago "Meu Limao" (pictured) sold at Sotheby's in New York for $2.1m.