Featured image : Alice Quaresma. Earthquake #8, 2020, acrylic paint, color pencil and paper over photo collage, 7.5 x 12 in.
A few years ago, it seemed unorthodox to talk about virtual art exhibitions and buying art online. We thought this would never happen in an industry where physical immediacy and the need to experience the “aura” of artwork in person are so important. However, little by little, we have attended to an inevitable adaptation of the art world to new technological dynamics, but above all, to the new generations of digital natives.
Online sales have become essential as “virtual” collecting has entered the mainstream. COVID-19 has accelerated these adaptation attempts: these changes that were still in process have become our reality, and we have been forced to accept this new way of experiencing and consuming art. The way of getting interested in and learning about art is now completely different: virtual conferences, online viewing rooms, Instagram posts, newsletters, etc. Art agents address their audience in a different way: now that one on one conversations aren’t as easy as they used to be, many have had to reinvent themselves.
Paz Bardi, S_T., 2019, oil on canvas, 11.8 x 15.7 in
This is the case of the founders of La Pera Projects: a duo of entrepreneurs who want to end the stereotypes associated with art collecting by relying on WhatsApp as the main communication channel. The project, that began to take shape before the pandemic, was born with the aim of changing some preconceived ideas: that contemporary art is an unattainable luxury asset reserved for only a few, and that everything that surrounds contemporary art is exclusive and only understood by the economic and intellectual elites.
These two Spaniards are shifting the rules by offering a carefully curated selection of unique artworks at very affordable prices, along with concise curatorial texts written in a digestible language. Integrating an online presence into a traditionally brick and mortar sector has represented a challenge that La Pera Projects fully embraces, as it is the first mobile art collecting platform that uses WhatsApp as its main broadcasting channel. Every two weeks, they showcase a special collaboration with both emerging and established artists, introducing their practice, and offering new works for sale. For artists, La Pera Projects is an alternative sales platform, and for collectors, it is a place where they can learn about and buy unique artworks at affordable prices. The works are offered as special collaborations with the artists and are priced at or below $600.
Héctor Madera, Pablito y su culito, 2020, mixed media on paper, 14 x 11 in
Their Collectors Circle already has around 1,000 art lovers, with members belonging to more than 25 different countries. Sales exceed 80% of the featured works with pieces that vary in technique and theme: from the expressionist abstraction of Leticia Sampedro to the monochromatic hyperrealism of the Icelandic Karen Pálsdóttir. The watercolour-feel of the oil paintings by British artist Ben Walker; the fluidity of the brush of the Argentinian Paz Bardi; or the photographic series by Colombian Laura Jiménez Galvis; are other examples of artists featured to date. They also invite friend curators like María Gracia de Pedro, who brought Spanish artist Fernando Martín Godoy; Izam Zawarha, who presented acclaimed artist Héctor Madera; or Pepe Baena, introducing Barbadian artist and activist Annalee Davis. This last week of November, La Pera Projects featured their first group presentation as a homage to the Miami Art Week, which this year was cancelled. The all-female presentation included Latin American and Spanish artists María Isabel Arango, Gala Knörr, Alice Quaresma, and Alex Valls.
Nicolas Vander Biest, Overrated Art, 2019,1970s letter board framed inside acrylic box, 11.8 x 15.7 in
The hallmark of La Pera Projects is unapologetically feminine, international, and bilingual. This is why they couldn’t but to choose .art as a tool for positioning their brand. They want to grow a global community of art lovers, speaking the universal language of .art.
Hopefully, we will soon be able to return to the opening nights, the face-to-face meetings, and the madness of the art fairs, but until then, it looks like these types of initiatives are the ones bringing to the art world that little hope we all seem to need.
Who is behind La Pera Projects
Clara Andrade Pereira
Clara is the co-founder of La Pera Projects and the Director of Pablo’s Birthday gallery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. She also joined UNTITLED, ART in 2018 as Head of VIP Relations. Prior, she held director positions at galleries in London and Portugal. Leveraging an international network of artists, collectors, and organizations, her expertise lies in connecting and promoting emergent artistic positions between Europe and the Americas.
Clara graduated with honors after completing a BA in Art History from the Complutense University of Madrid. Recently, she completed the Executive program “International Leadership in Visual Arts Management”, led jointly by NYU, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the University of Deusto in Spain.
Blanca Pascual Baztán
Before co-founding La Pera Projects, Blanca worked for 9Muses Art, an art advising company in New York, as Art Consultant and Development Director. Her specialization is post-war and contemporary art. Before that, she worked for the tech firm ArtBinder managing the sales of the Spanish and French-speaking markets. Additionally, she has held leadership positions in galleries in Manhattan and Toronto. She continues to collaborate with 9Muses Art and acts as an independent art advisor. Blanca is also the manager of a private collection in New York composed of more than 3,000 pieces.
In 2015, she graduated with an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art and its Markets from Christie’s Education, New York. She also holds a Law degree from UPNA University in her native Spain.
You can learn more about La Pera Projects by looking into their website laperaprojects.art, alternatively, you can look at their Instagram @laperaprojects
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