Dealing with Art. A Conversation with Alicia Restrepo and Stefano Campanini

Alicia Restrepo and Stefano Campanini, directors of Etra Fine Art.

By Raisa Clavijo

Raisa Clavijo - You established Etra Fine Art here in Miami seven years ago. Why did you move your space from New York to the Miami Design District?

Stefano Campanini - I think we made the right choice. Miami started to boom, and the boom was not only in real estate. Miami is becoming a cultural center relevant in the world. Somehow we could smell the growth. Look at what happens around us; we are going to have a fantastic Miami Art Museum. We have two extraordinary performing art centers with the Arsht and the New World Symphony. Miami is now one of the most important cities in the art world, and we wanted to be big players here.

R.C.- Alicia, you are an economist and designer and Stefano is an engineer. What made you decide to undertake this gallery venture?

Alicia Restrepo - Who said that an economist and an engineer cannot be nuts? We loved art, and it’s certainly more a passion than a sound financial decision, but sometimes it is better to do what you like than what makes tons of money.

Etra Fine Art gallery view, December 2010.

R.C.- You are avid collectors, and you have an extensive collection of Latin American modern art. How did you start the collection?

A.R.- One piece at the time. We did it like everybody else; we bought what we liked then, and the midcareer artists of twenty years ago became masters now. I am sure you are doing the same thing now, buying great artists with a solid career.

R.C.- Tell me about the artists Etra Fine Art represents?

A.R.- We show and represent important and midcareer artists, the same ones that we buy for ourselves. It is nice to work with the huge installations of Claudia Hakim or the delicate paintings of Mario Vélez. And yes, we also gained a reputation for carrying very large works. Sometimes we can only show four or five pieces in the gallery. We need to like the works and we need to like the trajectory of the artist. We love the delicate sculptures of Julie Speidel and the fine works in wood and bronze of Roberto Milan. Then, of the more important works, we always sold Botero, Francisco Toledo, Donald Sultan, and Robert Indiana, just to mention a few. I hate making lists; they are boring to read.

Francisco Toledo, 1963, oil and sand on canvas, 36” x 29”

R.C.- What are your target markets?

S.C.- We like rich people that are fun to be with. If they are not fun, we don’t want them. You know, we are so often having dinners with our clients. Well, clients is not a word that defines them anymore; they become friends. … I see that this answer doesn’t convince you. … I am not going to give you many names, but yes, everybody knows that I go to watch tennis tournaments for free because some of the kids are my clients. Or horse jockeys or developers or … Who cares? They need to be fun to be with.

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R.C.- You recently exhibited Robert Indiana’s Hartley Elegies. Tell me about this series and the reception it received among your collectors.

S.C.- It was a great exhibition. The full series of ten works is in perfect condition. That’s museum stuff. Actually, it was exhibited in a few museums before coming to Etra Fine Art. The art critics agree that it is one of the most important series of Robert Indiana, and these large works are impressive.

R.C.- Stefano, you contribute to art education in Florida, especially to the Arts for Learning project. Could you tell me what you bring to this project?

S.C.- Arts for Learning leads a noble cause. Educating children through art, we reach more than 10,000 children every year, and it is proven that these kids improve across the board. It broadens their capacity to deal not only with art but also with math and science. Now the politicians are cutting funding for arts education, so with Arts for Learning, we are even more important.

R.C.- You also founded La Casa de la Mujer in support of Central and South American women who have been the victims of violence.

S.C.- La Casa de la Mujer de las Américas is a new nonprofit enterprise with a new model for addressing the plight of Latin America’s impoverished women and their children in a sustainable way. Beginning in Colombia, where decades of internal warfare has routed millions from their ancestral villages and driven them to a life of poverty at the urban fringes, La Casa has begun to create an economic and social magnet to draw them back home, and give them the means to stay there. At the heart of Casa de la Mujer’s strategy is a modest, multipurpose facility.  The building houses small businesses appropriate to each community, such as a bakery and a small retail store.  It provides daycare to the children of the women who work there, and meeting space for vocational training and governance of the facility by a committee of women whose families use the center.

Most important for the long term. Each center is self-supporting from the day it opens. The concept is marvelous, and it works too. Who wants to help me?

R.C.- How would you assess your seven years in Miami? What are your next projects? What exhibitions are you working on?

S.C.- We are enjoying ourselves. We love our garden and our collection of orchids, and we love being gallerists. About exhibitions that we are working on, we are planning an exhibition of Donald Sultan and another major artist from Barcelona, but it’s too early for me to give you the name. You’ll have to come and see.

Etra Fine Art. 50 NE 40th St., 33137. Phone 305 438 4383 / www.etrafineart.com/ stefano@etrafineart.com