Of all of Miami’s contemporary creative communities, Latin American artists are inarguably one of the most prolific and self-supporting. Many of the city’s longtime powerhouse collectors are Latinx artists who champion the cultural causes close to their hearts.
Recording royals Gloria and Emilio Estefan are lauded for their last four decades of enormous impact on the local Cuban American art scene in and around Little Havana. Last year alone, the couple was honored with a Calle Ocho public artwork from local muralist Disem 305 and the nonprofit Kcull Life. At the same time, Emilio partnered with Colombian artist Fernando Botero for an accompanying musical score at Wynwood’s Nader Museum. To some local creatives and fans, one of the most meaningful past collaborations came from Gloria’s Little Miss Havana, a record produced by fellow Miami notable Pharrell Williams in 2011. The album featured artwork from the beloved Cuban artist David ‘LEBO’ Le Batard, who passed away last August and whose self-described ‘Post Modern Cartoon Expressionism’ was a vital part of Hispanic artistry in South Florida.
Perhaps no serious Latinx visual arts patron is as deeply entrenched in the art world as Puerto Rican pop idol Ricky Martin, whose love of collecting filters into every area of his public and private life. We see it on walls and surfaces throughout his Beverly Hills home, in both new names and blue-chip mainstays like sculptors Larry Bell and Jack West and Cuban artist Wifredo Lam. It is also reflected in his six-year marriage to former husband Jwan Yosef, the Syrian Swedish conceptual artist who was introduced through Martin’s interest in his work.
When they purchased the house, Kerry Skarbakka was one of the artists on their radar, and they acquired Shower (2005) to hang in a place of pride over their bed. To Skarbakka, their collective regard for the process was palpable. ‘I got the feeling that there was a deep understanding of artists and the importance of their work,’ he explains. ‘There was an undeniable respect that I felt. They were proud of it not because I was a heavy hitter (I’m not), but because the work spoke to them.’
To artists, the value of a creative powerhouse responding to their work in a real way has an enormous impact. ‘They understand better than most what it takes to be and live as an artist. They’ve endured the pitfalls and challenges and the constant hustle for support needed to just stay in the race long enough to find success. This is something that collectors like Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Elton John, and Ricky Martin understand,’ Skarbakka continues.
Ann Wilson (of the rock group Heart) was an early collector of Skarbakka’s work, and the photographer attributes her pure desire to support talent, as he does Martin. ‘Ricky purchased my work because he actually liked it. He felt it. And he cared for it enough to put it above his bed, a place where it can become part of his daily experience,’ the artist says. ‘I couldn’t be more thankful for his respect for me and my work because of his simple and undying love of art.’
‘Having a personal connection between the artist and the buyer contributes to the story of the artwork,’ says Ossian Eckerman, a Swedish artist whose optical photo collages are in Martin’s collection. ‘Jwan saw my works at a show, and after thinking about them for quite a while he contacted me. It could be true that creatives have a different approach [to finding and acquiring art]. Since we have more in common, it might feel more natural to make contact in person.’
Another Latino superstar who seeks to inspire is the singer J Balvin, who steadfastly believes that cultivating a new generation of creatives through teaching self-expression and artistic exploration is a crucial proponent of global mental wellness. The Colombian native has worked with the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., since 2021 to introduce arts initiatives to youth audiences, including programming with Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, and KAWS, and is the contemporary art museum’s official cultural ambassador. In summer 2022, onstage in front of the esteemed museum, Balvin was the closing headliner for Pharrell’s Something in the Water festival, which offered free admission to D.C.’s public and charter school graduating class.
As Balvin told Lewis Howes on The School of Greatness podcast, ‘Greatness for me is people who really inspire. When you’re a GOAT, when you’re one of the greatest of all time, you’re not scared to show the world and teach others.’
Balvin takes personal responsibility for that task with programs like the Hirshhorn Eye. The museum’s first Spanish language smartphone video guide assets, recorded by the artist and debuted last fall, will make any gallery walkthrough much more enticing to a new audience. For industry pros who embrace and promote the creativity of other artists as meaningfully as these stars, the effect can be galvanizing for their own work and have wide-reaching effects on cultural communities near and far. As Balvin emphasizes, ‘[Greatness] is inspiring people, and it’s sharing your gifts.’
This article was originally published in the Art Basel Miami Beach magazine 2023.
Published on November 7, 2023.
Captions for full-bleed images, from top to bottom: 1. View from a terrace in Miami's Little Havana district. Photograph by Alessandra Boccone. 2. KAWS (left) and J Calvin (right) interacting with Yoko Ono's Wish Tree for Washington D.C. in the Hirschhorn Sculpture Garden. Courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Photograph by Tony Powell.