NEW YORK.- PINTA, New York’s first contemporary Latin American art fair, will be held at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea, 18th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, November 16-20, 2007.

PINTA will be a unique event exhibiting annually – for sale through the participating galleries – the best of Latin American art, coinciding with Christie’s and Sotheby’s Latin American art auctions and with important exhibitions in museums and cultural institutions in New York City.

The fair organizers have invited the most prestigious galleries from the United States, Latin America and Europe to participate in this event. Thus, PINTA will be an exclusive fair which will include the participation of only thirty-five select art galleries showing museum-quality works representative of abstract, concrete, neo-concrete, kinetic and conceptual art, as well as of other contemporary art movements.

Participating galleries will feature works in different disciplines by artists such as Carmelo Arden Quinn, Cruz Azaceta, Milton Becerra, José Bedia, Muu Blanco, Waltercio Caldas, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Ariel Cusnier, Eugenio Espinosa, Manuel Espinosa, Danilo Dueñas, Teresita Fernández, León Ferrari, Alfredo Jaar, Wifredo Lam, Marcos López, Raul Lozza, Oscar Machado, Ana María Maiolino, Marco Maggi, Fabián Marcaccio, Roberto Matta, Cildo Meireles, Ronald Morán, Edgar Negret, Helio Oiticica, Julio Le Parc, César Paternosto, Rogelio Polesello, Liliana Porter, Omar Rayo, Armando Reverón, , Xul Solar, Jesús Soto, Gego, Joaquín Torres García, and Augusto Zanela, among others.

The following galleries will be represented: Alejandra Von Hartz (Miami), Aina Nowak (Madrid), Alfredo Ginocchio (Mexico), Arévalo Art (Miami), Alternativa Elvira Neri (Caracas), Appetite (Buenos Aires and New York) Cecilia de Torres (New York), Durban Segnini (Caracas and Miami), EDS (Mexico), Gabinete Raquel Arnaud (Sao Paolo), dpm Arte Contemporáneo (Guayaquil and Miami), Fernando Pradilla (Madrid), Wussmann (Buenos Aires and New York), GC Estudio de Arte (Buenos Aires), Hardcore Contemporary Art (Miami), Josee Bienvenu (New York), Latincollector (New York), Latitude Art (San Juan), Nara Roesler (Sao Paulo), Lyle O Reitzel (Miami and Santo Domingo), PanAmerican ArtProjects (Miami and Dallas), Praxis Art International (Nueva York, Miami and Buenos Aires), RJ Fine Arts (Stamford), Tres Art (Miami), Van Eyck (Buenos Aires), Vasari (Buenos Aires), Virgilio (Sao Paulo), Rubbers (Buenos Aires), Henrique Faria Fine Art (New York), Leon Tovar (New York), Magnan Projects (New York), Hostfelt (New York, San Francisco), MOKA (Chicago), Sammer (Miami), Ruth Benzacar (Buenos Aires).

PINTA´s opening event, a tribute to the Brazilian conceptual artist Waltércio Caldas will take place at The Americas Society on Tuesday, November 13 at 6:30 p.m.

The Opening Reception will be held on Thursday, November 15 at 7 p.m., and the fair will open its doors to the public at large on Friday, November 16 at 12 a.m. Around 20,000 visitors are expected to attend the five-day event.

The creation of the Pinta Research Fund, a program to fund scholarships for New York University (NYU) advanced students in the field of Latin American Art History will be announced at the Opening Reception. Any donations to contribute with this initiative will be most welcome.

Collector, art patron and philanthropist Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Chairman of the New York City and Caracas - based Fundacion Cisneros is the Honorary Chairperson of PINTA’s Host Committee, and Estrellita Brodsky and Gonzalo Parodi are its Co-Chairs.

The Pinta Museum Acquisitions Program has been created with the aim of incentivating the art market and enhancing museum collections. It will contribute funds to four major museums committed to Latin American art: the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Museum Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), El Museo del Barrio (New York) and the Lima Art Museum (MALI).

PINTA is headed by Diego Costa Peuser, Alejandro Zaia and Mauro Herlitzka. Chairman Alejandro Zaia is also Chair of Conexion PR/ZCM, a public relations firm based in Miami and South America. Diego Costa Peuser, the Fair Director, is currently the publisher of Arte al Día Internacional magazine, and he is also the director of the arteaméricas fair in Miami and of Buenos Aires Photo. Mauro Herlitzka, PINTA´s Institutional Director, is the current President of Fundación Espigas.