For Over 20 Years Karpio Has Served as an Artistic Visionary for Latin America.

Twenty years ago nobody had ever heard of Contemporary Art in Costa Rica. There wasn’t any art exhibition so to speak or any artists producing work that would garner the world’s attention. Then came Jacob Karpio, who defiantly opened the first gallery of this genre in the country, and today, 20 years later, it is considered to be one of the 75 best Contemporary Art galleries in the world according to the German publication International Art Galleries.

In honor of its 20 years of growing success, the gallery will offer various exhibitions in six specially selected spaces in San Jose. Between the 4th and the 9th of this month, a new show will take place everyday, to the sounds of artist Dani Umpi, followed by a party. The first of these takes place today at 8 p.m. in Euromobilia in Rhormoser with an exhibition called Sobreparedes, presenting the work based on art and painting in furniture. Tomorrow night, the show Wild will exhibit abstract art and geometry in the studio of artist John Juric in Guachipelin. The celebration will close on the 9th with a huge exhibition that will include many different artists  in various museums and galleries in San Jose. The final event is free and open to the general public.

Jacob Karpio started his career as an art dealer in the beginning of 1982 and opened his very first art gallery in Quito, Ecuador, soon followed by a second one in Panama City. With the lack of serious collectors, however, it proved difficult to keep them going and soon Karpio had to admit defeat and closed them both down. He returned a couple of years later to find himself Living in Costa Rica and in 1988 opened his gallery in Cuesta de Nunez with an exhibition of one of the most admired Latin artist, Argentinean Guillermo Kuitca.

Karpio never looked back and soon, the Jacob Karpio Gallery was the one and only of its genre to have gained international status, promoting Latin American Art on a worldwide basis. It also served to link the contemporary art scene of Latin America with the rest of the world. The Caribbean countries seemed in particular to exhibit a lot of their work here, especially Puerto Rico. Costa Rica being strategically positioned within Latin America, and with political conflicts exploding everywhere, it did not take long for many foreign Latin artists to expose their work in Jacob Karpio, as Costa Rica remained the safest and quietest country to be in Central America.

The Internet also made it easy to exchange deals and to form projects in an international level. The 90s saw the beginning of international Art Fairs, in which Karpio took part actively, and many artists of this country owe their success to him.

Such exhibitions include Paradigma in 1989, Mesotica in 1995, and Trasatlantica. The America-Europa Non Representativa, with the work of artists such as Vik Muniz, Andres Serrano, Win Delvoye, Peter Halley, Helmut Dorner, etc. made a sensation. He really pushed Latin artists such as Guillermo Kuitca, Kcho and more, but especially, Karpio launched promising Costa Rican artists into the worldwide arts scene; artists like Federico Herrero from Costa Rica, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla from Puerto Rico, Cinthya Soto and Priscilla Monge also from this country, artists who have now obtained fame and success in Europe, Asia and the United States. We can truly thank Jacob Karpio for making it happen for these talented artists who without him may have not been able to find the recognition they all truly deserve.

For more information about the exhibitions this week, call 2257-7963. Please note that there will also be a conservatoire on the 10th following the last exhibitions.

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Filed under: Living on September 4th, 2008