Latin American artists steal the spotlight at Art Basel Miami 2025

This year at Art Basel Miami Beach, Latin American artists are transforming their cultural heritage into striking, innovative artworks. From literally bringing Panamanian earth to Miami to reinterpreting Mexican religious iconography in tile murals with provocative undertones, these creators are pushing boundaries and reimagining tradition.

Renata Petersen: Bridging the Sacred and the Sensual

Mexican artist Renata Petersen, hailing from Guadalajara, presents three distinct collections at Art Basel: intricate tile murals infused with slogans and symbols, 80 chrome glass pieces inspired by sexual objects, and ceramic vases decorated with precise motifs. Petersens upbringing with an anthropologist mother exposed her to religious cults and shaped her unique perspective on belief systems.

My mother studied religion and brought me along on her research. Observing these communities taught me to question without judgment, Petersen explained. Her work preserves the memory of these subcultures while exploring humanitys ability to make abstract ideas tangible. Her glass pieces, inspired by artisans in Jalisco, merge spiritual and erotic imagery, creating what she calls temples to our sexual drive.

Thalita Hamaoui: Dreamlike Brazilian Landscapes

From So Paulo, Thalita Hamaoui brings a different approach, creating vibrant oil paintings that evoke the feeling of being in Brazil rather than replicating literal landscapes. Drawing inspiration from Impressionism and non-Western artistic traditions, she flattens perspective and layers textures and colors to create a sensuous, immersive effect.

In the studio, time slows down. I can linger over details that take months to perfect, Hamaoui noted. Her early years in 1980s Brazil, when art was not a practical career path, led her to experiment with painting on secondhand clothing, a skill that later translated to cotton and linen canvases.

Gabriel Chaile: Adobe and Ancestral Memory

Argentinian artist Gabriel Chaile works with adobe to craft sculptures that evoke his childhood and family traditions, particularly the baking methods passed down from his Indigenous grandmother. His forms are marked with symbols referencing the shared history and cultural bonds across the Americas. Chaile also incorporates drawings and photographs inspired by contemporary social movements, reflecting on collective human gestures and unity.

Cisco Merel: Soil as a Medium of Connection

Panamanian artist Cisco Merel transforms soil into art, blending Panamanian and Miami earth with resin to create large-scale wall installations. His work is inspired by the communal traditions of Panama, where building a house in a day involves contributions from the whole community. Merels abstract paintings, depicting impossible structures, reflect both the mystery and resilience of Panamanian society.

Through these diverse approaches, Latin American artists at Art Basel Miami 2025 are redefining cultural expression, combining personal history, social observation, and material innovation into works that are both visually striking and conceptually profound.

Author: Lucas Grant