ANA MAZZEI: ACQUISITION OF THE EFG LATIN AMERICA ART AWARD ON ITS 15TH ANNIVERSARY

On the occasion of its fifteenth anniversary, the EFG Latin America Art Award, in association with ArtNexus, announced the acquisition of a work by Ana Mazzei (São Paulo, Brazil, 1979). The recognition was revealed on December 3, 2025, during Pinta Miami, marking a new edition of the award, which since its inception has sought to strengthen the visibility of Latin American art within the international circuit.

To celebrate fifteen years of the award, EFG and ArtNexus also presented a commemorative catalogue featuring an essay by curator Alexia Tala, along with images, biographies, and critical texts on each of the nominated artists and award recipients, written by Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig, Ph.D., director and editor of ArtNexus.

In her essay, Tala describes Mazzei’s practice as the construction of “a sculptural universe where the geometric and the organic enter into dialogue through compositions charged with poetic tension.” Far from explicit narratives, her work draws on references to theater, mythology, and personal memory. “The works behave like suspended stage sets, where each form seems to await its entrance into an action that is never fully defined,” the curator notes.

The acquired work, Estrela, belongs to the series Cenas de jardim (2024) and was selected at SP–Arte, with the collaboration of Alexia Tala as independent curator and Celia Sredni Birbragher, director and editor of ArtNexus. According to Tala, in this series “several works arranged in an open space evoke the setting of a stalled fable,” where ambiguous and symbolic forms verge on the surreal, invoking the human, the animal, and the ancestral. “Like actors at rest, the elements appear to hold a latent gesture, suggesting a transformation on the verge of occurring,” she adds.

The EFG Latin America Art Award is an acquisition prize organized by EFG and ArtNexus, developed through a nomination process across five art fairs in Latin America. Its aim is to promote the production of visual art by Latin American artists and to raise awareness among international collectors of the significance of regional art fairs. Final selection is carried out by Celia Birbragher, together with an advisory curator at each fair, with strategic development by Liaisons.

In the 2025 edition, the nominated artists were: Marilyn Boror Bor (Judas Galería), nominated at Ch.ACO, Chile, with Dermis Pérez León; Ana Mazzei (Martins & Montero), at SP–Arte, São Paulo, with Alexia Tala; Ishmael Randall-Weeks (Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo), at Pinta PArC, Lima, with Pablo León de la Barra; Carlos Castro (Galería La Cometa), at ARTBO, Bogotá, with Eugenio Viola; and Sofía Desuque (Espacio Barraco), at BAphoto, Buenos Aires, with Florencia Malbrán.