Latin American art - consider yourself primed

Pinta, the Latin American art fair, honours Argentinian painters Cesar Paternosto and Luis Tomasello next month

Massimiliano Gioni, the director of this year's Venice Biennale, has said that “1999 was the last time somebody could claim you could know all the art in the world." Certainly, the proliferation of art fairs and biennials means its harder to stay abreast of contemporary trends, let alone 'master' art history. Nevertheless, one relatively new annual event has allowed art lovers and collectors in both London and New York to acquaint themselves with one specific region's creative practices.

Pinta is the only fair dedicated to Latin American art; it began in New York in 2007, and branched out into London in 2010. The event has proved successful, thanks in part to the inclusion of both modern and contemporary art, the careful admittance of certain Portuguese and Spanish artists, and the recent addition of a Latin American design fair.

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Western interest in the continent's art has grown too - a phenomenon that The New York Times attributed to an increasing number of multilingual curators, collectors' desires to look beyond their immediate locales for works, as well as the greater number of affluent Latin American expats developing a taste for art.

This year's fair, to be held at Earls Court in London 5–7 June, will pay tribute to the abstract Argentinian painters Cesar Paternosto and Luis Tomasello; there will be talks from Hans-Ulrich Obrist, The Tate's Tanya Barson and the Royal Academy's Adrian Locke; the fair has a museum programme, assisting European institutions, including The Centre Georges Pompidou and The Tate Modern, to acquire works from the Latin American continent; last year The Tate bought a piece by the Mexican artist Matias Goeritz via this scheme.

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Yet most visitors will be going to see new works created in this increasingly affluent, thoroughly modern continent, with its own unique contemporary cultural conditions and artistic heritage. Find out more about the event here. If you plan to go, or simply want to know more about the kind of works on show, consider our book, Latin American Art in The 20th Century; potential buyers meanwhile should definitely read Collecting Art for Love, Money and More too; while those wishing to know more about the world's rising art hubs really should order our forthcoming title, Art Cities of The Future.