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The New Bronze Age: Three Artists Redefining Metalwork at Art Basel Miami Beach

Jimena Croceri, Alma Allen, and Iván Argote will showcase works that reimagine an ancient artistic medium

Por: Rubén Carrillo
The New Bronze Age: Three Artists Redefining Metalwork at Art Basel Miami Beach / Photo via Art Basel 2024
The New Bronze Age: Three Artists Redefining Metalwork at Art Basel Miami Beach / Photo via Art Basel 2024

From Auguste Rodin’s iconic The Thinker (1904) to Donatello’s Renaissance masterpiece David (c. 1438–1442), bronze sculpture has long been a powerful medium for conveying drama and movement. 

 

In the 20th century, this tradition continued with works like Brancusi’s Sleeping Muse (1910), Louise Bourgeois’ monumental Spider (1996), and Giacometti’s elongated figures. 

 

Today, contemporary artists are breathing new life into this ancient material, offering a global, innovative perspective that transforms the legacy of Greek and Roman bronze statuary. 

 

At Art Basel Miami Beach, three artists present scaled-down bronze works destined to captivate collectors.

nstallation view of ‘Alma Allen: Nunca Solo’ at Museo Anahuacalli, Mexico City. Courtesy of the artist and Kasmin. Photo by Diego Flores.
nstallation view of ‘Alma Allen: Nunca Solo’ at Museo Anahuacalli, Mexico City. Courtesy of the artist and Kasmin. Photo by Diego Flores.

Jimena Croceri
Piedras Galería (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Featured in the fair’s Positions sector, Croceri’s Impossible Jewel comprises nine sculptures crafted from bronze, aluminum, and copper, evoking an ancestral aesthetic. 

 

The project began in 2018 during her residency at FLORA ars+natura in Bogotá, Colombia, where she studied the metalwork traditions of the pre-Columbian Muisca civilization. This Argentine multidisciplinary artist is known for her conceptual pieces, including a 2015 installation involving a cardboard box filled with water that deformed over several hours. 

 

In her latest work, Croceri conjures the sensual ambiguity of bodily cavities and pre-Columbian ornamental talismans.

Jimena Croceri, untitled piece from the series ‘Impossible Jewel’, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Piedras Galería
Jimena Croceri, untitled piece from the series ‘Impossible Jewel’, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Piedras Galería

Alma Allen
Kasmin (New York City)

 

Allen’s abstract bronze sculptures appear malleable yet poetic, combining centuries of material history with a groundbreaking approach.

 

Based in Tepoztlán, Mexico, the American-born artist casts and hand-finishes his pieces in his on-site foundry. The result is a unique visual language of biomorphic, fossil-like forms that defy categorization. In 2023, his solo exhibition Nunca Solo (Never Alone) at Museo Anahuacalli in Mexico City showcased large-scale bronze and stone works throughout the museum’s grounds. 

 

Reflecting on his craft, Allen has stated: “They are not static in my mind. In my mind, they are part of a much larger universe.”

Alma Allen, Not Yet Titled, 2024. © Alma Allen. Courtesy of the artist and Kasmin
Alma Allen, Not Yet Titled, 2024. © Alma Allen. Courtesy of the artist and Kasmin

Iván Argote
Albarrán Bourdais (Madrid)

Colombian-born, Paris-based Iván Argote has already captivated New Yorkers with his hyperrealistic aluminum pigeon sculpture, Dinosaur (2024), perched 21 feet above the High Line’s 10th Avenue plinth. 

 

This monumental work flips the natural hierarchy between humans and animals, questioning our place in the food chain amid looming extinction threats. 

 

In the Nova sector of Art Basel Miami Beach, Argote presents a series of bronze sculptures depicting fragmented body parts of the Emperor Augustus – hollow torsos, pelvises, hands, and legs repurposed as flower pots. These pieces serve as a poignant reminder of the inevitable decay of great civilizations.

Iván Argote, Wild Flowers, Augustus, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Albarrán Bourdais.
Iván Argote, Wild Flowers, Augustus, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Albarrán Bourdais.

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