Alejandra Martinez created Anónimo to encourage the purchase of art as a process free of preconceived ideas, motivated only by the connection that an anonymous piece can generate. Created in 2015, Martinez’s sees Anónimo as a way for people to re-connect with art through an emotional and personal bond. Beyond that, Anónimo offers a very easy very un-intimidating way, for someone to enter into the art world. Here, we chat with Martinez about her background, experience in the art world, and hope for the future of her company.
Can you tell us about Anónimo?
Anónimo is a contemporary art auction, where the concealment of authorship remains until the piece is sold to the highest bidder. A muti-destination initiative whose main purpose is to encourage the purchase of art as a process free of preconceived ideas, motivated only by the connection that an anonymous piece can generate.
However, as the Anónimo platform expands in to new destinations and forms of artistic expression, a variety of special editions are being envisioned and purposely curated to respond to their geographic and environmental context. Giving birth to a collective of site-specific editions that can evolve out of the art auction rule book and explore new and fresh ways to appreciate and approach the daring complexities of today’s art world.
What do you hope the business does for the art world?
Well what I love about Anónimo is how un-intimidating it is, especially for young or even new collectors. In reality, the less you know about the art world the purer your experience is with Anónimo . I believe this is why we have so many first time buyers that get introduced to the whole industry there after.
So I guess the obvious answer to this question is that Anónimo invites people to re-connect with art through an emotional and personal connection.
However, I have learned over the past editions that what I also love is how Anónimo is inviting new blood to enter the art world in a very easy very un-intimidating way.
What is your background? When did art become a passion for you?
I studied Marketing and have a minor in Market Psychology. This is why I believe my first encounter with contemporary art was such a nuclear bomb. I was living in Miami and I went to the first Art Basel Miami Beach fair. It was a tsunami of stimulations for me.
Do you collect art? Who are some of your favorite artists working today?
I do collect whatever I like, whatever I can afford and whatever grabs me in the moment. I like the pieces that I buy to carry a strong memory of the energy I felt when I came in contact with them. I believe it is what makes my home and workplace special, that those pieces help me remember the good energy they carry. I also love buying pieces from artist friends or gallerist. I really like what mutual support brings forth.
I cant possibly pin point an artist as favorite, its like saying only one song is your favorite. But I can say my favorite art movements or periods are: Modernist, Abstract, Minimalist, Dada.
What was the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
To trust my instincts above anything or anyone no matter their seniority – but to ALWAYS listen carefully to the voice of experience to at least know where the obstacles laid for them.
What is your advice to a young person looking to enter into the art industry?
I think art will forever be in the forefront of the future because it will forever express beauty. Even if it’s not aesthetic or something that you particularly like or feel connected to, it will forever express deep emotions.
This is why I always invite people to explore this fantastic world, if not to understand it on itself, but so that through it we can try and understand the times we live in.
What do you hope for the future of Anónimo?
That it can be an instrument for awareness of our current situations and contexts and human beings and inspire if not change, than at the very least a bit more consciousness.