Appetite (art gallery)

Appetite was a gallery and artist-run space, founded by Daniela Luna, in the neighborhood of San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the mission of discovering and promoting new artists. It sometimes courted controversy, before finally closing in mid-2011.

APPETITE was created in 2005 by Daniela Luna. It generated so much traffic in the neighborhood of San Telmo, that soon a lot of galleries moved to that area and new ones started to open, transforming it in the main contemporary art district of Buenos Aires. As told by Rolling Stone on December 2006 “The best of an intense year for art in Buenos Aires: When all the movement seemed to be getting installed at Palermo, the Daniela Luna tornado opened the appetite with an art gallery in San Telmo and little by little is monopolizing the neighborhood and transferring the scene.. They say that in art schools they already write thesis on her, and though there are some who criticize her, many of the best artists, young and not so young have shown their work under her wing.”

APPETITE also inspired many young artists to open their own spaces. As pointed by Time Out: "Appetite continuous to thrill certain art punters with its grungy style, and you only need to check out the young section - the Barrio Joven - of next year's ArteBA, the city's major art fair, to find a dozen of nascent Lunas in progress."

It fastly became famous for putting into the map many new artists, for its openings and parties, as well as for the personal style, often described as punk or edgy, and the originality of all APPETITE presentations. As described by New York Times, “Appetite, an irreverent, punk-inflected gallery in San Telmo started by Daniela Luna, a feisty 30-year-old known for her shrewd eye and cool parties.”

DMode, local popular magazine also claimed in 2006: (from Spanish) "Daniela Luna contradicts astronomic laws, she has the Earth at her feet and around her gallery/planet many of the new good artists orbit. She carries Appetite with exquisite artist gluttony. It is well known that artist-run spaces are the 'it' format at international art. And it credits the indisputable prize: the best openings of Buenos Aires. Making excess and experimentation her war cry." Later in 2009 another article started by "The no-princess of argentinian contemporary art is such an important character that is becoming an icon for her generation. She is a working, thinking and acting machine. She transformed a butcher shop from San Telmo into Appetite, a space that more than a gallery, is the place where new talents are born, and where the most offbeat shows are made, and the hippest events are held. It is the first argentinian gallery invited to Frieze Art Fair, and you can say it has the biggest projection in Latinamerica."

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Wikipedia