MADRID.- Art Madrid celebrates its 14th edition from February 27 to March 3, 2019, in the Crystal Gallery of CentroCentro Cibeles (c/ Montalbán,1), with the participation of more than 40 national and international galleries that will show the works of nearly 200 artists, both emerging and consolidated creators.. With an outstanding foreign presence, which this year reaches 40% and reaffirms the confidence placed in the fair by the international context, 26 national and 16 foreign exhibitors from 13 countries, from Spain to Germany, France, Portugal, Lithuania, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, South Africa or Taiwan, and including the participating of 10 first-time participating galleries, have been selected for this edition.
In this edition, as the Selection Committee assures, the proposals are highlighted because of the increasing quality, the more rigorous selection, the growing international character and the ability to reveal the new possibilities in the world of creation. Also, they are articulating fully contemporary and well-connected discourses, drawing something of the map of our time, in contemporary art.
In the GENERAL PROGRAM, a large number of national galleries participate again, such as Madrid’s Kreisler, Marita Segovia, Alberto Cornejo BAT, Fucking Art Gallery, Hispánica Contemporánea (also based in Mexico City), Jorge Alcolea and Montsequi. From Asturias the galleries directed by Aurora Vigil-Escalera (Gijón), Bea Villamarín (Gijón) and Arancha Osoro (Oviedo) are returning participants too, while from Galicia, Luisa Pita (Santiago de Compostela) and Moret Art (A Coruña) also return to the fair.
From the northern part of the Peninsula, Galería Espiral (Noja, Cantabria), Rodrigo Juarranz (Aranda de Duero, Burgos) and MH Art Gallery (Bilbao), as well as the newly participating Kur Art Gallery (Guipúzcoa), are joining us this year. From Valencia the new proposals of Alba Cabrera Gallery and Shiras Gallery are presented, as well as those of the galleries that are coming from Barcelona: 3 Punts, Miquel Alzueta and Zielinsky. In addition, the Galería Cornión (Gijón) and Víctor Lope Arte Contemporáneo (Barcelona), which is also present in the One Project programme, are being premiered at the Crystal Gallery.
Among the foreign participating galleries from the General Program, the Portuguese representation is highlighted with Art Lounge (Lisbon), Paulo Nunes-Arte Contemporânea (Vila Franca de Xira) and the newly incorporation of the São Mamede Gallery (Lisbon/Porto). Also participating for the first time are the French Galerie Barrou Planquart (Paris), the North American Lola & Unicorn (New York), the South African Oda Gallery (Franschhoek) and the Peruvian art collective O-Art Project (Lima). The renewed selections of the German Schmalfuss (Berlin) and Robert Drees (Hannover), the French Norty Mécénat (Carrières-sur-Seine), the Taiwanese Yiri Arts (Taipei) and the Cuban Collage Habana (Havana) have return this edition as well.
One more year, Art Madrid also features the ONE PROJECT program. The project, designed to support and promote young artists whose careers are in an initial or intermediate state, takes place in a collective exhibition as well as in a solo show format. This year, one of the great updates of the program is the incorporation of Nerea Ubieto, art critic and curator who presents a new proposal led only by female artists. This choice, as stated by Ubieto, is based “on the eagerness to level an unstable balance in which female participation in art fairs is still today unfair”.
Under the title “Ficciones, máscaras y paisajes: el color como telón de fondo”, 7 artists feature specific proposals for the fair once more highlighting the international presence. As the curator explains, these works invite us to build our own universes: such as Rüta Vadlugaité’s landscapes (Contour Art Gallery, Vilna), characterized by masterful lines and resounding forms, specific of a strong personality; also these works show a deep interest in the large colour spots within a reduced palette, something that she undoubtedly shares with the more abstract and gestural Virginia Rivas (DDR Art Gallery, Madrid), artist that invites us to travel through perhaps more intimate places, but possible even in the framework of a fair. In addition, the landscapes by Mara Caffarone (Granada Gallery, Comuna), collages with which she reflects on the limits of perception, can also be heard and felt in other ways; while the ludic factor and the indomitable flexibility of the paintings by Nuria Mora (About Art, Lugo) reach beyond any support through cumulative layers.
Sofía Echeverri (Flux Zone, Mexico City) also works the landscape genre but in her case starting by painting in black and white which she updates and transcends by the use of colour contrast. On the other hand, the subversive masks by Manuela Eichner (RV Cultura e Arte, Salvador) are presented, with which the artist reinterprets female models and myths linked to popular wisdom; issues that she shares with Alejandra Atarés (Víctor Lope Arte Contemporáneo, Barcelona) but that, in her work, are raised from the repetition and combination of patterns, strategies with which colour spreads. All this contaminates the environment and connects the seven proposals in a wave of freshness and vigour.
ART MADRID’19 HIGHLIGHTS
This year, the wide and varied proposal of Art Madrid stands out for its increasingly international character and for a more contemporary artistic selection. Also, the fair reinforces its ongoing commitment to young creators and the most current forms of creation, as proven by: the high number of artists under 40 (63), the choice of Rubén Martín de Lucas as Guest Artist or the Parallel Program main theme.
Within the growing international participation, this year Art Madrid presents a unique perspective of the South American art scene, highlighting certain proposals such as the collective O-Art Project, who present a suggestive selection of works by 7 creators of the Peruvian context. With very different personalities and creative forms but with a collective vision, the works of these artists stand out for their hybrid and vindictive character. This is shown by the works of Carolina Bazo and Alessandra Rebagliati, focused on the reconfiguration of the stereotypes associated with women or the power exercised by patriarchy and capitalist logic in our daily work. Also, the installations of metallic fibres and the transparencies by Cristina Colichón are highlighted; as well as the pieces by Gianna Pollarolo, in which she works on concepts such as energy, mysticism or the origins of the collective imagination; or the shocking and multi-vision multimedia works by Rocío Gómez.
The Zielinsky Gallery maintains its strong commitment to both the emerging and consolidated art of South America, presenting artists Joaquín Lalanne, Eduardo Marco and Yamadú Canosa –also in dialogue with the identities of the Spanish artist Pachi Santiago–, adding this year the participation of the very young Juan Fielitz. In the same way, the Kreisler Gallery returns with great Latin American artists, such as Liliana Golubinsky and Miki (Guillermo Gutiérrez) including the geometric sculptures by the Venezuelan Juan Gerstl. Outstanding is also the proposal of Collage Habana Gallery, entirely Cuban, which features the new works by young artists Andy Llanes Bultó, Roldán Lauzán, Daniel R. Collazo and Ernesto Rancaño, specialists in pictorial techniques.
Another context singularly represented this year is regarding Africa, with authors from different origins of the continent. Although the Norty Mécénat Gallery brings us closer to the French-African scene, the Oda Gallery’s proposal introduces us to the South African tendencies through works by Samson Mnisi or Benon Lutaaya. Some countries especially represented through their artists are Germany, Portugal, France and the United States. New visions of the French scene can be seen in the Barrou Planquart Gallery’s booth, which highlights the appropriations, both those of the encapsulated objects, the so-called Big Bangs, with which François Bel makes us reflect on materialism and individualism, like those made by the designer Stéphane Gautier, more related to a critical reflection of the propaganda on children’s imagination. The sculptures of the Germans Jörg Bach, Thomas Röthel and Willi Siber, as well as the brilliant pieces in steel by the Swiss Carlo Borer or the vital paintings of the Brazilian Cristina Canal, stand out in the Schmalfuss Gallery’s booth. Also, the fantasies made in rubber and paper by South Korean artist Sun-Rae Kim, the mysterious paintings by Spanish painter Pepa Salas and the abstractions of German sculptors Jürgen Jansen and Michael Laube can be enjoined at the Robert Dress Gallery’s booth.
Other galleries’ proposals are very international, such as the Art Lounge, the MH Art Gallery or the BAT Alberto Cornejo Gallery. In this last one, the portrait genre stands out: with the Oriental drawings by the Italian Lantomo, the Expressionist paintings by the Spanish José Ramón Lozano as the photographs of the Slovakian Mària Švarbová, scenographies of studied compositions both distant and captivating. 3 Punts Gallery joins the new works of its well-known artists, the x-ray work by British artist Nick Veasey. Meanwhile, the São Mamede Gallery presents abstractions by Portuguese artists Susana Chasse and Rui Tavares, and the German’s Matthias Contzen and Georg Scheele marble sculptures.
As always, the national creation is one of the strong points of the fair, showcasing an exceptional overview of current Spanish art. The Valencian selections of Alba Cabrera and Shiras Gallery stand out, as well as that of Kur Art Gallery represented only by Guipúzcoa’s artists. Also, the artists of Fucking Art Gallery present their latest creations: the ethereal and balanced compositions by Atauri, or the continuation of the series It Isn’t chaos, just Binary by Alfonso Zubiaga. The audience will be able to enjoy the urban scenes intervened by Alberto Sánchez in Rodrigo Juarranz’s booth or the most recent works by Edgar Plans, an artist present in two stands. The singular poetics of Jordi Alcaraz and María Yelletisch or the seduction of the unknown by Hugo Alonso will be present in the Miquel Alzueta Gallery. Finally, the newest paintings by María Ortega, more naturalistic than ever, or the most recent works by María José Gallardo will be exhibited in the Luisa Pita Gallery.
Thus, Art Madrid’19 is once again a great opportunity to approach an excellent showcase for contemporary creation. Also, the fair will soon announce the new PARALLEL PROGRAM: during the weeks leading up to the fair, a great set of educational and cultural activities are developed this year revolve around a very current and flourishing artistic genre. All the details on the Parallel Program will soon be announced.
