ART MADRID’25 PRESENTS THE PARTICIPATING GALLERIES AND THE PARALLEL PROGRAM FOR THE EDITION

Art Madrid celebrates 20 years of contemporary art in 2025, reaffirming its role as a key legitimizing event in Spain's visual arts sector. As the contemporary art fair that paved the way for other fairs and events now coinciding on the same dates, it once again welcomes national and international galleries during Madrid Art Week. This edition promises to lay the foundation for the new directions the fair will take in the future.

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Art Madrid’25 presents the Gallery Program for its 20th edition

The Gallery Program of Art Madrid’25 is the main axis of the fair, serving as a meeting point where diverse voices of contemporary art converge. Comprised of a selection of established, mid-career, and emerging galleries, the program offers a representative vision of the latest artistic trends. Through experimentation and the exploration of new visual languages, participating artists present works that reflect the aesthetic codes and concerns of our time. Each edition, Art Madrid stands out for its curatorial approach, featuring a carefully curated selection of national and international galleries and artists, showcasing the pulse of the most innovative proposals that define the present and future of contemporary art.

In this 20th edition, Art Madrid becomes an essential meeting point for those who closely follow the work of galleries and artists. The Crystal Gallery will be filled with fresh and daring proposals from thirty-five galleries, both national and international, inviting us to rethink art in its purest form. What we will see is not just a display of the best of the moment, but a testament to how art continues to challenge conventions, evoke emotions, and push the boundaries of what is possible.

The exhibition proposals, varied in approaches and techniques, bring us closer to an art that is unafraid to experiment and encourages us to reflect on the world around us. Each work, more than just an aesthetic object, will be a provocation, an invitation to look beyond the obvious. Throughout the fair, it will be impossible not to feel how these creations leave their mark on contemporary culture while simultaneously finding their place within the complex framework of the art market, reaffirming Art Madrid as a key reference within the national art scene.

Photo courtesy of Beatriz Maestre

Spanish galleries: New voices emerge

Spain will be represented by twenty-one galleries, a strong showcase of the creative diversity across the country. Two of them are participating in Art Madrid for the first time: Carmen Terreros Gallery (Zaragoza) and Canal Gallery (Barcelona), bringing with them a breath of fresh air that promises to surprise. Nineteen galleries are returning to the fair, celebrating the twenty years of an event that opened its doors to them from the very beginning, with the shared commitment to continue working for contemporary art produced locally. The galleries returning to Art Madrid’25 are: 3 Punts Galería (Barcelona); Alba Cabrera Gallery (Valencia); Aurora Vigil-Escalera (Gijón); CLC ARTE (Valencia); DDR Art Gallery (Madrid); Galería Arancha Osoro (Oviedo); Galería BAT alberto cornejo (Madrid); Galería Espiral (Noja); Galería La Mercería (Valencia); Galería Luisa Pita (Santiago de Compostela); Galería Metro (Santiago de Compostela); Galería Rodrigo Juarranz (Aranda de Duero); Inéditad Gallery (Barcelona); Kur Art Gallery (San Sebastián); Moret Art (A Coruña); OOA GALLERY (Sitges/London); Pigment Gallery (Barcelona); Shiras Galería (Valencia); and Uxval Gochez Gallery (Barcelona).

Photo courtesy of Beatriz Maestre

International galleries: A dialogue without borders

Pero el arte no entiende de fronteras, y por eso Art Madrid siempre ha sido un lugar de encuentro global. Este año, trece galerías internacionales ocupan sus lugares de enunciación para enriquecer la propuesta expositiva del evento. Cuatro de ellas participan por primera vez: Aria Gallery (Florencia, Italia), CHINI Gallery (Taipéi, Taiwán); Gallery 1000A (Nueva Delhi, India) y Ting Ting Art Space (Taipéi, Taiwán), aportarán una visión fresca y diversa, consolidando a Art Madrid como una feria en expansión hacia el escenario del arte contemporáneo internacional. Junto a estas, otras como Collage Habana (La Habana, Cuba); Galeria Sâo Mamede (Lisboa, Portugal); Galleria Stefano Forni (Bolonia, Italia); Jackie Shor Projects (São Paulo, Brasil); Loo & Lou Gallery (París, Francia); Nuno Sacramento Arte Contemporânea (Ílhavo, Portugal); O-Art Project (Lima, Perú),Trema Arte Contemporânea (Lisboa, Portugal) y Yiri Arts (Taipéi, Taiwán), que una edición más vuelven a confiar en Art Madrid como apuesta segura.

But art knows no boundaries, which is why Art Madrid has always been a global meeting point. This year, thirteen international galleries will take their places to enrich the event's exhibition proposal. Four of them are participating for the first time: Aria Gallery (Florence, Italy), CHINI Gallery (Taipei, Taiwan), Gallery 1000A (New Delhi, India), and Ting Ting Art Space (Taipei, Taiwan), bringing a fresh and diverse perspective, consolidating Art Madrid as a fair expanding into the international contemporary art scene. Alongside them, others such as Collage Habana (Havana, Cuba), Galeria Sâo Mamede (Lisbon, Portugal), Galleria Stefano Forni (Bologna, Italy), Jackie Shor Projects (São Paulo, Brazil), Loo & Lou Gallery (Paris, France), Nuno Sacramento Arte Contemporânea (Ílhavo, Portugal), O-Art Project (Lima, Peru), Trema Arte Contemporânea (Lisbon, Portugal), and Yiri Arts (Taipei, Taiwan) return once again, trusting Art Madrid as a reliable platform.

The journey through these twenty years of contemporary art has been a milestone that we reach with the same commitment as the emerging project that once reshaped the landscape of art fairs in Spain and has since been both a participant and witness to the growth of a welcoming, diverse, strong, and constantly evolving art scene.

Photo courtesy of Beatriz Maestre

Parallel program: Sensitive Cartographies of the City Territory

The Parallel Program of Art Madrid'25 goes beyond the boundaries of the fair, proposing a dynamic connection between art and the city. Under the concept of Territory and City, this edition takes art to urban spaces, to the everyday corners that shape the memory and present of Madrid.

Highlighted activities include augmented reality and digital experiences, video creation, ephemeral installations, and urban interventions that engage directly with the city of Madrid. These actions expand the work of the artists into the urban environment, fostering an ongoing conversation between art and the territory. In this way, the city becomes a creative laboratory where the everyday and the artistic intertwine, opening new forms of connection between the community and art.

The program also explores the emotional and identity geographies that run through Madrid, inviting reflection on the meaning of belonging to a place and how artistic practices transform our relationship with space. Through the theme of Territory and City, the Parallel Program of Art Madrid'25 creates a map that connects the local with the global, the intimate with the collective, and opens a sensory experience that strengthens the ties between art, territory as an expanded concept, and the city as a container of sensitive realities.

The Parallel Program of Art Madrid'25 invites you to explore the intersections between art, public space, and community, transforming Madrid into a territory-city of creation and shared reflection.

Photo courtesy of Beatriz Maestre

In this 20th edition, we proudly celebrate the journey of our fair and deeply appreciate the support and trust of artists, gallerists, collectors, and art enthusiasts who have been key to Art Madrid’s continued growth with an eye on the future. It has not been an easy path, but we have understood the importance of ensuring that an event like this endures, solidifies its place in the national art market circuit, and becomes a gateway to the international art scene.

Alexander Grahovsky

CONVERSATIONS WITH MARISOL SALANOVA. INTERVIEW PROGRAM. ART MADRID’25

Alexander Grahovsky (Alicante, 1980) begins with a chaotic or random process, similar to collecting images and creating collages from scenes that capture his interest, which he can then recreate as he pleases. His works explore themes such as the unknown, death, and animals, often drawing parallels with toys and incorporating recurring characters along with elements like floating stones. Narrative plays a crucial role in his paintings; the surrealist aspect emerges from the way he constructs a non-linear story. Scenes overlap, appear in different phases across various sections of each painting, and invite the viewer’s eye to roam through the composition. His work contains references to classical painting and cinema, making its interpretation dependent on the viewer's personal background and emotional state. The central thread of his art conveys that, despite life’s hardships, we all continue to celebrate in some way.

The Lighthouse at the End of the Ocean. 2024. Mixed media. 190 x 140 cm.

What role does experimentation play in your creative process?

Experimentation plays a fundamental role in my entire creative process on two levels: technical and narrative. On a technical level, because I allow myself a range of liberties or aesthetic whims that turn the act of painting itself into a game—something enjoyable where, in a way, anything is possible. On a narrative level, it’s about how I build stories, as there is no script or main idea holding everything together. Instead, starting from a series of seemingly disconnected scenes, I try to construct a story that intertwines, compelling the viewer, in some sense, to contribute their own interpretation or create their own narrative.

What are your references?

My influences range from classical painting, such as The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch or The Ghent Altarpiece, to more contemporary artists like Hurvin Anderson and Dominique Fung, including Hopper, Hockney, and Leonora Carrington, among countless others. All these artistic influences blend with others from cinema, including the films of Parajanov and the director of Midsommar. Particularly, Midsommar has been quite influential in my work for its distinctive aesthetic. Additionally, the world of comics plays a role, particularly the work of Moebius, especially his more surrealist science fiction illustrations. Video games are another source of inspiration, especially in how scenes are depicted—everything is flattened, as if it were a screen or the backdrop of a theater stage, reminiscent of mid-to-late-90s graphic adventure games.

A Brief Story of an Embrace. 2024. Oil, spray paint, colored pencils, and oil pastels. 33 x 41 cm.

How do you create the distinct—and sometimes recurring—characters in your paintings?

The characters develop as the body of work evolves, as if each painting were part of a larger story yet to be told. As I began working in this style, I noticed that many of them reappeared, and when I reused them or made them part of new pieces, I was already considering what I had previously painted about them, as well as what had happened to them in other works. For example, Death has transformed from being a skeleton that might seem to bring bad news into a somewhat mocking or humorous figure wearing a party hat. We also find the Devil, the Magician, and the Red House, which serves as a refuge or a pilgrimage site where characters often end up—or could end up. Then there’s the Black Cat, which initially appeared simply as a warning symbol, as if telling the other characters to stay alert to what’s happening around them, but later became a kind of measure of time: in larger pieces, it typically appears three times. I enjoy playing with the ambiguity of whether it’s three different cats or the same cat appearing at three different points in the story. In this way, the characters help weave a narrative and create connections between all the pieces, forming a shared universe to which they all belong.

The Crow, the Stag, the Grapes, and the Wine I Spilled. 2024. Oil, spray paint, colored pencils, and oil pastels. 60 x 74 cm.

When did you transition to the garden series, and why?

In 2022, I decided to gather all the surreal scenes and sketches that were scattered around my studio and explore what would happen if they coexisted in the same space—what would happen if all these seemingly disconnected elements were placed on the same plane. In this case, the plane is the canvas, and the setting is the garden. It’s here that the garden, The Garden of Earthly Delights, and all the imagery rooted in our collective unconscious become visible. From that point, I chose to keep pulling the thread of this story to see where it would lead me. This is when all the characters begin to emerge, allowing me to create a space where I can play and find creative freedom that I hadn’t experienced in my previous work.

You Should Break My Heart in January 2024. Oil, spray paint, and colored pencils on canvas. 81 x 100 cm.

What connection does this phase of your work have with your past in the world of comics?

This phase of my work draws a lot from all the years I spent reading comics, from when I was a young child to trying to break into the American comic industry. I was close, so close, but it didn’t materialize. The truth is that, in the end, what interested me more than the drawing itself were the more experimental narratives, like those of John Hankiewicz, Dave McKean, or people of that kind. In that sense, I’m mainly influenced by the way stories are constructed. They are not sequential panels where A leads to B, and B leads to C. Rather, the visual journey through the pieces is like a comic page where you can jump from the first panel to the seventh and then return to the second, and depending on the order you choose, the story will unfold in one way or another. It’s true that, for example, what you often find are different fragments of the same scene: a beginning, a middle, a climax, and a resolution, but they are often surrounded by other scenes that either influence the events in each smaller scene or simply coexist in the same universe. In that sense, I’m also very interested in the idea of a shared universe, right? That all these pieces, this entire body of work, form part of a larger story that seems to want to tell itself, one that still doesn’t know where it’s going but is starting to find its place and path. Like the characters that started simply appearing and now each one has its own backstory.

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