Getting together, making a plan to get to know each other and discovering an artist's workspace together can be an appealing proposal to start approaching the world of art. It is always a stimulus for the senses to enter a fertile ground for the imagination and to breathe the creative environment that usually surrounds these intimate spaces. To prove this, we have organized #LaQuedada, an itinerary through the studios of some of the artists who will participate in Art Madrid'24.

Have you ever wondered what an artist's workspace looks like? Have you ever imagined where an artist produces his or her work, for example when preparing to participate in an art fair?

It's very possible that you have unanswered questions. So, to help you discover this wonderful world of possibilities, we have organized #LaQuedada, an Art Madrid initiative to bring you closer to the surprising and sometimes romanticized world in which visual artists create.

A visit to an artist's studio is the perfect opportunity to get to know their aesthetic visions first hand and to be part of the experience of listening to them talk.We take the time to understand what their working methodologies are, what future projects they are working on, what the processes of their works are like, what materials they use to achieve those effects that we never imagined could be possible to produce... And so, among so much curiosity, we take a journey that reveals order and chaos, sketches and pigments, mutant ideas and possible utopias, notes and strokes that give shape to the vitality that each new project represents.

Artists are inspired by the experiences of their lives and their most intimate surroundings, and in their works they express the conflicts that torment them and the concerns they perceive in the society of which they are a part. Each of them represents an intimate, authentic, personal and yet shared truth. A common connection that unites us with them through the sensitivity with which we can identify if we look at them with other eyes: the eyes of the soul.

Today, being an artist in the art world is an act of courage. More and more artists are threatened by the precarious situation in our country today. That is why it is so important to support, promote and accompany artists. It doesn't matter if they are emerging artists or have been working in the art sector for part of their lives, what you should keep in mind is that you can contribute to the development of their career by acquiring some of their work; visiting their profiles on social networks and sharing their projects; attending galleries, fairs, cultural institutions or museums where they are exhibiting; or simply, connecting with the vitality of their artistic expressions in a visit to their studios.

We want #LaQuedada will be a recurring space that encourages open dialogue between the public and creators. A responsible way to promote the growth of the city's cultural structure is to make art accessible to all types of audiences. At Art Madrid we know this, and that is why today, more than ever, we want to bring contemporary art closer to everyone, trying to break the illusion that defines it as elitist and distances it from its humanist vocation. Creativity is everywhere and life is in the artist's studio.

In the first edition of #LaQuedada, we will have the opportunity to visit the studios of five artists participating in Art Madrid'24:

Carlos Tárdez - Galería Bea Villamarín

Elena Gual - Arma Gallery

Lara Padilla - Punts Galería

Richard García - Galería BAT Alberto Cornejo

Marina Tellme - Open Booth Art Madrid’24

La Quedada is a project designed for all audiences. Is possible thanks to ONE SHOT HOTELS, one of Art Madrid'24's official sponsors.
You can be part of it if you are a professional in the field of culture or if you are a passionate art lover. The duration of the visits will be approximately one and a half hours. If you are interested, you can find the calendar of activities on our website. You can also register by clicking on the button below.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

CARLOS TÁRDEZ (Madrid, 1976)

Multidisciplinary artist, in whose work has special importance the prominence of the message that is hidden in all his creations.In both painting and sculpture, he has achieved a level of quality that has earned him, among many other awards, the Medal of Honor of the BMW Painting Prize in 2010, 2018 and 2021.

Carlos Tárdez in his studio. Image courtesy of the artist.

ELENA GUAL (Mallorca, 1994)

Elena Gual is known for her figurative paintings of women that celebrate their beauty and promote gender equality. Gual creates highly textured representations of skin, hair, and clothing by applying thick, impasto brushstrokes to her canvases with a palette knife. Gual is a graduate of the Florence Academy of Art. She strives to transform classical approaches to anatomy, composition, and light into her own style. Also a self-taught photographer, Gual often creates paintings from her own photographs, exploring the relationship between the two disciplines.

Elena Gual in her studio. image courtesy of the artist.

LARA PADILLA (Madrid, 1988)

Lara Padilla has a degree in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master's degree in Film Photography Direction from the TAI School. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions at national and international level, such as her recent solo exhibition at the Juan Silió Gallery or her participation in the last editions of the Santander 2023 and Art Basel Miami 2022 art fairs. In addition to her artistic career, she has made a name for herself as a fashion designer, collaborating with clients such as Springfield, Pepe Jeans and Levis. She also actively collaborates with Patricia Field, the stylist behind series such as Sex In The City and The Devil Wears Prada, for her Patricia Field Art Fashion project, creating unique hand-painted garments. Lara Padilla lives and works in Madrid, Miami and New York.

ara Padilla in her studio. image courtesy of the artist.

RICHARD GARCÍA (Madrid, 1995)

Richard García graduated in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid in the year 2017. After this stage, he began his journey as an artist, winning numerous competitions and beginning to develop his own style and discourse. The creative process is one of the most important parts of his work, in which he allows himself to be guided by intuition, through which he reflects superimposition and transparency.

Richard García in his studio. Image courtesy of the artist.

MARINA TELLME (Almería, 1995)

She has a degree in Fine Arts from the Alonso Cano Faculty (Granada) and a Masters in Film Directing from the TAI. She has also qualified as a voice actress at the EDM (Madrid). Her work has been exhibited at the Humboldt University (Berlin), the García Lorca Art Centre (Granada), the Bless Hotel (Madrid), the Instituto de la Mujer de Almería, selected at the Art Sur Festival of Art in Action (Córdoba) and the Femujer de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), among others. Her art is the result of her passion for telling stories. Her paintings, sculptures and installations present a scenography (like a frame of an animated film) with characters and circumstances that are mostly comic and naïve in style, but with room for social criticism.

Marina Tellme in her studio. Image courtesy of the artist.

Each edition of Art Madrid is, above all, an exercise in observation. Rather than a closed declaration of intent, it functions as a space where different artistic practices coexist and enter into dialogue, reflecting the moment in which they are produced. In 2026, the fair reaches its 21st edition, consolidating an identity grounded in plurality, close attention to artistic practice, and the coexistence of diverse languages within a shared curatorial framework.

Simone Theelen. Dream Botanic. 2023. Mixed media on leather. 160 × 140 cm. Uxval Gochez Gallery.

In this context, Art Madrid’26 does not present a single dominant aesthetic or a unified narrative. What unfolds in the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles is a broad and varied landscape, shaped by the proposals of national and international galleries working with artists whose practices respond—each from very different positions—to shared questions: how to continue producing images, objects, and discourses in a saturated context; how to engage with tradition without becoming trapped by it; and how to make the contemporary visible without falling into the ephemeral.

This text offers a reading of the aesthetic currents running through the fair, understood not as closed categories but as lines of force. These currents help to clarify what visitors will encounter and from which coordinates a significant part of contemporary artistic production is emerging today. This approach is rooted in one of Art Madrid’s core principles: respecting the DNA of each exhibitor while fostering a plural creative ecosystem capable of reflecting the richness and diversity of the current artistic landscape.

Sergio de la Flora. La cena. 2022. Oil on canvas. 120 × 120 cm. Inéditad Gallery.

One of the most consistent features of Art Madrid’26 is the attention paid to materiality. Painting, sculpture, and works on paper are presented as spaces where material is not merely a support, but an active element within the discourse itself. Many of the works draw on traditional techniques—oil, acrylic, graphite, ceramic, or wood—but are approached with a fully contemporary awareness. Surfaces become sites of accumulation, erosion, sheen, or density. Gestures remain visible, and the construction of the work is embraced as an essential part of each artistic language.

This emphasis on materiality does not stem from nostalgia for craftsmanship, but from a desire for presence. In contrast to the relentless circulation of digital images, these works demand time, close viewing, and physical attention. Rather than seeking immediate impact, they invite a slower and more sustained relationship with the viewer.

Ana Cardoso. Ser Casa #2. 2025. Acrylic on MDF. 78 × 100 cm. Galeria São Mamede.

Painting occupies a central place within the fair, though it does so from highly diverse positions. This is not a return to academic models, nor a rejection of contemporaneity, but an expanded understanding of painting—open to the incorporation of other materials and visual languages. Works appear in which oil coexists with spray paint, collage, resins, or graphite; surfaces where the pictorial merges with the object-based; images that move between abstraction, fragmented figuration, and symbolic reference. Painting is understood here as a flexible field, capable of absorbing influences from urban art, design, photography, and archival practices. For visitors, this results in a journey where painting is not presented as a homogeneous language, but as a territory of constant exploration shaped by varied and enriching formal decisions.

Mario Soria. My Candy House. 2024. Oil on canvas mounted on panel. 59 × 50 cm. Aurora Vigil-Escalera.

Rather than fading away, art history emerges at Art Madrid’26 as an active working material. Some proposals engage directly with classical iconographies or traditional genres such as portraiture, still life, or historical scenes, but do so from a critical and displaced perspective.

These works do not aim to reproduce past models. Instead, they place them under tension by altering context or scale, introducing unexpected elements, or foregrounding aspects that today appear problematic or revealing. Tradition is approached not as a fixed canon, but as an open archive—one that can be revisited, questioned, and rewritten. This dialogue resonates both with viewers who recognize historical references and with those who encounter them through a contemporary lens, aware that images of the past continue to shape how we understand the present.

Yasiel Elizagaray. From the Liminal series, No. 1. 2025. Mixed media on canvas. 170 × 150 cm. Nuno Sacramento Arte Contemporânea.

Another defining thread of Art Madrid’26 is the dissolution of boundaries between disciplines. Many works resist classification within a single category, operating simultaneously as painting and object, sculpture and drawing, image and structure.

This hybridity reflects a contemporary context in which artistic languages no longer function in isolation. The resulting works call for open-ended readings, where form, material, and idea interact without fixed hierarchies, encouraging viewers to navigate meaning through experience rather than predefined frameworks.

Faustino Ruiz de la Peña. Lope. 2025. Oil, pencil and pigment. 31 × 27 cm. Galería Arancha Osoro.

Drawing and works on paper hold a significant presence in this edition. Far from being understood as preparatory or secondary, many of these pieces function as autonomous works—precise, deliberate, and conceptually robust.

Through lines, grids, voids, and repetitions, artists construct images that explore territory, memory, architecture, and the body. An economy of means does not diminish complexity; instead, paper becomes a space for visual thinking, where the passage of time and the trace of gesture are clearly registered. These works introduce a slower rhythm into the fair, inviting moments of pause and attentive observation.

Prado Vielsa. Haz de luz 2502. 2025. Digital print on folded transparent cast acrylic. 29 × 27 × 23 cm. Carmen Terreros Gallery.

Sculpture occupies an especially meaningful position at Art Madrid’26, situated between the organic and the structural, and between artisanal processes and industrial solutions. The use of recycled wood, ceramics, metals, and synthetic materials is not merely technical, but conceptual—prompting reflection on materiality, time, and transformation.

These pieces emphasize form, balance, and spatial relationships, understanding sculpture as a body that engages in dialogue with its environment and with the physical presence of the viewer. Often presented as symbolic objects rather than narrative devices, they activate open fields of association where meaning emerges through experience rather than explanation.

Reload. Blond Ambition. 2025. Pink, black and white marble. 62 × 32 × 12 cm. LAVIO.

Alongside more gestural and material-based approaches, the fair also includes works grounded in geometry, pattern, and structure. Built upon precise visual systems, these pieces employ repetition, symmetry, and modulation to generate rhythm and tension. They offer a counterpoint of restraint and formal control within the broader context of the fair, expanding the aesthetic spectrum and underscoring the diversity of contemporary artistic approaches.

Many of the works presented articulate non-linear narratives composed of symbols, cross-references, and deliberately ambiguous spaces. Rather than offering closed stories or singular interpretations, they function as open images—points of activation that invite interpretive engagement.

This approach reflects a contemporary sensibility that challenges the notion of fixed meaning, shifting part of the responsibility for interpretation onto the viewer. The artwork becomes a space of negotiation, where memory, experience, and perception actively shape understanding.

MINK. CRISTATUS – Ambition. 2025. Spray paint on wood. 120 × 106 cm.La Mercería.600:800

The body of work brought together in this edition reveals a sustained engagement with matter as a site of reflection and meaning-making. In the face of increasingly rapid and dematerialized modes of production, these works reaffirm the value of material support, process, and time as fundamental elements of artistic practice. This shared orientation does not define a single aesthetic, but establishes a common ground where diverse practices converge around the need to anchor artistic experience in the tangible and the constructed. Within this context, Art Madrid consolidates itself as a meeting space where contemporary art is presented with critical awareness, rigor, and clarity—fostering an active relationship between artwork, artist, and audience.