Shiras Galería is committed to local art in Valencia and in its proposal for this edition of Art Madrid will exhibit work by five Valencian artists and one Zamorano artist based in Valencia.

Founded by its current artistic director Sara Joudi, Shiras Galería gives visibility to local art in Valencia, as well as national and international art, and does so by offering a proposal for inter-generational dialogue between consolidated artists and young emerging artists with great potential for projection. Shiras Galería is a member of the Consortium of Spanish Contemporary Art Galleries, LaVAC (Association of Contemporary Art Galleries of the Valencian Community) and the Valencia Excellence Association.

Toño Barreiro (Zamora, 1965) participates in Art Madrid with the proposal "FLEXIA". Defined by the critic David Barro as: Toño Barreiro proposes to "visualize the skeleton of thought" and for this he uses the line in a sinuous and organic way (Dibujos infinitos) or as a constructor of flat geometries, which combines and moves in structures of inspired three-dimensionality (Flexia). Through new technologies and creative processes, the artist in his most recent creations, develops a multidisciplinary work in which he breaks completely with the traditional frame, making a symbiosis between painting and sculpture.

Toño Barreiro

Dibujos infinitos, 2018

Tinta plana sobre papel fabriano

90 x 75cm

Juan Olivares (Catarroja, 1973) is an interdisciplinary artist who works between China and Spain. This year he is participating in the fair with the new series "Beyond", recently exhibited in Shiras, where he shows us his ambivalence between the poetics of the Eastern world and the chromatism of Western abstract expressionism. He makes his collages by cutting out fragments of vinyl paint on paper and combining them in such a way that the formal limits of the pictorial are lost. For the artist, abstraction is the search for the essential in the work.

Horacio Silva (Valencia, 1950), is included in Art Madrid's proposal with his recent project "intro-versions". Prestigious artist and professor of the UPV. In his work, mimesis and colour come together in a clear transition towards abstraction in which the element of "unity" makes it an explosive display of emotional tensions, from which his unmistakable personal stamp emerges.

Josep Tornero

St, 2019

Oil on canvas

100 x 100cm

Horacio Silva

Mi isla preferida, 2019

Acrylic on canvas

155 x 120cm

The artist Josep Tornero (Valencia,1973), uses his masterful command of classical technique in a contemporary way and with it constructs a work in which he travels through the image both from the real and the imaginary where we find a constant concern for the material element that configures it. Her black and white oils, which resemble a blurred photograph, have a background of social denunciation. This makes her paintings unmistakable.

Nanda Botella

Serie grietas franjas y color, 2018

Mixed media

70 x 70cm

Shiras' exhibition proposal for Art Madrid is completed with the most recent works by Nanda Botella and Cristina Gamón. Stripes, colours and cracks merge in the work of Nanda Botella (Valencia,1960), who expresses her deepest feelings through a metaphysical language. The colour in its maximum vivacity is a fundamental element in the current work of the Valencian artist, in contrast to the work based on black and white of her previous stage. On the other hand, the young artist Cristina Gamón (Valencia, 1987), makes a show of color on surfaces of metacrilate, obtaining diffused and transparencies that remember to primary organisms submerged in aqueous spaces located in abysmal depths.

The artistic practice of Chamo San (Barcelona, 1987) revolves around a poetics of attention, in which the seemingly insignificant acquires a singular reflective intensity. His works emerge from a persistent observation of everyday life, understood not as a narrative repertoire but as a field of shared experience. Within this framework, the minimal gesture becomes a form of sensitive knowledge, placing the viewer before scenes that are both recognizable and, at the same time, estranged by their temporal suspension.

The progressive shift toward a more atmospheric painting has allowed the environment to cease functioning as a mere support and become an active agent of meaning. Restrained color ranges and carefully constructed spaces generate a sense of stillness that evokes a pictorial tradition attentive to duration and waiting. The human figure—a constant presence in his work—is presented immersed in contexts that amplify its affective and existential dimension.

The silence permeating these images is not absence but condition; it constitutes a space of resonance in which the time of doing and the time of looking converge. Situated between compositional control and openness to the contingent, Chamo San’s work affirms painting as a territory where planning and accident coexist.

Bathtub. 2018. Ballpoint pen on notebook. 14 x 18 cm.

Many of your works show meticulous attention to the smallest gestures and seemingly trivial moments. What interests you about these micro-choreographies of everyday life?

The seed of my work always comes from the sketches I make from life in small notebooks that I can carry with me at all times. Later, I either transfer them to another format so I can work on them more calmly, or they become the final piece in themselves.

Composition, staging, and perhaps those micro-choreographies are what I allow myself to bring to the scene as an artist. For me, these everyday moments are the most direct and honest way to connect with the audience because—even though they are intimate—they reflect universal experiences.

Feet. 2023. Oil pastel on paper mounted on board. 30 x 30 cm.

In your pieces, the presence of sober tones seems to generate a particular type of atmosphere. How would you describe the way that atmosphere emerges during your work, and what role does it play in the overall construction of the image?

Atmosphere and colour are relatively recent additions to my work. Previously, I focused exclusively on the figures as the central element, and they were often left floating in a kind of void. It was when I realised the need to provide context—especially as I began working more closely from the notes in my notebooks—that I came to understand the importance of the environment for the character.

The human figure will always remain the main element for me, as it is through its representation that I find the greatest enjoyment. However, little by little, I have become interested in exploring what surrounds it. I see the creation of an environment and an atmosphere as essential in order to situate the figures within a more complete and fully constructed scene.

Mamant. 2025. Colored pencils on notebook. 14 x 18 cm.

Are the silences in your works inherited from real experiences, or do they emerge during the painting process?

The silences in my work are inherited from real experiences. When I capture those small moments of everyday life—which is essential for me—I tend to be focused and quiet. At the same time, I also believe that the contemplation of artworks naturally invites this kind of calm. In that sense, for a brief moment, both the artist—throughout the entire creative process—and the viewer, when engaging with the work, can meet in the same state of tranquillity and silence.

The Kiss. 2024. Oil pastel on notebook. 14 x 18 cm.

To what extent do you plan your works and how much space do you leave for the unexpected to happen?

Some of my works are very planned, even excessively so, with lots of sketches. On the other hand, I always have that starting point that appears in my notebooks, and I leave experimentation and the unexpected for the end. Although it's also true that when I've thrown myself into improvisation from the beginning, wonderful things have happened, so now I try to combine those two worlds as organically as possible.

Cinema. 2025. Ballpoint pen and oil pastel on notebook. 14 x 18 cm.

Although your work has shifted towards the pictorial—with an aesthetic closely linked to cinema—echoes of illustration can still be seen in your visual language. Which elements would you say remain, and which have undergone a radical transformation?

For me, illustration has been an intense learning process. I deeply admire artists who have combined commissioned illustration with studio work for galleries, such as Ramón Casas and James Jean. I believe these two worlds can connect on a technical level, but their language and purpose are fundamentally different.

The existence of a unique, original work allows for accidents to occur—things that are very unlikely to happen in illustration. It is this condition of uniqueness, and above all the intention behind it, that makes the two practices radically different.