Art Madrid'20 has in this edition 41 galleries and more than 200 artists coming from all over the world will exhibit their work during five days in the Crystal Gallery of the Cibeles Palace.

With a wide and varied exhibition proposal, this edition has a thousand works among painting, photography, sculpture, installation and video art.

Art Madrid hosts works by emerging and mid-career artists as well as consolidated professionals with an outstanding international career, which allows us to observe a varied and broad proposal of contemporary art as a whole.

We have made a selection of the essential ones of Art Madrid so that you do not miss the must of this edition in your visit:

The metaphysical and ethereal photographs of Aqua Aura in the Luisa Catucci Gallery. The artist's personal training continues with trips inside museums, in research laboratories and through enormous spaces in the natural environment. His studies range from the field of astrophysics to particle physics, biogenetics, philosophy and psychology of perception. Thanks to the participation for the first time of the Berlin gallery Luisa Catucci we will be able to enjoy the work of this artist.

Aqua Aura

Museum Highlight The Basement, 2018

Impresión

153 x 96cm

Aqua Aura

Museum Highlights The Great White Hall, 2019

Impresión

153 x 96cm

Marta Fábregas and her series of "Colonized" women in the booth of Pigment Gallery. Her main talent is knowing how to capture in a quick and natural way the beauty that is in the things that surround us, that is why her works are so powerful. Putting the spotlight and the spark to everything that passes through her lens. Without a doubt, his empathy, involvement and creativity make each project he works on have a strength and character that makes it special and unique. We bet because his series of "Colonized" women will not leave the public indifferent with such a mixture of elegance, beauty and character.

Marta Fàbregas

Colonitzada nº52, 2019

Fotografía antigua, mix media sobre papel de acuarela sobre tela

130 x 100cm

Marta Fàbregas

Colonitzada nº61, 2019

Fotografía antigua, mix media sobre papel de acuarela sobre tela

130 x 100cm

Hendrik Czakainski's post-architectural panels with the Urban Spree gallery. The artist becomes a forensic architect, collecting evidence of disasters, past, present and future, incorporating them into large scale surrealistic compositions, creating three-dimensional landscapes that have become both empty of human presence and beautiful at the same time. His creations bring us to a state of contemplation by asking us if humanity is still part of the global equation or if the tipping point has already been reached; if a reversal is even possible.

Hendrik Czakainski

26390, 2019

Cartón y pintura sobre MDF

250 x 150cm

Hendrik Czakainski

Circle Crash, 2019

Cartón y pintura sobre MDF

156 x 88cm

The colorful works of Misterpiro in Galería Kreisler. After his beginnings in graffiti in his adopted city, he evolved in his studio towards watercolors, acrylics and water-based techniques. His technique is based on improvisation, where the aggressiveness of spray paint and the delicacy of watercolor are mixed in all types of support, creating a world that makes us travel from complete abstraction to the figurative.

Misterpiro

Meanwhile, 2019

Esmalte acrílico y spray sobre panel de madera

120 x 120cm

Misterpiro

Meanwhile, 2019

Esmalte acrílico y spray sobre panel de madera

120 x 120cm

Patricia Escutia's wire technique with the gallery Bea Villamarín. The artist participates with her work for the first time in Art Madrid. With a very personal technique where the wires resemble the lost words, "Transcriptions", she collects the lost messages of what has passed through our lives without leaving a trace; texts, notes, paintings, words... highlighting the lack of communication between individuals, when these belong to different realities. To highlight this fact, the artist creates a form of non-language that abstracts the system of signs used by human beings to communicate, which is materialized in an abstract, three-dimensional writing that turns these messages into a succession of empty lines of content.

Patricia Escutia

Page 53-54, 2018

Alambre e hilo de caucho sobre lienzo

81 x 124cm

Patricia Escutia

Page 50, 2018

Alambre e hilo de caucho sobre lienzo

73 x 60cm

Jorg Karg's photo collages at BAT Alberto Cornejo Gallery. The German artist has lived throughout his life an obsession with images. He takes, reorganizes and abstracts the photographic material, using an editing software, resulting in images full of surrealism and delicacy. His images, which are based on photographs of himself and others, are fragmented, superimposed and mutilated so that our eyes do the remaining work and compose a new picture full of beauty and sensuality.

Jorg Karg

Slow Rain, 2018

Impresión por pigmento bajo vidrio acrílico sobre dibond de aluminio, MÁS TAMAÑOS DISPONIBLES

80 x 58cm

Jorg Karg

One mile light, 2019

Printing by pigment under acrylic glass on aluminum dibond

80 x 76cm

Mari Quiñonero and her pastels on paper with the Taiwanese gallery Yiri Arts. The artist has created her own creative universe through different techniques that go from watercolor and acrylic to drawing and collage, to achieve her own quiet style where calm and order direct the look.

Mari Quiñonero

No.130, 2018

Pastel sobre papel

60 x 42cm

Mari Quiñonero

No.151, 2018

Pastel sobre papel

60 x 42cm

Luciano Ventrone and his extreme realism at the Italian Stefano Forni Gallery. Despite the fact that Luciano Ventrone is internationally recognized as one of the master realistic painters of his generation, he considers that his works are really about optics: "Painting is not about the mere representation of an object, but about its color and light". For each of his works, Ventrone carefully stages a theme under studio lights. Luciano's paintings "invite the viewer to an atmosphere of pure contemplation"; they are works of great skill and supreme aesthetic beauty. Ventrone shows things more clearly and distinctly than they appear to us in reality; everything is focused, everything is examined.

Luciano Ventrone

Profondo rosso, 2013

Oil on canvas

60 x 70cm

The sculpture by Nicolas Laiz with his series "Nopalia". The artist unifies the natural and the artificial, what is desired and what is imposed. He works on the reflection, through different techniques, of concepts such as landscape, exoticism and the construction of nature as a cultural, social and economic concept.

Nicolás Laiz

Nopalia III, 2019

polvo de mármol, resina, hierro y laca

95 x 43cm

Nicolás Laiz

Política Natural I, 2018

Resina, fibra de vidrio, aridos y pintura doble componente

80 x 30cm

Samuel Salcedo's amazing heads, 3 Punts Galeria. His sculptures and characters always question the viewer with their subtle irony and vulnerability. Salcedo's sculptural work is characterized by technical excellence. One can see his mastery in the diversity of the materials he uses (resin, wood, aluminum, bronze) and which he integrates into the painting.

Samuel Salcedo

Pinball Wizard 1, 2019

Aluminum

95 x 95cm

Samuel Salcedo

Toy Land - Mirror Mirror, 2019

Resina poliuretano policromada

27 x 10cm

Antonio Ovejero

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

Antonio Ovejero (Valencia, 1999) explores memory and the retrieval of scenes that dwell in our collective imagination, focusing on the sublime aspects of everyday life. He is fascinated by women adorned with jewelry and large bags, dresses with geometric patterns, and extravagant hairstyles that bridge different eras. Through a kitsch aesthetic, he seeks the ostentatious in attire, the conspicuous, and the pretentious, elements that are often more common and closer than one might expect.

His portraits often highlight the hands, revealing details and the objects they hold, such as a retro handbag. The use of print as an identity and aesthetic tool is a recurring element in his work. For him, the combination of age, the everyday, and elegance forms a constant image. He defines his pictorial project as a neo-pop costumbrista.

What role does experimentation play in your creative process?

I believe experimentation is crucial for any artist, as it is the means by which you discover how to represent what you wish to convey. Since I began painting, I have used various techniques to achieve the results I was looking for.

Oil painting dominates my work. I've always favored this medium because I feel more comfortable with it, and it delivers the results I want. However, when I decided to incorporate printmaking, I sought ways to present it in a more contemporary manner. Initially, I chose photographic transfer because it seemed like an interesting resource that complemented oil painting well. But I later realized I wanted the work to be entirely plastic, with painting as the dominant element. That’s when I began working with silkscreen, a printing technique that allowed for more precise results and integrated well with oil painting.

For this technique, I used acrylic paint because it dries faster and provides a greater margin for error, although it requires a lengthy process that involves more than just painting. This is when I discovered stenciling, a method where I create designs in Illustrator and then cut them out with a laser cutter. Stenciling makes the painting more organic and faster. So, I continue to search and experiment until I find the right means to complete a painting.

I believe using different techniques within one work greatly enriches it. Currently, I am focused on finding a direct way to combine brushstrokes with prints. I am experimenting with animal prints, which are more organic and forge a direct link between the painting and the act of painting itself.

Always matching bags and heels. 2024. Oil on panel. 180 x 140 cm.

What are your references?

To discuss my references, I think I need to divide them into those within my environment and those from outside. I was born into a family where my father was a painter, and my brother Miguel Ángel is also a painter, so painting has been present since my early years. Additionally, my mother always supported my dedication to the art world, and I spent a lot of time with my grandmother, who was a seamstress. Therefore, anything related to textiles, scraps, and printmaking has always caught my attention, and I have tried to capture it in my work.

As for external references, in painting, I think of artists like Marten Ant and David Storey, who work with photographic archives, or Juan Ugalde, who intervenes in photographs to create new narratives, or Gerhard Richter, whose painting is closely linked to photography. I find the union of photography and painting very interesting. I also think that my work has a strong connection with certain cinematic or photographic influences. In this respect, I highlight Martin Parr, a photographer who captures everyday scenes at the beach, focusing on details like wrinkled hands.

Another reference is Eric Persona, a Milanese photographer who explores daily life from a perspective that blends the extravagant with the mundane, creating very interesting images. I am also inspired by Thandiwe Muriu, a Kenyan photographer who creates images in which prints merge with the model, making prints a symbol of identity for Kenyan women.

As I mentioned earlier, my painting has a close connection to cinema, which is why I always think of Marisa Paredes, especially in Almodóvar’s films, where she portrays a woman with a tough life but remains elegant and sublime, something I try to reflect in the female figures I paint. In this sense, Almodóvar is an important cinematic reference. I also think my work mirrors the interplay of patterns and colors in his films. Another reference is Paolo Sorrentino, an Italian filmmaker who blends the glamorous with the everyday, the extravagant with the costumbrista, concepts I also try to incorporate into my work, just as Fellini captured a strange everydayness.

I believe all these references have a direct influence on me and help me create the imaginary I aim to represent in my work.

Your leather bag. 2024. Oil on panel. 180 x 140 cm.

How important is gesture in your portraits?

Throughout my work, I have explored portraiture from various angles, especially in the "Señoras" project, where I wanted to use the portrait as a collective stamp representing the women it portrayed, so that a figure like Conchita or Paca would symbolize all the women of that generation. I think the gesture in the portrait is very important, something I tried to emphasize in my work. Also, depending on how you portray a person, you can convey different things.

For instance, a grimace, a lascivious or defiant look, is also a form of narration within the work. But now, I use portraiture in a different way. I believe that portraying people can also be done by showing the elements that make them up. For example, I now work with close-up shots where elements such as handbags, jewelry, hands, or posture take on great significance. All of these elements also reflect what a person or a group of people is like. So, the current portrait I work on, where I use gestures, relies on the arrangement of elements: how a hand is placed, how a bag is positioned, and how the image I am portraying is constructed.

Whisky on the rocks. 2024. Oil and acrylic on panel. 40 x 40 cm.

What is your favorite format for painting?

I believe the format is crucial in how you want to create your work and how you work. I almost always work on plywood, on a frame, because the strength of the wood allows me to have more impact on the work. Also, I use printmaking techniques that require a more rigid support; if I used linen or canvas, for instance, it would loosen and make the creative process more challenging. That’s why I always work on wood.

I find it very interesting to use the brush more aggressively in the first strokes, the initial stains, which directly relate to the format. The size of the work is very important. I prefer large formats because I feel freer in that space, where the first brushstrokes and stains feel more satisfying. It also creates a connection between the painting and the act of painting itself, which I believe is essential to creation. I think pleasure has a powerful role in the work, as the result greatly depends on whether there is a certain enjoyment or if you are looking for something more perfectionist or precise.

Large formats allow me to develop best, where the work is constructed and the shapes and brushstrokes merge. When I work with smaller formats, I also enjoy the process, but it requires more consistency and thoroughness. The brushstroke has to be more precise, the focus is on a specific part, and the construction process is slower because the combination of tones is more complex.

On the other hand, in larger formats, the tones and brushstrokes come together more easily, and the form is gradually created as I work. That’s why I generally prefer large formats and plywood.

Always matching bags and heels. 2024. Oil on panel. 180 x 140 cm.

How do you think your works reflect temporality?

In my work, I always try to address themes like memory, the preservation of memory, and the passage of time. Since I began creating, this has been reflected in my first projects such as Mujeres sin color (Women without Color), Relato sobre el luto (Mourning Story), or Señoras (Ladies). I depict elderly women who lived through the post-war era and the cultural and belief systems of Spain at the time, and who, in their maturity, have somehow detached themselves from that past.

That’s why I like to represent them in a more ornate and glamorous way, as a sign of empowerment. For me, it’s important to reflect that resilience through aesthetics and print, which I use as an identity resource for a generation like that of my grandmother and her friends, who came from that harsher Spain but are still present in our society. These women, with their rings, dresses, and handbags, are the women I capture in my work.

I believe that ostentation belongs to the representation of a certain empowerment after a life in black and white, so to speak. Temporality plays a fundamental role in my work. The passage of time and how these people were treated is something I focus on a lot. I try to represent them through their objects or scenes that evoke that era, combining the experiences they have shared with me and those I have lived through, creating a whole imaginary that I seek to capture in my work, centered around these women and this society.

In collaboration with