This year Art Madrid wants to highlight the work involved in designing and installation the booths. Thus, the effort and dedication by the gallerists and artists participating in this edition will be recognized with two special awards for two of the best booths granted by the organizers of the fair.

Samuel Salcedo

Peace 1/2/3 (cada pieza), 2018

Resina de epoxy

70 x 60cm

Many visitors would be surprised to know the great work hiding in "the booth installation", work prior to the celebration of the fair that also requires updating in the event of purchases of the artworks that form it. While it is true that it is an ephemeral work, since it only lasts the days of the fair, it is also true that the exhibition design determines the way in which we perceive the pieces. In addition, and with the exception of stands dedicated to the One Project program, designed for each artist having his space, the works of different artists coexist in the General Program booths, between three to twelve creators. Creating dialogues between these works, composing the spaces in a harmonious or pleasant way, getting the best lighting, arranging the pieces in such a way that the audience can circulate without involving any danger to the booth... Many details that define the style of the gallery and condition the way in which the public approaches the expository proposals.

Gorka García

Art 58, 2018

Mixed technique

200 x 200cm

Jordi Alcaraz

Untitled, 2018

Mixed media

80 x 100cm

Leticia Felgueroso

Gran Vía edificio Rolex amarillo, 2018

Photography

108 x 130cm

This year, some of the displays especially stand out. These are 3 Punts Galeria, which presents works by Alejandro Monge, Gerard Mas, Kiko Miyares, Samuel Salcedo, Silvio Alino, Nick Veasey, Ramon Surinyac and Okuda San Miguel; the Gallery BAT Alberto Cornejo, with pieces by Gustavo Díaz Sosa, José Ramón Lozano, Lantomo, Mária Švarbová, Carlos Albert, Leticia Felgueroso, Marta Sánchez Luengo, Rafael Amorós, Fernando Palacios, Carlos Iglesias Faura and Rubén Martín de Lucas, Guest Artist of this edition. Equally, we also can outline the display of the gallery directed by Aurora Vigil-Escalera, which offers in its booth a selection of works by Juan Genovés, Herminio, Pablo Armesto, Gorka García, Ismael Lagares, Rafael Macarrón, David Rodríguez Caballero, Santiago Picatoste and Marcela Lobo. Also, the Miquel Alzueta booth (Barcelona) stands out and in their space you can find works by the artists Jordi Alcaraz, Edgar Plans, Maria Yellletisch, Hugo Alonso, Andrea Torres and Lídia Masllorens.

Javier Victorero

En el jardín VI, 2018

Acrylic on canvas

310 x 294cm

Outstanding booths are also those of MH Art Gallery, with works by Joo Eun Bae, Monica Dixon, Estefanía Urrutia and Thilleli Rahmoun; those of the Cornión Gallery, which presents works by Miguel Calano, Javier Victorero and Amancio; as well as the Luisa Pita gallery new selection with the works by María Ortega Estepa, Maríajosé Gallardo y Darío Basso.

Likewise, the space designed by the Zielinsky gallery is one of the most interesting, and in its booth you can see the work by the artists Joaquín Lalanne, Yamadú Canosa, Eduardo Marco, Pachi Santiago, Daniel Orson Ybarra and Juan Fielitz; the booth of the Bea Villamarín gallery, with works by the artists Mònica Subidé, Carlos Tárdez, Patricia Escutia, Candela Muniozguren and Alejandro Quincoces; or that of Víctor Lope arte Contemporáneo, a booth in which spectators will be able to see the pieces by Kepa Garraza, Jacinto Moros, Patrik Grijalvo and Dirk Salz. This gallery has also been responsible for the design of one of the spaces of the One Project program, where it represents the artist Alejandra Atarés. Within this program, the booth designed by RV Cultura e Arte and the artist Manuela Eichner is worth mentioning, as well as that of the About Art Gallery and Nuria Mora or the Contour Art Gallerybooth with Rūta Vadlugaitė.

Guim Tió Zarraluki

Capvespre, 2017

Oil on linen

65 x 81cm

Ernesto Rancaño

Aire, 2018

Printed photography and charcoal on canvas, LED light

114 x 114cm

As for the foreign exhibitors, the Yiri Arts proposals stand out, a Taiwanese gallery that exhibits works by Chen Yun, Guim Tió, Lai Wei-Yu and Mònica Subidé; as well as that of his neighbour at the Galería de Cristal, Collage Habana, gallery which presents a selection of Cuban creators: Andy Llanes Bultó, Daniel R. Collazo, Ernesto Rancaño and Roldán Lauzán Eiras. Other outstanding installations of foreign galleries are those of the North American Lola & the Unicorn, with pieces by Fernando Daza, Bosco Sodi, Isabelita Valdecasas, Juan Genovés and Miguel Vallinas; or the Portuguese Paulo Nunes-Arte Contemporânea, where the works by Ana Pais Oliveira, Manuel Patinha, Mário Macilau and Rui Dias Monteiro are exhibited. In addition, those visitors really interested in buying a piece, have the possibility to discover those works that gallerists also keep in their small and ephemeral warehouses. Also, the organisation highlighted the Robert Drees visual proposal (Hannover), composed by Pepa Salas, Markus Fräger, Michael Laube, Sun Rae Kim and Jürgen Jansen's works.

Patrik Grijalvo

Veles et Vents (Serie Gravitación Visual), 2018

Photograph on Hahnemühle paper

150 x 150cm

Patricia Escutia

Page 51-52, 2018

Wire on canvas

81 x 124cm

This year, the Art Madrid organization awards two special prizes to the two best booths. In addition to this recognition, the prizes consist of a special communication and promotion campaign within the Art Madrid Market, an online sales space where curated virtual exhibitions will be held. Art Madrid has decided to reward the booths of the galleries Víctor Lope Arte Contemporáneo and Bea Villamarín galleries.

Víctor Lope is a Catalan gallery founded in 2009 and located in the centre of Barcelona. From the beginning, it has opted to launch and consolidate the careers of emerging and mid-career artists who have a unique vision of contemporary art. Another feature that defines this gallery is its international character, and in this sense, they make a great effort to consolidate their artists in the European and international art market. In Art Madrid features a thoughtful selection of the wood sculptures of Jacinto Moros, the photomontages by Patrik Grijalvo, the mysterious resin pieces by Dirk Salz and a large drawing by Kepa Garraza, "a Louis XIV" portrait with which the artist appropriates the vision codes of power to launch critical and ironic messages.

Candela Muniozguren

Acid Bang 08, 2018

Lacquered steel

48 x 17cm

Jacinto Moros

FMK100, 2017

Maple wood and formica

132 x 70cm

For its part, the Bea Villamarín Gallery is located in Gijón, one of the Spanish cities with the greatest creative tradition, as well as gallery and collect tradition. This gallery stands out for its involvement in the promotion and promotion of young artists, both national and international. Specialized in advising corporate collectors, the gallery directed by Beatriz Villamarín and Daniel García presents in Art Madrid an interesting dialogue between the abstract writings of Patricia Escutia, the geometric and colorful sculptures by Candela Muniozguren and the much more realistic ones by Carlos Tárdez, together with the paintings of Mònica Subidé and Alejandro Quincoces, natural scenes in the case of the first and urban in the case of the second.

If you want to see these and the rest of the artistic proposals of the more than 40 participating galleries, you can still visit the fair today from 11 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the stunning Crystal Gallery of the Palacio de Cibeles. Today, we celebrate the last day of Art Madrid'19!

The work of Julian Manzelli (Chu) (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1974) is situated within a field of research in which art adopts methodologies close to scientific thinking without renouncing its poetic and speculative dimension. His practice is structured as an open process of experimentation, in which the studio functions as a laboratory: a space for trial, error, and verification, oriented less toward the attainment of certainties than toward the production of new forms of perception. In this sense, his work enters into dialogue with an epistemology of uncertainty, akin to philosophical traditions that understand knowledge as a process of becoming rather than closure.

Manzelli explores interstitial zones, understood as spaces of transit and transformation. These ambiguous areas are not presented as undefined but as potential—sites where categories dissolve, allowing the emergence of hybrid, almost alchemical configurations that reprogram the gaze. Geometry, far from operating as a normative system, appears tense and destabilized. His precarious constructions articulate a crossing between intuition and reason, play and engineering, evoking a universal grammar present in both nature and symbolic thought. Thus, Manzelli’s works do not represent the world but rather transfigure it, activating questions rather than offering closed answers.

Avícola. Escultura magnética. Madera, imanes, laca automotriz y acero. 45 x 25 cm. 2022.

Science and its methods inspire your process. What kinds of parallels do you find between scientific thinking and artistic creation?

Science and art are two disciplines that I believe share a great deal and are undoubtedly deeply interconnected. I am interested in that point of intersection, and although they are often placed in opposition, I think they share a common origin. Both involve a continuous search, a need for answers that stems from curiosity rather than certainty, and that often—or in many cases—leads both artists and scientists into uncomfortable, uncertain positions, pushing them out of their comfort zones. I believe this is a fundamental and very compelling aspect shared by these two disciplines, which in some way define us as human beings.

In this sense, both share experimentation as a core axis of their practice. Trial and error, testing, and the entire process of experimentation are what generate development. In my case, this applies directly to the studio: I experience it as a laboratory where different projects are developed and materials are tested. It is as if one formulates a hypothesis and then puts it to the test—materials, procedures, forms, colors—and outcomes emerge. These results are not meant to be verified, but rather, in art, I believe their function is to generate new modes of perception, new ways of seeing, and new experiences.

Receptor Lunar #01. Ensamble de Madera Reciclada torneada. 102 x 26 x 26 cm. De la serie Fuerza orgánica. 2023.

You work within the interstices between the natural and the artificial, the figurative and the abstract. What interests you about these ambiguous zones, and what kinds of knowledge emerge from them?

I have always been quite restless, and that has led me to immerse myself in different fields and disciplines. I believe there is a special richness in interstitial spaces—in movement back and forth, in circulation between media. These spaces have always drawn my attention: ambiguous places, hybrid zones. There is something of an amphibious logic here—amphibians as entities that carry and transmit information, that share, that cross boundaries and membranes. In my case, this is closely linked to what I understand as freedom, especially at a time marked by categorization, labeling, and a profound distortion of the very concept of freedom.

On another level, more metaphysical in nature, it is within the mixture—within that blending—that the living energy of creating something new appears, which is undoubtedly a fundamental aspect of what it means to be human. It is as if “one thing becomes something else outside the mold.” This interaction is necessary to break structures, to build new ones, to transmute—to undergo something almost alchemical. I believe fixation is the enemy. In a way, ambiguity is what allows us to reprogram our gaze and generate new points of view.

De la serie Naturaleza orgánica. Madera torneada recuperada de podas de sequía y rezagos de construcción. 2025.

Movement, repetition, and sequence appear as visual strategies in your work. What role does seriality play in the generation of meaning?

Movement, repetition, and sequence are very present in my work. I have a long background in animation, and in some way that interest begins to filter into the other disciplines in which I work. Thus, movement also appears in my visual art practice.

Seriality is a way of thinking about time and of introducing a certain narrative and sense of action into the work, while at the same time conditioning the viewer’s experience. It invites the viewer to try to decipher repetition as a kind of progression. I am particularly interested in more abstract forms of narrative. In this type of narrative, where there is no clear figuration, repetition begins to establish a pulse, a “beat” that marks the passage of time. What is interesting, I think, is the realization that repetition is not exactly duplication, and that what seems identical begins to mutate over time, through rhythm, or through its own unfolding history.

De la serie Naturaleza orgánica. Madera torneada recuperada de podas de sequía y rezagos de construcción. 2025.

You work with geometric and constructive systems. What role does geometry play as a symbolic language within your practice?

Geometry is present in my work in multiple forms and dimensions, generating different dynamics. Generally, I tend to put it into crisis, into tension. When one engages closely with my works, it becomes clear that constructions based on imprecise and unstable balance predominate. I am not interested in symmetry or exactness, but rather in a dynamic construction that proposes a situation. I do not conceive of geometry as a rigid system.

I believe this is where a bridge is established between the intuitive and the rational, between playfulness and engineering—those unexpected crossings. At the same time, geometry functions as a code, a language that connects us to a universal grammar present in nature, in fractals, and that undoubtedly refers to symbolism. It is there that an interesting portal opens, where the work begins to re-signify itself and becomes a process of meaning-making external to itself, entirely uncertain. The results of my works are not pieces that represent; rather, I believe they are pieces that transfigure and, in doing so, generate questions.

WIP. Madera torneada recuperada de podas de sequía y rezagos de contrucción. 2022.

To what extent do you plan your works, and how much space do you leave for the unexpected—or even for error?

In terms of planning, it depends greatly on the project and even on the day. Some projects, due to their scale or complexity, require careful planning, especially when they involve the participation of other people. In many cases, planning is undoubtedly essential.

That said, in the projects I do plan, I am always interested in leaving space for improvisation, where chance or the unfolding of the process itself can come into play. I believe this is where interesting things begin to emerge, and it is important not to let them pass by. Personally, I would find it very boring to work on pieces whose outcome I already know in advance. For me, the realization of each work is an uncertain journey; I do not know where it will lead, and I believe that is where its potential lies—not only for me, but also for the work itself and for the viewer’s experience.