Art Madrid'25 – ANDRÉS PLANAS: POLITICALLY INCORRECT, WITH THE GALLERY MA

Andrés Planas participates for the first time in Art Madrid together with the Mallorcan gallery MA arte contemporáneo. Within the One Project program, curated by Fernando Gómez de la Cuesta and under the title "Salvajes", Andrés Planas will present part of his most recent work, which he has called: "Contracorriente".

"Contracorriente" brings together a selection of works that have formed part of different projects and series carried out by the artist in recent years. Andrés Planas (Palma de Mallorca, 1957), has a long career, participating since 1989, in numerous individual and group exhibitions.

The work of the Mallorcan artist is fundamentally focused on the search for the ironic side of things, playing with concepts such as death, sex, religion or education from a imposed perspective, where these elements are defined by norms of conduct of any society by the stablishment, and under religious or political ideologies that configure a false morality in individuals. And he does not do it, according to the artist _"in a political way, but rather, responding to a personal need, like an exorcism".

Andrés Planas

Paquito, 2015

Técnica mixta madera, plástico, pigmentos, pan de oro y restos biológicos humanos

30 x 17cm

Andrés Planas

BigMac, 2015

Técnica mixta madera, plástico, pigmentos, pan de oro y restos biológicos humanos

40 x 23cm

We see this fierce criticism in some of the works belonging to his series "Identity", from 2015 and "The Twelve Apostles", from 2019. In the pieces of the series "Identity" the artist develops a technique with which he inserts elements such as wood, plastics, pigments, gold leaf and human biological remains, creating then a work in where the found object is decontextualized, changed, disguised and swallowed up with other elements and plastic techniques through which he transmits a totally new and ironic concept. This way he builds a sarcastic message about the strong manipulation of the facto powers in societies.

Colour dominates his creations. Colour in capital letters; a klein blue that makes it its own and impregnates many of his works.

Andrés Planas

Los 12 Apóstoles, 2, 2019

Mixed media

35 x 15cm

In the series "The Twelve Apostles", he presents a personalized iconography of the apostles, with that ironic tone that makes us believe it with absolute vehemence and at the same time we crack a smile. Planas gives us new stories about these characters that have already been historicized for centuries, making them reappear in a new ideology.

Andrés Planas is one of those artists who, despite going against established precepts and maintaining a vital stance often classified as "politically incorrect", has achieved creative independence both from a technical and a thematic point of view, and at the same time, has managed to remain coherent throughout his artistic career.

This project is also accompanied by some pieces from the series "La sonrisa de la calavera " together with an impressive artist's book and other works from the series "Wunderkammer " and "No sex".

Andrés Planas

El obispo de Siguenza, 2015

Técnica mixta madera, plástico, pigmentos, pan de oro y restos biológicos humanos

40 x 23cm

MA is a contemporary art space in Palma de Mallorca that has a full programme of exhibitions (from six to eight every year) of all kinds of artistic manifestations endorsed by the critical eye and criteria of its director, Marisa Aldeguer, also an artist and art historian. Marisa Aldeguer welcomes in her gallery both young artists and creators with consolidated careers. The gallery owner also provides advice on starting a contemporary art collection, always adapting to the taste and budget of the client.

“In MA Arte Contemporáneo we are very interested in spreading the beauty in its multiple facets, in giving to understand that at present there are thousands valid proposals in contemporary art, for that reason MA goes for a truncated line, with ramifications. We are interested in art that moves and touches", the gallery owner points out.

 

From July 7 to 9, 2025, the Balsera Palace will host the First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art, an intensive 15-hour program that will explore the complex and fundamental question of taste in contemporary art. Organized by the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities at Nebrija University and the Avilés City Council, in collaboration with 9915 — Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, the course offers a unique opportunity for analysis and debate on the dynamics that shape aesthetic and symbolic value in today’s art scene.


First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art. Avilés, Asturias


The notion of taste, intrinsically tied to aesthetic judgments and power relations, has played a decisive role in the historical prominence of artists and artworks. However, contemporary art—marked by its breaking of conventions, diversity of media and techniques, and critical stance toward traditional canons—raises fundamental questions about the continued relevance of this concept.

This course will explore how the decisions made by key players in the art system—institutions, private collections, galleries, curators, and artists—continually redefine a field of taste shaped by aesthetic, symbolic, cultural, social, and political logics.


"¿But does it exist, and what is the prevailing taste of our time—so seemingly confused, fragmented, indecipherable?" - Omar Calabrese, The Neo-Baroque Era.


The academic program, directed by José Luis Guijarro Alonso, Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University, and Pablo Álvarez de Toledo, Head of the Department of Arts at Nebrija University and the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities, will bring together a distinguished group of national experts—including collectors, critics, curators, gallery owners, and artists—whose contributions will address key issues in shaping aesthetic, symbolic, and market value in today’s art world.


PROGRAM

MONDAY, JULY 7

9:30 AM Registration.

10:00 AM Course Opening Nebrija University Avilés City Council Presented by Rosario López Meras – President of the Association of Contemporary Art Collectors, 9915, and Adrián Piera – President of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art.

10:30 AM Course Presentation By José Luis Guijarro Alonso – Art Historian and Anthropologist, Researcher, and Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion The Taste of Private Collecting as a Prelude to History. Speakers: Candela Álvarez Soldevilla – Entrepreneur and Collector; Javier Quilis – INELCOM Collection; José Miguel Vegas Valle – Collector. Moderator: Luis Feás – Critic and Curator.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Individual Lecture On Good Taste in Contemporary Art. Speaker: Marisol Salanova – Curator and Art Critic, Director of Arteinformado.

4:45 PM Panel Discussion The Influence of Galleries in Shaping Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Elba Benítez – Gallerist; Ricardo Pernas – Gallerist (Arniches 26); Aurora Vigil-Escalera – Gallerist. Moderator: Rafael Martín – Coleccion@casamer.

6:00 PM End of Day.

6:30 PM Activity and Cocktail Visit to the Exhibition Asturian Artists in the Pérez Simón Collection – Avilés.

TUESDAY, JULY 8

10:00 AM Individual Lecture Contemporary (Bad) Taste: Kitsch, Camp, and Tacky. Speaker: Julio Pérez Manzanares – Autonomous University of Madrid.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion Institutions and the Formation of Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Virginia López – Artist, Founder of PACA_Proyectos Artísticos Casa Antonino; Julieta de Haro – Artistic Director of CentroCentro; Carlos Urroz – Director of Institutional Relations, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Moderator: Laura Gutiérrez – Director, School of Art of Oviedo.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Panel Discussion Beyond the Eye: The Taste for Ethical, Ecological, Social, or Political Concerns in Contemporary Art. Speakers: Semíramis González – Independent Curator; Eugenio Ampudia – Artist; Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga – Independent Curator. Moderator: Bárbara Mur Borrás – PhD in Fine Arts.

5:00 PM End of Day.

5:30 PM Activity Visit to the Studiolo Exhibition – Candela Álvarez Soldevilla Collection.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

9:30 AM Meeting with Asturian Artists Speakers: María Castellanos – Artist; Avelino Sala – Artist; Consuelo Vallina – Artist. Moderator: Pablo Álvarez de Toledo – Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Activity Visit to the Niemeyer Center – Avilés.

Course Closing Ceremony.





This course is designed for art professionals, collectors, researchers, and students seeking an in-depth analysis of the dynamics that shape taste and collecting practices in contemporary art. Adopting a critical and multidisciplinary perspective, it provides a unique opportunity to rigorously examine the aesthetic, symbolic, and structural factors that underpin the legitimization of contemporary art.