In the program #ART&EDUCATIONAM18, thanks to the collaboration of independent, public and private agents, artists, cultural mediators and professionals, we will try to shed light on concepts such as artistic activism and pedagogy, art as a space for experiences and education in the margin of the academic. Do not miss February, our month of art.

YOU

Art as a tool for life, creative processes as a resource for resolving conflicts, educating in art, educating with art, educational art and artistic education... The relationship between art and education has infinite possibilities and each one of the perspectives they are resolved in new questions open to research and experimentation. You can learn life through art, you must learn to look in another way from art, to see beyond the obvious and to pose other possible realities ... The art fair Art Madrid, involved in previous years with the issues of genre within art or with technological art, this time focuses its Program Parallel Activities in ART AND EDUCATION. "I do not want art for a few, in the same way that I do not want education for a few or freedom for a few", defended it by William Morris and we defend it from Art Madrid, open access to art, artistic spaces as places of learning and experiences and art as a tool for social transformation. From Art Madrid we want to question and rethink the relationship between art, education and society, anticipating the possibility that they are nothing but synonyms, facets of the same crystal, beams of light that converge in a single point, a nodule of Renewing energy.

La Quinta del Sordo

In this edition, for #ArtandEducation AM18 we have La Quinta del Sordo as a collaborating space, much more than a co-working, it is a space in which we will develop the talks and presentations (and some other surprise) of our program. La Quinta team will present its TANDEM course, dedicated to the development of cultural projects by artists and cultural managers. (Thursday, February 1, 7:30 pm: La Quinta del Sordo, c / del Rosario, 15. Madrid)

Among the ROUND TABLES AND LECTURES we highlight the one by Pedagogías Invisibles, platform that generates educational proposals around contemporary art as a way to create knowledge, community and transformation. For them, the unexpected, the conflict, the questioning of oneself and critical and divergent thinking are tools that they use for learning. (Thursday, February 8, 7:30 p.m. in La Quinta del Sordo, c / del Rosario, 15. Madrid)

We also have the Plena Inclusión Foundation and Repsol Foundation and their residencies program Espacio Convergente (within the Más Cultura Más Inclusión program) in which 3 artists live and work with the boys and girls of the foundation, sharing experiences and demonstrating that art it is an essential element of construction and social inclusion. In his talk will participate the artists María Bueno and Bilal Dadou, Ana Lozano Fernández, coordinator of More Culture More Inclusion, the moderator will be Graciela García, curator and expert in outsider art. (Thursday, February 15, 7:30 p.m. in La Quinta del Sordo, c / del Rosario, 15. Madrid).

Pedagogías Invisibles

The Platform Veo Arte en todas pArtes proposes a round table about the experiences of artists who are dedicated to academic artistic training. Participate Marta Pérez Ibáñez (Univ. De Nebrija), Rufino Ferreras (EducaThyssen.org) and the artists Jose Antonio Vallejo and Carmen Hidalgo. (Thursday, February 22, 7:00 p.m.)

In the section of WORKSHOPS, #ArtandEducationAM18 takes into account all kind of publics. With the VEGA school team, associated with Espositivo Academy, we will organize the workshop for adults Press INTRO to see what happens, directed to all those who want to hear about happening and be part of one. A workshop with the top teachers of Madrid, the artists Pablo Durango, Ignacio Tejedor and the collective Somos Nosotros. Fun is assured. (Saturday, February 10, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm Info and registration in: hola@espositivo.es).

Escuela Vega y Espositivo

For kids we have the experience and creative madness of the Taller del Hombre Rayo, a place where we will enjoy drawing, painting, building, investigating our creative and intuitive thinking to produce something authentic, genuine and original. (Saturday February 17, 11: 00. Info and registration in: anamusma@yahoo.es).

It is important to educate the eyes, how we look, how to see arts and, for this, we include 2 GUIDED VISITS TO EXHIBITIONS. The 1st to the exhibition "MIRADAS AUSENTES, GESTOS PRESENTES. An approach to contemporary art in the CA2M Collection" at the Pérez de la Riva Cultural Center (Las Rozas, Madrid). We have a bus -thanks to the RedItiner of the Community of Madrid - (Saturday, February 10, 10: 45h-13: 45h.)

The 2nd visit is inside the very heart of creativity, the atelier of the artist Okuda San Miguel who will tell us about his creative process, his way of working and will present us to the team that always accompanies him, Ink and Movement. (Tuesday, February 13, 7:00 p.m.)

Interior of the atelier of Okuda San Miguel

There will be many things, meetings and much surprise, so organize you February agenda because #ArtandEducation AM18 will surprise you. With this cycle we propose you to be active builders of our culture and not mere spectators.

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.