Photo by Lorena Esteban courtesy of TOO MANY FLASH

ART MADRID has proved in its coming-of-age edition that it is a fair without labels, generalist but alive. Celebrated at the Galería de Cristal del Palacio de Cibeles from February the 22nd to the 26th, the contemporary art event has returned renovated, committed to new gallery models, launching reception platforms for young voices to find their place in the current scene, and interested in approaching new audiences to the project. The eighteenth edition of ART MADRID received the visit of important institutions such as: Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), INELCOM Collection, CCCB Centro de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona, Centro Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo (ARTIUM), Fundación Ankaria, Fundación Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Fundación Santander, Fundación Mª Cristina Masaveu Peterson, Fundación Telefónica, Fundación Tara Mujeres Emprendedoras, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Museo de Navarra, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) among others.

ART MADRID brought together 36 national and international galleries and more than 160 artists at the Galería de Cristal del Palacio de Cibeles. Their testimonials confirm the success of the edition and confirm the fair's desire to continue working for the professionalization of the sector.

OOA Gallery: "We are very satisfied with our second participation in ART MADRID. It was a very good edition, with the visit of many collectors and interest in African contemporary art. Total success."

Galerie LJ: "In our third participation, ART MADRID once again made it possible for us to meet with a huge Spanish audience, giving us the opportunity year after year to be able to expand our local network."

Galería Metro: "Our participation in ART MADRID'23 has been fantastic. The results exceeded our expectations: both in terms of visibility and sales of our artists, number of visitors, as well as new and interesting contacts."

Photo by Madelina Pana courtesy of TOO MANY FLASH

It is important to highlight the sales results: 10% of the works sold were priced at over 20,000 €; 14% were pieces between 8,000 and 20,000 €; 36% ranged between 3,000 and 8,000 €; while 40% of the acquisitions were of works in the range of up to 3,000 €. In view of these data, it could be concluded that ART MADRID is positioned as a fair to get started in collecting. It also highlights the presence of a bigger international public, specifically international collectors who want to expand their collections with Spanish artists.

The collections that made acquisitions in this edition include: Art Space Collection, Solo Collection, Mª Cristina Masaveu Peterson Collection, Cuperior Collection, Luciano Méndez Collection, BBVA Foundation, Bassat Foundation, Pamplona City Hall and Paradores Nacionales.

ART MADRID'23 has been possible thanks to the support of its sponsors: One Shot Hotels and Liquitex; its collaborators: AVAM, MMM, Safe Creative, Too many flash and 9915; and the institutions: Ministry of Culture and Sports, Madrid City Council, Community of Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo, Solo Collection, Fundación Mª Cristina Masaveu Peterson, Ministry of Culture of Taiwan and the Economic & Cultural Office of Taipei.

Photo by Madelina Pana courtesy of TOO MANY FLASH

In the year 2020 in the heart of Barcelona a wandering gallery was born, the same one that in February 2021 would debut at Art Madrid with an exhibition proposal focused on contemporary portraits; with this subject matter it would manage to create a powerful dialogue between artwork and audience and make the seal Inéditad remain in the history of the event that contained it.

Jean Carlos Puerto. Protección. Oil and copper leaf on wood. 60 x 48. 2021. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Since that first time and until today, the wandering gallery has managed to build projects on otherness, has repositioned in the spotlight the discourses on the LGTBIQ+ collective, has consolidated a group of artists who share its principles of resilience and empathy and the best thing is that it continues to bet from the professionalism and commitment to give voice to the difference.

Claudio Petit-Laurent.. El Joven de la Perla. Oil on wood. 30 x 30 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Inéditad Gallery, thanks to its founder Luis López, its collaborators and the infinite possibilities manifested in the works of the artists it represents, is a gallery that has demonstrated its capacity and courage to stimulate the sensibility of the public through art and seduce a generation that moves between the glass window and the analogical story. Inéditad is a nomadic gallery that has gathered around it a community of artists and has moved the context with exhibition projects that think about LGTBIQ+ art without prejudices.

Pepa Salas Vilar. Las marcas del arcoiris. Oil on canvas. 40 x 50 cm. 2022. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Pride and Prejudice was inaugurated. An exhibition that brings together the works of sixteen artists: Abel Carrillo, Alex Domènech, Carlos Enfedaque, Silvia Flechoso, Jamalajama, Daniel Jaén, Claudio Petit-Laurent, Jean Carlos Puerto, Fernando Romero, Pablo Rodríguez, Pepa Salas Vilar, Jack Smith, Pablo Sola, Bran Sólo, Elia Tomás and Utürüo. Painting, illustration, photography and digital art are the manifestations that bring into dialogue around fifty neatly threaded pieces, in a discursive line that discusses such a latent phenomenon as discrimination. To achieve this, the artists invited to the exhibition question themselves whether: Does discrimination exist within the LGTBIQ+ collective?

Pride and Prejudice Official Poster. Image courtesy of the gallery.

With approaches on and from the body, the proposal invites to celebrate diversity, proposes to question and self-question the prejudices and attitudes of society against the collective. Pride and Prejudice is a space for dialogue about the constructs imposed on us by society. It is also an oasis in which to deconstruct with tolerance and respect the subjectivities that sometimes prevent us from approaching the production of the participating artists, simply because "the beautiful" does not fit in an androgynous body. The subjugation of stereotypes are pressed with determination to find the beauty of diversity in other palpable facets of reality.

Pablo Sola. All men are dogs. Photography. 2014. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Throughout these three years Inéditad has stimulated the vindictive projection towards bad practices, has questioned estates around the LGTBIQ+ body and the most admirable thing, is that these capacities have resurfaced around the dialogue and the visual narrative of the stories that are told from the visual: Artworks that are people, art that is, per se, humanity. Overcome impositions and accept what is different in order to continue fighting against homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia or transphobia and defend the equal rights that all the acronyms of the collective deserve in our community.

That's Pride and Prejudice: One creature, the happiest in the world. And maybe other projects and other people have said it - or felt it - before, but none so fairly.

Silvia Flechoso. Hola, soy maricón. Oil on canvas. 73 x 54 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

From June 8th until June 22nd you can visit Pride and Prejudice. Carrer de Palau núm. 4. Canal Gallery space. Barcelona.