Art Madrid'25 – Fernando Latorre Gallery in Art Madrid\'15

Obra de Fabio Camarotta.

 

With roots from Zaragoza, Fernando Latorre Gallery was founded in 1991 in this city of Aragon and there he developed an intense labor of promotion of young talents for more than a decade. In 2003 Fernando decided to come to the capital, where he opened a space dedicated to contemporary art in Doctor Fourquet street, central axe of arts neighbourhood of Madrid. A new phase in this trajectory arrives in 2012, when he ventured to open a huge local in Rivas Vaciamadrid, while he keeps his office in Doctor Fourquet. The Rivas's space offers a new surface of 200 m2 completely dedicated to promotion and exhibition of his artists, a clear local whose walls never are empty.

 
 

Obra de Daniel Merlin.

 

Fernando knows how to identify young artists with a promising perspective. Among them we must mention Daniel Merlin, painter of 30 years old that has been recently rewarded with the BMW Award of Painting. He was born in Buenos Aires, where he started his contact with art and his first studies of painting. Then, he moved to the old continent and he studied with the painter Emma Gans in Madrid and he attended the painting and drawing workshop of the Cultural House of San Lorenzo del Escorial, led by the painter Álvaro Sellés. The portraits of this artist, of big dimensions, causes a strong impact of attraction and bewilderment. He uses the technique with a result similar to a big collage, splitting the faces, dividing, as if they were painting tesseras, the features and the expression, but respecting the essence of the portrayed. The neutral background of his pieces helps to strengthen the contrast effect and to stress the importance of the looks and the expressions.

 
 

Obra de Eok Seon.

 

On the other hand, we must make reference to the interesting proposal of the Korean artist Eok Seon who, after being exiled from his birth city, and after a long personal journey searching for emotional and vital stability, he decided to settle definitively in Madrid in 1993. Focused on sculpture and on work with geometry and space, he uses different materials from wood to glass. His work is now placed in numerous public and private collections, like the Fundación Privada Allegro (Madrid), the Fundación Casa Museo “A Solana” (Pontevedra), the Schema Art Museum de Chong Ju (Corea del Sur) and several private collections in Las Vegas and Indianápolis (EE.UU.), among many others.

 

 

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.