The Contemporary Art Fair Art Madrid , with 13 years of experience and a solid project that counts on the trust of national and international galleries, takes a step forward in its professional services and launches Art Madrid Market, an online sales platform that will provide service and support for the galleries throughout the year and which will also be a virtual space for the presentation of new artists without a gallery selected by curators and a committee of experts.

THE PLATAFORM

Art Madrid Market is the first online sales platform developed by an art fair based on these 4 pillars:

1) Relationship with the public 365 days, 24h.

2) Work sale service and communication campaign to the participating galleries (before, during and after the fair).

3) Platform for launching artists without a gallery selected by curators and a committee of experts.

4) Generation of own contents disseminated to the public: selection of outstanding works, virtual exhibitions, curatorships and collaborations...

Art Madrid MARKET is the ideal environment that offers all the information of the galleries, artists and works of Art Madrid'18, an e-commerce platform in which the user can make a direct consultation on all available works of the fair and where users and followers will be able to enjoy the advantages of buying art online, directly and safely. Art Madrid MARKET promotes the visibility and the trade of galleries and artists, eliminates boundaries between gallery owners and the public and expands the horizons of online art sales for the global market.

On the platform, each gallery will have a virtual space in which to put on sale its catalog of works of the artists present in AM18 and also curate and select their own online exhibitions. The gallery will have a user panel where it can manage the information of its artists and their works, a control panel with visibility of statistics, metrics and the status of shipments. The support to the galleries will be done before, during and after the fair.

For the gallery, Art Madrid MARKET is the perfect complement to disseminate its artistic projects nationally and internationally, since it will allow a direct and permanent relationship with the public throughout the year, through its own content and several events:

Online exhibitions curated for galleries and their artists. Exhibitions where the galleries may temporarily present the curatorial projects.

Support services in communication and marketing campaigns to the galleries for their exhibitions, expanding the scope and dissemination of their proposals.

Positioning and presentation of new artists. Platform for launching new artists / new talents without a gallery. Art Madrid MARKET will serve as a presentation letter between the public and the fabric of galleries.

This is just the beginning of numerous projects that Art Madrid will host, based on its presence and digital reputation.

ART MADRID COMMUNITY

Art Madrid carries out an important work of communication and diffusion of its projects with a 360º strategy that includes continuous contents in online and offline media from the previous phases of the fair (call, presentation of programs...), to the own actions of the fair (participating gallerists, featured artists, partners and collaborators, parallel activities), including the subsequent balance of the event. Aware of the impact that social networks have today and their inestimable value in contemporary communication, Art Madrid carries out an annual planning that includes Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, speaker of its news and means to know and make known new artists, new proposals, new research topics, as well as an essential channel to know first hand what our potential audience wants.

Art Madrid’s website has become a complete multi-channel communication platform for news of its own creation (related to the fair and its participants) and a source of information on current issues related to contemporary art, galleries, collecting, etc... and now, also, in a modern online sales tool.

Art Madrid has an active community of 30,000 unique users per month from more than 40 countries and an AUDIENCE of 3 million users reached with 100k interactions.

WEB: +30k users

NEWSLETTER: +10.2k contacts

REDES SOCIALES: 40k followers

TWITTER: +20.8k

FACEBOOK: +17.9k

INSTAGRAM: + 10.7k

Buying the first work of art always instils respect. A difficult feeling to define that mixes vertigo with adrenaline. But over uncertainty and caution, a pleasurable sense of connection, understanding, and desire prevails. That work that, once seen, stays in the mind, reappears in the memory several times a day and seems to tell you that it is willing to be part of your home, is the perfect candidate to make the decision.

In the first steps, many collectors do point out that one does not start from an established plan, but rather that one acquires pieces based on taste and the connection one feels with them until, after time, they realise that the volume of works that accumulates can be labelled as a "collection". For example, this is how Alicia Aza explains it:

“I was not aware that I was collecting until many years later when a third party named me as a collector and talked about my collection. In 2005, I became aware of what collecting means and decided to articulate a collection with an identity of criteria and formats”.

Marcos Martín Blanco, co-founder, with his wife Elena Rueda, of the MER Collection, shares this same opinion:

“Collecting has been a passion, driven by a visceral state that encourages you to do so. The collection, in terms of acquisitions, has not been particularly complicated because, let's face it: it is easy to buy because they are all beautiful things and you have some clear idea of where you want to go, but at first those preferences were not so clear. It is with the time that a criterion is being formed”.

It is not always this way, of course, but for the buyer who starts out on this path, the personal connection that entails the first piece is essential. There it is the germ of a lasting relationship that is not limited to a simple aesthetic question but is an open window to knowledge, to exploration, to a world that is often unknown to us and awakens our fascination. The seed of that connection is purely sentimental, and it is precisely this impulse that determines the first acquisitions. The first piece is never forgotten.

Art Madrid'20, photo by Ana Maqueda

Exceeding the usual recommendations made by advisers and agents, rare is the occasion when the art lover decides to buy by pure investment. These paths usually open later, when the volume of pieces is large enough. In addition, there are those who are a bit against this classic concept of the traditional collector, approached from an eccentric, elitist and little accessible vision. On the contrary, art buyers are, above all, art lovers, sentient beings and permeable to creative stimulus who, at a given moment, decide to deepen the relationship they already have with art to take a piece home.

It is not that hard to overcome that small psychological barrier that turns the visitor into a buyer if one approaches the matter from a more personal and intimate perspective than from social consideration. Small-format works, graphic work or serial photography are of great help for this, whose price range, generally more affordable, allows a closer comparison to the daily basis expenses. In this way, the purchase of art falls within the range of feasible activities and becomes something close and possible.

Art Madrid'20, photo by Marc Cisneros

At that moment, a different relationship with art begins, based on pure experience and coexistence with the acquired piece. Perhaps it can be seen as an act of daring, but on many occasions, it is more a matter of necessity and transformation. Collectors also agree that the acquisition of an artwork is an exercise on personal analysis and opening up to a new field of knowledge that was previously alien to us. Alicia Aza explains that the reason she acquired her first piece of video art, by Sergio Prego, is because she did not understand it and because she saw it as a challenge and an opportunity to self-improve. This open window to knowledge creates new connections and bonds with creators, as one of the most fascinating parts of the process. Candela Álvarez Soldevilla explains that

"I think the most interesting thing in the art world is talking to artists. They are people with a special sensitivity to listen and understand.”

And Alicia Aza also says:

"I can share the satisfaction of being able to count on many artists in my circle of close friends today, and that is a long way to go."

Thus, with works that seem acceptable within the horizon of expenses that each one considers affordable, it is easy to find a piece that catches us. Since then, our home also evolves into a space in which art has a permanent place and presence, and there is no doubt that this transforms us inside.

Art Madrid'20, photo by Henar Herguera

Jaime Sordo, owner of Los Bragales collection and founder of the 9915 Contemporary Art Collectors Association, has always defined his relationship with art as a true passion and a vital necessity. For buyers who start on this path, he has the following recommendation:

“It is an essential condition that they feel the need to live with their passion to enjoy the works. Another very important aspect is that before making decisions for purchases, they are informed, so it is necessary to read specialised newspapers and books, visit exhibitions and museums and a lot of contact with galleries, which is an important and very specific source of information of the artists they represent. Finally, the presence in national and international art fairs. All this generates information and training.”

Indeed, fairs have become a good place for discovery because they condense a wide offer and allow diverse and global contact in a concentrated way. For this reason, many new generation buyers start in the context of an event such as Art Madrid, whose closeness and quality constitute a unique opportunity to meet, soak up and feed the passion for art.

(*) quotes taken from various interviews published in public media between 2013 and 2019.