Leo Caillard (Paris, France, 1985) belongs to a generation of artists associated with the important changes that have been taking place since the 2000s, with the onset of the digital era and the new concerns of societies. An advocate of new technologies and science, his initial interests focused on the exploration of time and quantum physics, but Caillard soon abandoned the world of numbers to show his research through his artworks.

Leo Caillard

Art has to do with history. It is the sensitive expression of an era.

Time is relative. Therefore, the art of a bygone era is also an expression of our present.

Through his works, the artist Léo Caillard plays with time to make the past, the present and the future meet in the same space created by sculpture.

Leo Caillard, “VR Buste,2020”. Escultura de mármol blanco.

We interviewed the artist to know more about his work and his participation in Art Madrid:

What inspires you when you create?

I draw my inspiration for my work mainly from antiquity and history. In my artworks I reinterpret the ancient and the past in order to bring them to life today, I open a dialogue between the past and the present.

What are you working on recently?

I am currently working on digital art and the NFT, the Non-Fungible Token: the creation of unique digital art. I try to open a bridge between the reality of marble and the virtuality of digital creation.

Laoocon, 2020. Escultura en mármol de carrara. 60x60x40cm

Tell us about your creative process

First of all, I work on 3D scanning. I take inspiration from antiques that I scan, in collaboration with museums or institutions and, from this scan, I make a pre-sculpted marble to get a shape closer to what I want to do. All the details, the final touches, are finished by hand: the glasses, the beard, things a bit more detailed, so that the sculpture remains unique in its approach.

You are participating in the fair for the first time, what do you expect from Art Madrid?

I'm delighted to be at Art Madrid this year, it's an opportunity and a good fortune. I think as an artist you don't expect much; you expect to enter into a dialogue with the public and see the reactions. In any case, it's a joy to show my artworks from this year at this fair.

Do you usually make a preliminary study of the life of the classical character you reinterpret in your work?

I love history and I try to use sculpture to be in agreement with what I want to say: Apollo taking a selfie, Narcissus, Hercules... I try to be in connection with the myth, and that the history of the ancient statue is in dialogue with the version I want to make.

Are you thinking of "dressing" the sculptures of another great museum or are you focusing your next work on another discourse?

I think the habillage project is something I started in 2010 and it's starting to get a bit outdated. I had a lot of fun working on this notion of clothing as an attribute, only now I want to go towards the digital spirit and wonder more about virtuality in relation to reality, through deformations, through things that will create an opening between the abstract and the figurative.

Animación3D. “Woman face casque Marshall et casquette”

The artist Leo Caillard participates for the first time in Art Madrid with the Parisian gallery Galerie LJ, together with the artists Julien Primard, Quentin Garel y Heide Ukkonen.

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.