Once again, Liquitex, the world's leading brand in professional acrylics, joins Art Madrid as a sponsor, supporting contemporary creation through a prize, which will be awarded to one of the artists participating in the fair who works with acrylics in their pieces. The prize will be awarded on 23 February at 18:00 pm will be worth 1,000 euros in Liquitex products.

The history of Liquitex begins with Henry Levison, a colour chemist who ran a company in the USA called Permanent Pigments, which manufactured oil colours for artists from 1933. The acrylics that were first developed in the early 20th century were solvent-based colour compounds. In 1955, Henry perfected the formula with a water-based acrylic that was commercially viable. This was the first acrylic gesso, called Liquitex, a perfect combination of liquid and texture.

New colours in the Heavy Body range

Here are some of the 12 new colours in the Heavy Body range:

LIGHT BISMUTH YELLOW A toned-down version of the iconic Bismuth Yellow, well known in watercolour technique, excellent for blending and highlighting.

LIGHT BISMUTH YELLOW

LIGHT PHTHALOCYANINE GREEN A strong, vivid and opaque colour, excellent for blending natural greens, beautiful greys and pastel shades.

LIGHT PHTHALOCYANINE GREEN

INDIGO A deep, dark midnight blue, ideal for mixing black, grey, green and purple tints.

INDIGO

TRANSPARENT ORANGE A completely transparent orange with a deep orange-red mass tone and a yellowish tinge made from a hybrid pigment: an innovation in pigment manufacturing that combines organic and inorganic pigments.

TRANSPARENT ORANGE

IRIDESCENT ROSE GOLD A beautiful opaque colour that reveals an iridescent sheen with hints of pink and golden tones.

IRIDESCENT ROSE GOLD

Liquitex currently offers a wide range of colours in different, fully intermixable formats, as well as additives and accessories. One of its most popular ranges is Heavy Body Acrylic, its thickest bodied, high viscosity, pigment-rich acrylic. With a high concentration of lightfast, artist-quality pigments and a satin finish, Heavy Body Acrylic provides rich, permanent colour with crisp brush strokes and knife marks. It is available in a wide range of 116 colours with the recent addition of 12 new colours.

At the most recent edition of Art Madrid, artist Luis Olaso (Bilbao, 1986), represented by Kur Art Gallery (San Sebastián), received the Residency Prize of the Art Madrid Patronage Program. This award, the result of a collaboration between Art Madrid, DOM Art Residence, and the Italian association ExtrArtis, enabled him to undertake an artistic residency in Sorrento (Italy) in August 2025.

Through initiatives like this, the fair reaffirms its support for contemporary creation—a commitment aimed at increasing artists’ visibility and strengthening art collecting through concrete actions such as acquisition prizes, recognition of emerging talents, and international residencies.

Artists in Residence. DOM & ExtrArtis. Image courtesy of Agata D’Esposito.

The DOM & ExtrArtis 2025 Residency Program took place in Sorrento from August 1 to 31, 2025. The artists lived together at Relais La Rupe, a 16th-century villa surrounded by cliffs and centuries-old gardens, which became an ideal setting for experimentation and exchange.

In this edition, residents worked around the theme “Reimagining Genius Loci”, an invitation to reflect on how the movement of people and traditions transforms the “spirit of place.” During the residency, DOM organized two public group exhibitions: the first to present the artists’ previous work, and the second to showcase the projects developed in Sorrento.

Work by Luis Olaso. DOM & ExtrArtis. Image courtesy of Agata D’Esposito.

Luis Olaso’s work moves between expressionist figuration and abstraction, always employing a pictorial language charged with strength and emotion. Initially self-taught, he later graduated in Fine Arts and has developed a solid international career, with exhibitions at venues including JD Malat (London) and Makasiini Contemporary (Turku, Finland), and participation in fairs such as Untitled Miami, Estampa, and Art Madrid itself.

His work is part of prestigious collections, including the Tokyo Contemporary Art Foundation, Fundación SIMCO, and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, and has been recognized in competitions such as the Reina Sofía Prize for Painting and Sculpture and the Ibercaja Young Painting Prize.

In Sorrento, Olaso found a unique context to expand his pictorial research, engaging in dialogue with the Mediterranean landscape and the region’s historical heritage. The residency provided him with time, resources, and a framework for exchange with other international artists, fostering the production of new works that were later presented in the group exhibitions organized by DOM.

Luis Olaso working on his project. DOM & ExtrArtis. Image courtesy of DOM.

Luis Olaso’s experience at DOM Art Residence concluded with a public showcase of the works produced, reinforcing his presence on the international circuit and consolidating his position as one of the most prominent Basque artists on the contemporary scene.

Through initiatives such as this, Art Madrid demonstrates its active role as a platform for direct support of contemporary creation, creating opportunities for research, production, and intercultural dialogue that extend beyond the fair itself and accompany artists in their professional development.