Art Madrid'25 – OKUDA SAN MIGUEL, GUEST ARTIST AT ART MADRID\'18

Okuda San Miguel.

 

 

Suddenly, when turning that corner in that street of Porto, an impressive figure hits your look. It seems to grow up in the road, it seems to spring up from concrete like if it were a creature come from a parallel universe. Tens of facets of color, a geometric organism raises up in front of you and, also suddenly, you realize that you are looking at a phone box. It is an Okuda San Miguel’s, his signature, his shapes that appear on walls, alleys, buildings, bricks of the main capitals of the world, India, Mali, Mozambique, The US, Japan, Chile, Brazil, Peru, South Africa, Mexico and almost the whole Europe.

 

 

Okuda San Miguel. The International Church of Cannabis. Denver. 2017

 

 

His urban essence has enriched with time with the oriental philosophy, with metaphysical issues about the infinite, the universal, erasing the boundaries between the man and the nature, between the man and the art, to create an unique iconography that talks about the contradictions between modernity and tradition, between the homo capitalismus and the homo ludens, between the me and the myself in a continuous transformation.

 

“My art reflects my love for metamorphosis. Playing with the shapes I highlight this juxtaposition within my characters, mixing their profiles and personalities. I paint my faces with geometric patterns to show the equality between the different races, placing all skin types on the same level; this multicolorism symbolizes multiculturalism", Okuda San Miguel states.

 

 

Okuda San Miguel. Refugee Goddess. 2017

 

 

 

The jump from streets to the galleries, to the work in a studio, has been inevitable, a new generation of collectors and art lovers were asking for some fresh air in the market and this artist has brought to them a colour hurricane. "I use colours as a symbol of life and the natural world, while the gray scale in my paintings represents the concrete, death, dust and material of the classic sculptures," Okuda explains.

 

Now, Art Madrid, to celebrate its 13th edition and, why not saying it, to fight against superstitions, has asked to Okuda a little of his magic and he will be the guest artist in Art Madrid’18, joining the list of guests of past editions along with Ouka Leele, Carmen Calvo and Riera i Aragó, all of them seekers of new shapes and experimenters of the image.
 

 

 

 

Okuda San Miguel. Lion. Arcugnano. Italy. 2016

 

 

With Okuda San Miguel, and in collaboration with Ink And Movement, we will develop an exclusive work to Art Madrid and many other actions that we will tell about. Welcome, Okuda!

 

About the artist:
Okuda San Miguel. Santander, 1980. He lives in Madrid, where he also has his studio. Degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. His unique iconographic language of geometric and multicolored patterns on the streets of cities around the world have made of him one of the most recognized urban artists today. Renowned for his large-scale projects, Okuda is recognized for the transformation he made at the end of 2015 of an Asturian church: "Kaos Temple" like it was renamed, which has become a new icon of contemporary art. In parallel with his work in public space, in 2009 Okuda began his own practice of study. Since then, his work has been exhibited in galleries and venues as diverse as India, Mali, Mozambique, United States, Japan, Chile, Brazil, Peru, South Africa or Mexico, in addition to almost the entire European continent.

 

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.