Marina Tellme. Guest artist at OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX. Courtesy of the artist.

OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX

"REUNIÓN DE GENTE IMPORTANTÍSIMA"

BY MARINA TELLME

Art Madrid'24 returns to the Art Week and celebrates its 19th edition. From March 6 to 10, 2024, the Crystal Gallery of the Cibeles Palace will become the epicenter where the most innovative and current artistic trends of the national and international scene will gather. To celebrate its 19th edition, Art Madrid presents a General Galleries Program and a renewed Parallel Program. Both proposals are aimed at enriching the presence of an event that has already surpassed its satellite season, consolidating itself in each edition as a reference appointment in the agendas of the general and specialized public.

In this edition, Art Madrid presents exclusively the OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX. A section that opens with the installation: "Reunión de gente importantísima" by the artist Marina Tellme.

OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX thus becomes a sort of fleeting home that distinguishes and makes our event a place to stay for a few days. A meeting of very important people is a work that will certainly generate synergies with the public, expanding its sense as an intelligently critical work and serving as a space for reflection, in a close and multipurpose event like Art Madrid.

Artistic practices that are born of collaboration, that promote the generation of work spaces and dialogue between the different agents in the sector, are essential to promote a turn of the screw in the transformation and renovation of the cultural fabric. The constant evolution of art demands a continuous dialogue between artists, galleries and audiences. In our 19th edition, we intend to be catalysts for this dialogue, transcending traditional boundaries and embracing new artistic expressions. We firmly believe in the capacity of art to influence society, and we want to be agents of change by facilitating the convergence of diverse artistic languages in this new edition.

"Reunión de dente importantísima". Marina Tellme. Project for Art Madrid. 2024.

The site specific "Reunión de gente importantísima", conceived especially for Art Madrid, proposes a subversive view of the context of social relations established in the art world. With a touch of humor, a naive aesthetic and an intentionality that could seem candid, the work represents a meeting of people in a VIP area as a satire or comic strip.

"Reunión de dente importantísima". Marina Tellme. Project for Art Madrid. 2024.

Surrounded by a red velvet cordon, where any spectator can enter and live this experience, the characters enjoy their hedonistic posture, differentiating themselves from the rest by the mere fact of belonging to a select club of chosen ones. However, to the surprise of the privileged, we have all been invited to this meeting of very important people. As you pass by, you will feel as if you were entering a forest, you will discover a peculiar multitude of oversized characters, fashionistas, cool people, chic, art geeks, who talk ad nauseam about apparently crucial issues - for the salvation of the planet - but we do not understand a single word.

"Reunión de dente importantísima". Marina Tellme. Project for Art Madrid. The Chin Chin Bitches. 2024.

One more edition of Art Madrid joins Liquitex to strengthen their mutual commitment to contemporary creation. The world's leading brand in professional acrylics is the sponsor of the new OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX (Stand D2), which will host the artist Marina Tellme.

Marina Tellme in her studio. Courtesy of the artist. 2024.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

MARINA TELLME, 1995, Almería.

Graduated in Fine Arts at the Alonso Cano Faculty (Granada), Master in Film Directing at TAI and qualified as a voice-over actress at EDM (Madrid). Her work has been exhibited at Humboldt University (Berlin), García Lorca Art Center (Granada), Bless Hotel (Madrid), Instituto de la Mujer de Almería, selected in the Art Sur Festival of Art in Action (Córdoba) or Femujer de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), among others. Her work is the result of her passion for telling stories. Her paintings, sculptures and installations represent (as if it were a frame of an animated film) a scenery with characters and circumstances, mostly comic and naive style, but with room for social criticism; showing generational concerns such as the difficulties of access to decent work or housing, the figure of women in the art world and numerous burdens that appear in our lives when we grow up: such as anxiety, impostor syndrome or social phobia.

The painting of Daniel Bum (Villena, Alicante, 1994) takes shape as a space for subjective elaboration, where the figure emerges not so much as a representational motif but as a vital necessity. The repetition of this frontal, silent character responds to an intimate process: painting becomes a strategy for navigating difficult emotional experiences—an insistent gesture that accompanies and alleviates feelings of loneliness. In this sense, the figure acts as a mediator between the artist and a complex emotional state, linking the practice of painting to a reconnection with childhood and to a vulnerable dimension of the self.

The strong autobiographical dimension of his work coexists with a formal distance that is not the result of conscious planning, but rather functions as a protective mechanism. Visual restraint, an apparent compositional coolness, and an economy of means do not neutralize emotion; instead, they contain it, avoiding the direct exposure of the traumatic. In this way, the tension between affect and restraint becomes a structural feature of his artistic language. Likewise, the naïve and the disturbing coexist in his painting as inseparable poles, reflecting a subjectivity permeated by mystery and unconscious processes. Many images emerge without a clearly defined prior meaning and only reveal themselves over time, when temporal distance allows for the recognition of the emotional states from which they arose.

The Long Night. Oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas. 160 × 200 cm. 2024.

The human figure appears frequently in your work: frontal, silent, suspended. What interests you about this presence that seems both affirmative and absent?

I wouldn’t say that anything in particular interests me. I began painting this figure because there were emotions I couldn’t understand and a feeling that was very difficult for me to process. This character emerged during a very complicated moment in my life, and the act of making it—and remaking it, repeating it again and again—meant that, during the process, I didn’t feel quite so alone. At the same time, it kept me fresh and connected me to an inner child who was broken at that moment, helping me get through the experience in a slightly less bitter way.

Santito. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 81 × 65 cm. 2025.

There is a strong affective dimension in your work, but also a calculated distance, a kind of formal coldness. What role does this tension between emotion and restraint play?

I couldn’t say exactly what role that tension plays. My painting is rooted in the autobiographical, in memory, and in situations I have lived through that were quite traumatic for me. Perhaps, as a protective mechanism—to prevent direct access to that vulnerability, or to keep it from becoming harmful—that distance appears unconsciously. It is not something planned or controlled; it simply emerges and remains there.

Night Painter. Acrylic on canvas. 35 × 27 cm. 2025.

Your visual language oscillates between the naïve and the unsettling, the familiar and the strange. How do these tensions coexist for you, and what function do they serve in your visual exploration?

I think it reflects who I am. One could not exist without the other. The naïve could not exist without the unsettling; for me, they necessarily go hand in hand. I am deeply drawn to mystery and to the act of painting things that even I do not fully understand. Many of the expressions or portraits I create emerge from the unconscious; they are not planned. It is only afterwards that I begin to understand them—and almost never immediately. A considerable amount of time always passes before I can recognize how I was feeling at the moment I made them.

Qi. Acrylic on canvas. 81 × 65 cm. 2025.

The formal simplicity of your images does not seem to be a matter of economy, but of concentration. What kind of aesthetic truth do you believe painting can reach when it strips itself of everything superfluous?

I couldn’t say what aesthetic truth lies behind that simplicity. What I do know is that it is something I need in order to feel calm. I feel overwhelmed when there are too many elements in a painting, and I have always been drawn to the minimal—to moments when there is little, when there is almost nothing. I believe that this stripping away allows me to approach painting from a different state: more focused, more silent. I can’t fully explain it, but it is there that I feel able to work with greater clarity.

Crucifixion. Acrylic on canvas. 41 × 33 cm. 2025.

To what extent do you plan your work, and how much space do you leave for the unexpected—or even for mistakes?

I usually feel more comfortable leaving space for the unexpected. I am interested in uncertainty; having everything under control strikes me as rather boring. I have tried it on some occasions, especially when I set out to work on a highly planned series, with fixed sketches that I then wanted to translate into painting, but it was not something I identified with. I felt that a fundamental part of the process disappeared: play—that space in which painting can surprise even myself. For that reason, I do not tend to plan too much, and when I do, it is in a very simple way: a few lines, a plane of color. I prefer everything to happen within the painting itself.