Getting together, making a plan to get to know each other and discovering an artist's workspace together can be an appealing proposal to start approaching the world of art. It is always a stimulus for the senses to enter a fertile ground for the imagination and to breathe the creative environment that usually surrounds these intimate spaces. To prove this, we have organized #LaQuedada, an itinerary through the studios of some of the artists who will participate in Art Madrid'24.

Have you ever wondered what an artist's workspace looks like? Have you ever imagined where an artist produces his or her work, for example when preparing to participate in an art fair?

It's very possible that you have unanswered questions. So, to help you discover this wonderful world of possibilities, we have organized #LaQuedada, an Art Madrid initiative to bring you closer to the surprising and sometimes romanticized world in which visual artists create.

A visit to an artist's studio is the perfect opportunity to get to know their aesthetic visions first hand and to be part of the experience of listening to them talk.We take the time to understand what their working methodologies are, what future projects they are working on, what the processes of their works are like, what materials they use to achieve those effects that we never imagined could be possible to produce... And so, among so much curiosity, we take a journey that reveals order and chaos, sketches and pigments, mutant ideas and possible utopias, notes and strokes that give shape to the vitality that each new project represents.

Artists are inspired by the experiences of their lives and their most intimate surroundings, and in their works they express the conflicts that torment them and the concerns they perceive in the society of which they are a part. Each of them represents an intimate, authentic, personal and yet shared truth. A common connection that unites us with them through the sensitivity with which we can identify if we look at them with other eyes: the eyes of the soul.

Today, being an artist in the art world is an act of courage. More and more artists are threatened by the precarious situation in our country today. That is why it is so important to support, promote and accompany artists. It doesn't matter if they are emerging artists or have been working in the art sector for part of their lives, what you should keep in mind is that you can contribute to the development of their career by acquiring some of their work; visiting their profiles on social networks and sharing their projects; attending galleries, fairs, cultural institutions or museums where they are exhibiting; or simply, connecting with the vitality of their artistic expressions in a visit to their studios.

We want #LaQuedada will be a recurring space that encourages open dialogue between the public and creators. A responsible way to promote the growth of the city's cultural structure is to make art accessible to all types of audiences. At Art Madrid we know this, and that is why today, more than ever, we want to bring contemporary art closer to everyone, trying to break the illusion that defines it as elitist and distances it from its humanist vocation. Creativity is everywhere and life is in the artist's studio.

In the first edition of #LaQuedada, we will have the opportunity to visit the studios of five artists participating in Art Madrid'24:

Carlos Tárdez - Galería Bea Villamarín

Elena Gual - Arma Gallery

Lara Padilla - Punts Galería

Richard García - Galería BAT Alberto Cornejo

Marina Tellme - Open Booth Art Madrid’24

La Quedada is a project designed for all audiences. Is possible thanks to ONE SHOT HOTELS, one of Art Madrid'24's official sponsors.
You can be part of it if you are a professional in the field of culture or if you are a passionate art lover. The duration of the visits will be approximately one and a half hours. If you are interested, you can find the calendar of activities on our website. You can also register by clicking on the button below.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

CARLOS TÁRDEZ (Madrid, 1976)

Multidisciplinary artist, in whose work has special importance the prominence of the message that is hidden in all his creations.In both painting and sculpture, he has achieved a level of quality that has earned him, among many other awards, the Medal of Honor of the BMW Painting Prize in 2010, 2018 and 2021.

Carlos Tárdez in his studio. Image courtesy of the artist.

ELENA GUAL (Mallorca, 1994)

Elena Gual is known for her figurative paintings of women that celebrate their beauty and promote gender equality. Gual creates highly textured representations of skin, hair, and clothing by applying thick, impasto brushstrokes to her canvases with a palette knife. Gual is a graduate of the Florence Academy of Art. She strives to transform classical approaches to anatomy, composition, and light into her own style. Also a self-taught photographer, Gual often creates paintings from her own photographs, exploring the relationship between the two disciplines.

Elena Gual in her studio. image courtesy of the artist.

LARA PADILLA (Madrid, 1988)

Lara Padilla has a degree in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master's degree in Film Photography Direction from the TAI School. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions at national and international level, such as her recent solo exhibition at the Juan Silió Gallery or her participation in the last editions of the Santander 2023 and Art Basel Miami 2022 art fairs. In addition to her artistic career, she has made a name for herself as a fashion designer, collaborating with clients such as Springfield, Pepe Jeans and Levis. She also actively collaborates with Patricia Field, the stylist behind series such as Sex In The City and The Devil Wears Prada, for her Patricia Field Art Fashion project, creating unique hand-painted garments. Lara Padilla lives and works in Madrid, Miami and New York.

ara Padilla in her studio. image courtesy of the artist.

RICHARD GARCÍA (Madrid, 1995)

Richard García graduated in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid in the year 2017. After this stage, he began his journey as an artist, winning numerous competitions and beginning to develop his own style and discourse. The creative process is one of the most important parts of his work, in which he allows himself to be guided by intuition, through which he reflects superimposition and transparency.

Richard García in his studio. Image courtesy of the artist.

MARINA TELLME (Almería, 1995)

She has a degree in Fine Arts from the Alonso Cano Faculty (Granada) and a Masters in Film Directing from the TAI. She has also qualified as a voice actress at the EDM (Madrid). Her work has been exhibited at the Humboldt University (Berlin), the García Lorca Art Centre (Granada), the Bless Hotel (Madrid), the Instituto de la Mujer de Almería, selected at the Art Sur Festival of Art in Action (Córdoba) and the Femujer de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), among others. Her art is the result of her passion for telling stories. Her paintings, sculptures and installations present a scenography (like a frame of an animated film) with characters and circumstances that are mostly comic and naïve in style, but with room for social criticism.

Marina Tellme in her studio. Image courtesy of the artist.

ART MADRID '26: 21 YEARS OF CONTEMPORARY ART

In 2026, Art Madrid will celebrate its 21st edition, further consolidating its position as a leading contemporary art fair in Spain. From 4 to 8 March, the fair will bring together thirty-five national and international galleries at the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles. Returning to its date during Madrid Art Week, Art Madrid reaffirms its pioneering role by expanding the fair calendar and offering an open and enriching dialogue in which diverse artistic proposals coexist.

Throughout its history, Art Madrid has established itself as a leading presence in the contemporary art scene. It is renowned for its commitment to promoting both emerging and established galleries, and for its dedication to making contemporary art accessible to a diverse range of audiences.

Far from being a fair curated under a single curatorial line, Art Madrid promotes diversity in its offering, respecting the identity of each exhibitor and promoting a plural creative ecosystem that reflects the richness and differences of the current art scene.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

GALLERY PROGRAM: AN ACTIVE MAP OF CONTEMPORARY CREATION

The Gallery Program is at the heart of Art Madrid’26. For this edition, thirty-five national and international galleries will participate in a space that celebrates experimentation, hybrid languages, and the latest artistic production. The selection of proposals constitutes a representative mosaic of the aesthetics, discourses, and contemporary practices that are shaping the present of art in Europe.

The Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles will once again be transformed into a dynamic space where the exhibitions interact with each other, inviting the public to explore visual narratives that show the evolution of contemporary languages. Works that experiment with new media, formal investigations that reformulate traditional techniques, pieces that reflect on the links between technology and humanity, and poetic approaches that explore territory, identity, or memory make up a plural, stimulating journey open to multiple interpretations.

Art Madrid also continues to strive to become a platform for discovery, allowing both professionals and visitors to identify new voices and consolidate relationships with artists who are already emerging as leaders within the contemporary cultural landscape.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITORS

Thirty-five galleries are participating in this edition, twenty-seven of which are returning after finding the fair to be a favourable environment in which to strengthen connections, increase visibility and promote their artists' work on an international scene.

Twenty-six of these are Spanish galleries from various regions of the country: 3 Punts Gallery (Barcelona), Alba Cabrera Gallery (Valencia), Aurora Vigil-Escalera (Gijón), CLC ARTE (Valencia), DDR Art Gallery (Madrid), Est_ArtSpace (Madrid), g • gallery (Barcelona), Galería Arancha Osoro (Oviedo), Galería BAT alberto cornejo (Madrid), Galería Beatriz Pereira (Plasencia), Galería Carmen Terreros (Zaragoza), Galería Espiral (Noja), Galería La Mercería (Valencia), Galería Luisa Pita (Santiago de Compostela), Galería María Aguilar (Cadiz), Metro Gallery (Santiago de Compostela), Rodrigo Juarranz Gallery (Aranda de Duero), Sigüenza Gallery (Sigüenza), Gerhardt Braun Gallery (Palma de Mallorca | Madrid), Inéditad Gallery (Barcelona), Kur Art Gallery (San Sebastián), LAVIO (Murcia | Shanghai), Moret Art (A Coruña), Pigment Gallery (Barcelona), Shiras Galería (Valencia) and Uxval Gochez Gallery (Barcelona). This selection of galleries highlights the importance of the Spanish scene and its contribution to the development of the contemporary cultural ecosystem.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

The nine international galleries participating in this edition are: Banditrazos Gallery (Seoul, South Korea), Collage Habana (Havana, Cuba), Galeria São Mamede (Lisbon, Portugal), Galerie ONE (Paris, France), KANT Gallery (Copenhagen, Denmark | Palma de Mallorca, Spain), Loo & Lou Gallery (Paris, France), Nuno Sacramento Arte Contemporânea (Ílhavo, Portugal), Trema Arte Contemporânea (Lisbon, Portugal) and Yiri Arts (Taipei, Taiwan). Their participation broadens the fair's international reach, promoting creative and conceptual exchange between diverse artistic perspectives.

In addition, eight new galleries have been added to the list of exhibitors:

Banditrazos Gallery (Seoul, South Korea), Est_ArtSpace (Madrid, Spain), g • gallery (Barcelona, Spain), Galería Beatriz Pereira (Plasencia, Spain), Galerie ONE (Paris, France), Galería Sigüenza (Sigüenza, Spain), Gerhardt Braun Gallery (Palma de Mallorca | Madrid, Spain) and KANT Gallery (Copenhagen, Denmark | Palma de Mallorca). These additions reinforce Art Madrid's commitment to continuous renewal and openness to spaces that are exploring new approaches to contemporary art.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

PARALLEL PROGRAM: A REFLECTION ON THE ‘SPECIES’ OF SPACES

One of the great attractions of Art Madrid is its Parallel Program, which this time delves into the notions of: ‘Fragments, relationships, and imaginary distances.’ This approach turns the fair into an expanded space, where art, audience, architecture, and memory converge. Thus, the Parallel Program proposes a critical approach to the container of the event itself. Taking as a reference the reading of Species of Spaces by Georges Perec (Perec, Georges. Species of Spaces. Montesinos, 2004), it adopts a marked interest in the everyday, that which usually goes unnoticed, the infra-ordinary, giving each corner of the venue its own narrative value.

Another of the conceptual references of this edition is based on an analysis of Édouard Glissant's Poetics of Relation (Glissant, Édouard. Poetics of Relation; Prologue by Manuel Rebón. - 1st ed. - Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, 2017.), which advocates the coexistence of differences and the importance of non-totalizing links, which are extrapolated to the art system, proposing an understanding of it as a network of exchanges and connections that respect the uniqueness of each cultural practice and actor.

‘Imaginary distances,’ understood as subjective journeys and affective cartographies traced by visitors, thus become the conceptual axis that articulates this program. This perspective transforms the Fair into an experience that goes beyond visual contemplation, turning it into a territory that can be collectively reconstructed, without losing sight of the paths travelled by the individuality of each voice.

In this edition, the Parallel Program encourages visitors to engage with the space and its projects, turning contemplation into an opportunity to question and interact with things that might otherwise go unnoticed in everyday life.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

In the preview and during Art Week, Art Madrid'26 offers a range of experiences that allow the public to get closer to the creative process and practices of the participating artists. Among the returning initiatives are the Interview Program, Curated Walkthroughs, the third edition of Open Booth, dedicated to emerging creation, the presentation of Espacio Nebrija, a university project in collaboration with Nebrija University, alongside the fair’s established Performance Cycle.

In addition, the One Shot Collectors Program and the second edition of the Patronage Program are back. These initiatives seek to strengthen the bond between collectors, artists, and the public, promoting ethical, informed, and responsible practices in collecting and patronage.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

Art Madrid'26 has established itself as a dynamic meeting place, where diverse experiences, discourses, and practices converge. Far from being a fair curated under a single curatorial line, Art Madrid promotes diversity as a structuring principle, respecting the identity of each exhibitor and fostering a plural creative ecosystem. This plurality is not merely formal, but translates into a network of practices, languages, and perspectives that reflects the complexity, richness, and tensions of the contemporary art scene, consolidating the fair as a catalyst for cultural relations, an observatory of emerging trends, and an international reference point for the Spanish art scene.