Claudia Schiffer, Pachi Santiago or Claudio? Friday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. You can enjoy the performance "Copying Claudia" by the artist Pachi Santiago at Art Madrid'19. Attendees can enter first hand the world of an artist who ironically plays with stereotypes and reflects on gender issues, the so-called fake fame as well as fashion.

Pachi Santiago, "Cerca desde lo masculino", 2012. Galería Zielinsky.

Pachi Santiago, the artist represented in this edition by the Zielinsky Gallery, is a multidisciplinary creator whose main line of work is in representation codes, with all of its implications. Identity, gender, ways in which we profile ourselves, ways of projecting our image as well as the way we are seen, are some of the issues that define his work. In reality, as he himself affirms, it is about seeing life "under another prism", investigating those folds that deeply characterize life and in which, in most cases, are the most important things happen.

Therefore, his work moves between "a thin line among the enigma, the absurd, aesthetics, surrealism, drama, solitude and humour, creating symbolic images and mysterious characters, located in a kind of parallel instant that in reality represent the emotions of our own life." The languages and formal strategies he employs are very varied, working photography, video, illustration and even more hybrid creation, and configuring a very personal and fantastic imagination. After the success of projects such as "Ausentes", "Hybrids", "Sonÿ la musa", "Fábula project" or "Utopia House", the artist will present a performance of another of his most celebrated series: "Copying Claudia".

Pachi Santiago, "Scarface", 2016. Galería Zielinsky.

The German top model Claudia Schiffer, focusing on that version portrayed by the recently deceased master, Karl Lagerfeld, is one of the great obsessions of this artist. His admiration for the work of both of them, sublimated by the process of mythification and adoration so very characteristic of our time, leads the artist to this series of almost total symbiosis. Santiago plays with the identity of Schiffer and his own, he repeats her photographs or commercial videos, enters fully into her universe but without losing his own personality. The artist proposes to rethink the aesthetics and media icons, the power of fashion and our individual aspirations, so often frustrated by not appearing enough to our idol.

Masquerades, deceptions and disappointments, games of admired and admirers, criticism, humour and certain magic, to reflect on issues relevant today such as gender, fashion and so-called fake fame stereotypes. "The man assuming a role that supposedly is attributed to a woman; the stereotyped relationship between artist and muse seen from another point of view, treating the muse as something globally independent from its genre; the man also reified; or the power of being different in a universe in which we aspire to be or to reach something far beyond ourselves". Great problems such as gender as well as differences to distort through so many clichés that flood our daily tasks and our most intimate dreams.

Pachi Santiago, "Disfraz", 2016. Galería Zielinsky.

ust for a determinate period of time, an Art Madrid space will become a very unique photographic set. In that live fashion shooting a camera will record the actions and poses of Pachi Santiago and can be seen live on a screen installed next to the set. Another television will show the images of Claudia Schiffer in which the artist is inspired to pose, trying to do it as his muse in the original photos, reflecting her expressions, playing to be another character: that "Me Claudio", the alter ego between Schiffer and he himself under an ironic look.

Santiago does not care about the fact that he does or not resembles her, but that he wants to interpret being it even if he does not succeed. This romantic, freak and melancholic factor has a lot to do with the essence of the project, something that you can enjoy live in the new edition of Art Madrid, where, Santiago will explain this work to you in person. Don’t miss it!

If visual arts arouse emotions in the viewer, and also gastronomy, at its finest, can cause a similar effect, the relationship between both "disciplines" is more than demonstrated.

Cheese is a fundamental piece in gastronomy, its diversity allows it to be part of gastronomy different moments, from starters to desserts, and that is why Art Madrid includes it in this year’s edition of the Fair from an ambitious place. Cheese is given this way a closest view to the creation of a work of art, both from the point of view of the time spent in its execution process and the almost personalized study dedicated to each piece during its elaboration.

Like a plastic artist, the Cheese Master Affineur executes a series of actions making each piece an exclusive and individualized element. This is what Madrid cheese factory QAVA de Quesos and its Master Afinador José Luis Martín achieve.

QAVA & MARTÍN AFINADOR is a new store concept: a unique space designed to taste, learn, promote and buy cheese in Madrid, in the heart of Retiro district."

José Luis Martín is a key piece in the QAVA cheese factory. He has been working in the cheese world for more than 30 years, providing training throughout the world, visiting cheese shops, consulting and advising on the design and implementation of one of the most emblematic cheese shops in Spain. The fact of knowing the producers personally, and even advising them on the manufacture and design of their products, allows him to select specific batches, at different stages of maturation, to complete the cheese ripening and then convert each piece into a unique product, different and with its own distinct character, the signature of the Cheese Master.

In the profile of the Master Martín Afinador experience and pure knowledge merge. Martín Afinador is an advisor and consultant for artisanal cheese factories and product design, and for the best-specialised stores in the country, director of Gourmetquesos, director and coordinator of the Championship of the Best Cheeses in Spain during nine editions, technical director and jury in national and international cheese competitions and tastings, collaborator of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Academy of Spanish Gastronomy, director and coordinator of the cheese section of the Repsol Guide to the Best Foods in Spain and trainer for hospitality schools and food centres teaching, among other activities.

Cheese ripening is a complex process that requires time and dedication, in addition to a developed use of the senses. The Cheese Master Affineur, as a specialist in the field, works in all cheese stages (varied and complex), controls all stages of raw material transformation, supervises the evolution and development of cheeses according to the characteristics of each one of them, verifies the quality and the state when the cheeses arrive at their cellars, checks their care and conservation, and; finally, he controls its packaging and the type of wrapping suitable for its best preservation.

In Qava de Quesos they have two Cheese Refining Cellars. In these "tuning caves" or refrigerated chambers designed in constant conditions of temperature, humidity and ventilation, "we take great care of the cheeses until they reach their optimum point of consumption". The work of refining involves placing the cheeses on wooden shelves, turning them over daily and/or washing them frequently, brushing them periodically, as well as other regular handlings.

Among the services offered by Qava de Quesos, we can find specific courses and workshops, events for groups and companies, and advice on shop design and ripening rooms.