Art Madrid'25 – THE PORTUGUESE GALLERIES OF ART MADRID FAIR

While Art Lounge repeats in Art MAdrid, Nuno Sacramento and Arte Periférica are premiered in this edition with new artists and others of recognized trajectory. An opportunity to get closer to the Portuguese art market.

 

 

Papartus. Untitled - Mixed media on canvas - 200 x 200 cm - 2014

 


The gallery Nuno Sacramento was founded in the city of Aveiro (Portugal) in 2003. In 2009 the gallery changes its headquarters to Ílhavo, where it has a space specially designed to be a contemporary art gallery. Nuno Sacramento performs six individual and collective exhibitions per year, and publishes catalogs about its artists. In addition, he actively participates in museums and cultural centers in many Portuguese cities and around the world, highlighting those made in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Havana and those of the CEART Museum in Madrid.

 

Nuno Sacramento comes to Art Madrid’17 with a monograph by the artist Papartus, who returns to the cultural scene in Madrid with recent works of large format. Some of the artist's pieces are in public collections such as the Huarte Museum in Navarra, the Malaga Architects Association and the Pamplona City Hall, among others.

 

 

Joâo Noutel. Untitled - Mixed technique on MDF - 130 x 68 cm - 2016

 


Art Lounge Gallery, one of the veteran foreign galleries in Art Madrid, selects artists from many different origins, defending the importance of cultural exchange and promoting the work of artists little known in Portugal. Its intention is to enhance the internationalization of the contemporary plastic arts.

 

The gallery will exhibit in its stand the work of artists with very different lines, like Fabio Camarotta, Ana Michaelis, Joâo Noutel, the Spanish Carmen Calvo, Angela Bassano and Felix Farfán.

 

The work of Farfán (Brazil, 1960), for example, has enjoyed great recognition in South America, especially in his native Brazil, in the 80's of last century. His work has participated in numerous collective and individual exhibitions in Brazil, Brasilia, Recife, Olinda and Sao Paulo. In his art works, with a style very similar to Carmen Calvo's, the artist mixes drawing with the assemblage and collage, traditional symbols and popular culture in colorful mixed techniques on which embroiery, rips and colors to create their particular universe.

 

 

Camilo Alves. Zé Povinho according to Vetrúvio. Oil on canvas. 100x100 cm. 2014

 

Arte Periférica Gallery was founded in 1991 by Anabela Antunes and Pedro Reigadas and, since 1994, occupies a special place in the popular Cultural Center of Belem, on the outskirts of Lisbon, where it also has a shop of Fine Arts products. During 25 years of activity it has been outstanding for promoting the work of young artists from inside and outside Portugal, with special dedication to Spanish and Asian artists. Arte Periférica has imposed an ambitious agenda with 12 annual exhibitions.

 

His proposal for Art Madrid includes the work of Angela Sanchez, Eva Navarro, Eva Armisén, Camilo Alves and Isabel Sabino.

 

Isabel Sabino (Lisbon, 1955) has exhibited individually in Lisbon on numerous occasions, with Arte Periférica Gallery but also with the Galería Novo Século and at the Casa Museo Jorge Vieira. He has participated in collective exhibitions such as the Biennial of Lagos or the Biennial of Vila Nova de Cerveira. Her work, eminently on paper, is expressed in mixed techniques, watercolors and drawing to talk about an almost surrealist figuration in which the scenes - ilusions , allegories and dreams- appear fulled of color spots, geometric structures and apparently delocalized elements in a Painting full of energy.

 

 

 

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.