Art Madrid'25 – GALERIA SÂO MAMEDE AND THE UNSOLVED EQUATIONS OF GONZÁLEZ BRAVO

The artist from Extremadura González Bravo, talks about his works as "unsolved equations, pieces that share an intimate and symbolic language where colour is the main element". His paintings, full of feelings and mysticism, introduce the viewer to the artist's particular universe, and in turn, to a deeply reflexive reality with space and time as crucial factors.

Justo González Bravo (Badajoz, 1944), has lived and worked in Lisbon since the 1970s. Although Gonzalez Bravo's life has always been linked to art, specifically painting, his exhibition career began in 1980. However, since that date, he has actively participated in exhibitions in galleries, fairs and national and international cultural centres (Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, USA, Canada...). His art works can be found in important public and institutional collections such as the MEIAC in Extremadura, The Commercial Bank of Portugal, The Fundação D. Luís Cascais in Portugal and the A.I.T Collection in Madrid, among others.

Gonzalez Bravo

Sem título, 2018

Oil on paper

103 x 153cm

Gonzalez Bravo

Sem título, 2018

Oil on paper

103 x 53cm

The colour in his paintings, is in the line of the Informalism painters that emerged after the Second World War. When he reaches complete abstraction, the colour becomes the vehicle of the work’s mystical essence, getting closer to the paintings of Mark Rothko, Antoni Tàpies, Antonio Saura or Manolo Millares. In his art works we can distinguish elements typical of Expressionism, mainly in his figures and landscapes, which gradually lead to absolute abstraction.

Colour, shapes and texture give a singular identity to the work of González Bravo. To these elements, time and space are added, components with which the artist creates cyclical processes. The author knows perfectly the landscape of Extremadura, its proximities and zones bordering the Portuguese Alentejo, "an austere, dry landscape, but of an immeasurable depth", emphasises the artist. And this is how these landscapes are portrayed in his works, through colour and gesture.

Gonzalez Bravo

Sin Título, 2010

Oil on board

180 x 150cm

Self-reflection is a constant in his work. With an imaginary canvas and brush he creates poetic instants that flow in space, but the self-reflection of this artist goes beyond that, and stops on the issue of the pigment itself, the colour and its shape, making each art work unique.

The narrative of González Bravo is built on the playing with pure and complementary colours that cover his large supports, without forgetting his illegible added graphics and the geometric stains of colour, masterfully overlapping the backgrounds. The material in his work takes us inside the sublime part of art, making the viewer to have the same mystical experience as the author during the creative process and final execution of the work. His paintings are full of mystery, which gives them an identity value.

Gonzalez Bravo

Sin Título, 2015

Oil on board

162 x 146cm

The Portuguese gallery São Mamede participates for the second consecutive year in Art Madrid with an exhibition proposal featuring four Portuguese artists: Gil Maia, Nélio Saltão, Susana Chasse and Paulo Neves, the German artist Georg Scheele and the Spanish artists González Bravo (Badajoz) and David Moreno (Barcelona).

 

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.