ARCOmadrid 2023: mixed media art with the Mediterranean front and centre
A visit to ARCOmadrid is always an extraordinary experience, and this year's event was no exception. An array of artworks in various formats with a few real show-stoppers, like the sculpture of Picasso's lifeless form, a hyper-realistic piece to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the artist's death, and other crowd-pleasers including paintings and sculptures by artists of the calibre of Miró, Dalí, Zóbel, Chillida and Tapies. In case you didn't make the 42nd edition of this leading global modern art exhibition, here's a little snapshot of the bits we liked best.
Art can be anywhere, and take any form. It could be a dress woven from electrical wires (Maribel Doménech) or a piece crafted from the ‘real votes’ in Chile's latest elections (Catalina Swinburn). ARCOmadrid was full of surprises again this year, with a series of pieces that left nobody unmoved.
A total of 211 galleries from 36 countries took part in the exhibition, which this year featured three commissioned sections in addition to the main programme: The Mediterranean: A Round Sea, Opening by Allianz, and Never the same. Latin American art.
Debate and reflection
Once again this year, ARCO provided a space for debate and reflection thanks to powerful pieces like ‘Picasso in repose’, a sculpture by Eugenio Merino which was exhibited alongside the following epitaph: "Here lies our muchved Pablo Picasso. 1881-1973. We miss you." The piece is intended as a criticism of excessive tourism activity in Malaga and the use of Picasso's image for comm-loercial purposes. It is priced at €45,000.
We were also intrigued by the works of Madrid-born artist Rafael Macarrón, a former cyclist and physiotherapist whose depictions of abstract, deformed figures saw him shoot to stardom, and Catalan artist Cristina Banban, a Barcelona-born star who is dazzling the New York art scene with her impressive, large-scale paintings. The collages by Italian artist Umberto Manzo also caught the eye, gradually crafting an image by layering papers of different weights and shades.
Latin America and the Mediterranean
From Latin America, we were struck by the disturbing piece entitled 'Niños Sicarios' or 'Child Assassins’ by the Argentine artist Ana Gallardo, a damning observation of the brutal existence of many children in Latin American countries. In stark contrast with Gallardo's work is the colourful installation ‘Pájaros en la cabeza’ or 'Birds in the head' by Chilean artist Bernardo Oyarzún, in which a hundred handmade birds and a wampo (mapuche canoe) form an expression of the concept of community.
Another eye-catching piece was the reconstruction of ‘El tendedero’ or 'The clothesline', a collective, hanging poem created by the late experimental Argentine artist Graciela Gutiérrez Marx as a celebration of her country's brand new democracy. We were also drawn to the tree branch on a stave, the medium chosen by Cuban artist Glenda León to invite us to listen to trees and protect nature.
This year's exhibition also paid homage to the Mediterranean, featuring pieces by artists from various countries on the shores of the Mare Nostrum, including Jannis Kounellis, Maria Lai, Silvina Der Meguerditchian and Laia Estruch. The ramps and steps around this broadly open-plan space are evocative of a typical Mediterranean town square.
Among other new galleries and young talent, the section ‘Opening by Allianz’ showcases the work of the Brazilian gallery HOA, which won the accolade for best stand in this section of the ARCOmadrid exhibition.
