(…) Most of the galleries that are presented in ARCO are Spanish. In this occasion the Latin American galleries that were present in the General Program were two from Peru, and the same number from Mexico and Colombia, one gallery from Chile and the rest were Brazilian and Argentinian. For the space Opening, the Cuban gallery El Apartamento was chosen and it presented works by Reynier Leyva Novo, who was very successful with his manipulated historical photos; it also exhibited works by Yornel Martínez.
Even though no Cuban gallery participated in the General Program, Cuban artists were represented at length. The Swiss gallery Peter Kilchmann selected Los Carpinteros for the section Proyectos Especiales (Special Projects) and their sculpture Domo Hexagonal and large format drawings were set in a privileged spot at the entrance to the Fair. Works by Los Carpinteros were also presented in the gallery KOW from Germany. Another Cuban artist that had a prominent place in the Fair was Diango Hernández. Together with the late Argentinian artist Victor Grippo, he was part of the selection made by Alexander and Bonin, a New York gallery, for the Diálogo (Dialogue) program. For this program, three curators had chosen ten galleries from all the world. When they chose the artists, the selected galleries displayed their works in depth. In the case of Hernández, the works displayed were part of a recent series entitled Ley (Law).
In addition, Marlborough Madrid-Barcelona presented a work by Tomás Sánchez within an exhibit that favored Spanish artists. Among other artists there were works by Alexander Arrechea at the Spanish galleries Casado Santapau and La Caja Negra; at Mai 36 Galerie (from Zurich) there were Flavio Garciandía’s works; at Nathalie Obadia there were the works by Ricardo Rodríguez Brey and Wilfredo Prieto was at Nogueras Blanchard.
Lelong Gallery, following the current trend towards the appreciation of concrete art as well as kinetic art and geometric abstraction, chose for its space Zilia Sánchez’s works; and the Lisson Gallery presented works by Carmen Herrera. And what is even more amazing, the Brazilian gallery Dan Galeria brought to Madrid a great number of works by Wilfredo Arcay, Sandú Darié and Salvador Corratgé already exhibited in La isla concreta (The concrete island), an exhibition made the year before in its Sao Paulo seat.
And as it happens in every country where big fairs are organized, using the main one as a justification, countless events and parallel fairs take place. In Madrid, the most interesting one in this occasion, at least for appreciating Cuban art was Art’Madrid Cibeles, which was holding its 12th edition. Thirty-six galleries were participating in this Fair, and once again most of them were Spanish. The Fair stood out from the rest because due to its relatively reduced size, the quality of the selection and the way the works were arranged, the public had more time to enjoy the works. And it was in this Fair where the already traditional Cuban gallery Collage Habana and the most recently created Galería Moleiros/ Estudio Arte Contemporáneo were presented. (…)
In the One Project zone, the Lebanese South Border Gallery chose the Cuban artist Ernesto Rancaño to make a one-man project and exhibited his series Sombras del Ayer (Shadows from yesterday). This space, whose seat is at the cultural center in Beirut, has been gradually specializing in Latin-American art and is particularly committed to Cuban artists, both to those who are well known as well as to those who are new, with the purpose of introducing them into the Lebanese market. (…)
