12 works to collect at ARCOmadrid

The work of Alberto Borea (Lima, Peru, 1979), Peruvian visual artist, is characterised by the use and continuous displacement of a diverse variety of materials and media. He defines his artistic proposal taking into account the importance of time and history, which take on a fundamental importance in his artistic discourse and in the process of creating his work. In his works he expresses his interest in the relationship between different cultures and histories. Attracted by the residues of civilization and mapping and re-signifying objects in his work. His work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Latin America.

Ana H. del Amo (Cáceres, Spain 1977) focuses on formalism, on the poetics of geometry, matter and colour. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona. In 2005 she received the scholarship of the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome and since then she has increased her continuous training. She considers herself a studio artist, since the whole process of research of her works arises in that space. It is in this place where she relates to objects, materials, colours and, in this way, she creates her works. The central elements of her work are colour, matter and geometric drawing in each of her pieces.

Andrés Pachón (Madrid, Spain 1985) has developed a visual practice on the construction of the colonial imaginary with the use of photographic archives in anthropology and ethnography, collaborating with institutions such as the Museé du Quai Branly in Paris, the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Madrid, and the Photographic Archive of the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) in Peru. In his work he reflects on the construction of knowledge through photography, establishing relationships between 19th and 20th century practices and the technological uses of the present, as is the case of his current doctoral research in Anthropology on visualisation and cognition in the area of Artificial Intelligence. His work is part of different international collections, such as the Pilar Citolar Collection (Madrid), the Jozami Collection (Argentina), the CA2M Art Centre Collection (Madrid), the MEIAC Collection (Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo) or the BEEP Collection of Electronic Art. 

Antoni Hervás (Barcelona, Spain, 1981) graduated in Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona. In his works he captures through drawing the Indians that show the mysticism of everyday life. He tries to push his drawings to the limit when he makes them. Understanding drawing in an elastic way allows Hervás to expand a story that connects realities and moments that happened in different times and spaces. In 2020 he was awarded the Botín Foundation Grant for the Visual Arts and the La Caixa Production Grant. Notable exhibitions include: Absurd Humour. A constellation of nonsense in Spain, at CA2M, Móstoles (2020), Generations at La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2018); The mystery of caviria at La Capella, Barcelona (2016) and Punk. Sus rastros en el arte contemporáneo at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Barcelona (MACBA) (2016). In addition, he has also curated several educational programmes.

The photography of Ellen Kooi (Leeuewarden, Holland, 1962) breaks down the pulse between man and nature, between each person and their environment. The planning of her images requires an industriousness and a talent that makes the staging an exercise in virtuosity. He complements natural light with artificial lighting that reinterprets Renaissance aerial perspective with always surprising results. The influence of the choreography of Wim Vandekeybus, Jan Fabre, and Pina Bausch is capital in the work with his models, creating bodily calligraphies and mental states of great emotional intensity. The architectural treatment of composition and perspective also plays an important role even when she photographs usually desolate and empty exteriors. Ellen Kooi's works have been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries around the world and her work forms part of important private collections. 

Cristóbal Ortega (Alhaurín de la Torre, Málaga, 1970) lives and works between Beijing and Málaga. He studied architecture at the University of Seville and has been a professional painter since the 1990s. His work is characterised by the representation of successions of pictorial notes in a rapturous score. In his oil paintings, colours intermingle and interact generating synergies and movements. What is essential in his works arises from the harmonisation of opposites, of impetus and restraint, of expression and formality, of substance and form, of what lies deep and what moves on the surface.

Carlos Nunes (1979, São Paulo, Brazil) holds a degree in visual arts from the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP, São Paulo). He also studied at Saint Martins School of Arts, London. In his work he tries to delve into everyday pieces to offer us other values that observation can show us. He pays attention to aesthetics, humour and play. The Brazilian artist's work can be found in collections such as São Paulo Pinacoteca, São Paulo, Brazil; Rio Art Museum - MAR, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; MAC USP, São Paulo, Brazil; Helga de Alvear Collection, Madrid, Spain; Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil; Andréa and José Olympio Pereira Collection.

João Ferro Martins (Santarém, Portugal, 1979) forms the basis of his artistic work through three-dimensional construction, production related to painting and relations with the universe of sound. He also develops actions including words, performance and video. His plastic work is based on processes where ideas, memories, symptoms and other immaterial aspects find their physical existence through the manipulation of objects of everyday culture and music. The artist's work is present in collections such as Pedro Cabrita Reis Collection, Lisbon, Portugal; Nasjonalmuseet Collection, Oslo, Norway; EDP Foundation Art Collection, Lisbon, Portugal.

Gloria Oyarzabal (London, UK, 1971) has a degree in Fine Arts and a diploma in Restoration and Conservation from the Complutense University of Madrid. She diversifies her professional activity between film, photography and teaching. She lived from 2009 to 2012 in Bamako (Mali), where she developed her interest in the construction of the African imaginary, the processes of colonisation/decolonisation, the new tactics of colonialism and the diverse African voices around feminisms. In 2018 she presented for El Ranchito de Matadero Madrid the photographic project "Woman go no'gree" after her residency at Matadero Madrid and Art House Foundation Lagos (Nigeria), selected to be part of the Biennial of Women in the Visual Arts BMM-2018. She is a member of the associations MAV and Redes Vivas.

José Ramón Amondarain (San Sebastián, Spain, 1964) is an artist with a long career that explores painting. He makes digital Prints , paintings, temperas and installations that question the veracity of art. He summons the work of other artists through appropriationism.

His works belong to collections such as: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Endesa Group, Arthur Andersen, Peter Stuyvesant Foundation, Bank of Spain, Unicaja, Caja Madrid, La Caixa, Caja Burgos, Marcelino Botín Foundation, ARTIUM, Coca-Cola, Unión Fenosa, ING Bank or DKV.

Federico Miró (Málaga, Spain, 1991) holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Málaga and a Master's Degree in Research in Art and Creation from the Complutense University of Madrid. In his works he vindicates craftsmanship from a reasoned and meticulous proposal.

He has obtained grants from the Casa de Velázquez, the Fundación Bilbao Arte and the Academia de San Quirce. He has also received awards such as the Painting Award of the University of Malaga (2013), the second in the XXI Young Painters Contest of the Fundación Gaceta de Salamanca and the aforementioned of the XXVII Circuits of Plastic Arts.

Luis Gordillo (Seville, Spain, 1934) decided to begin his artistic career as a painter after studying law and music. As a young man, he attended the School of Fine Arts in Seville for two years and lived in Paris from 1958 to 1960. There he came into contact with informalism, following the guidelines of masters such as Michaux, Tapies, Millares, etc.

Today, his work is an artistic reference. Gordillo has exhibited in major museums and institutions and has been awarded several prizes throughout his career, including the Order of Knight of Arts and Letters of France by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (2008), the Velázquez Prize for Plastic Arts (2007) or the National Prize for Plastic Arts (1981).