DRAWING ROOM 2021 - PALACIO SANTA BÁRBARA

Drawing Room Madrid suffered a change of dates due to the development of the pandemic, and found a place in the spring cultural agenda of the capital, receiving excellent reviews. Although the number of galleries was slightly lower due to capacity issues, visitors were able to enjoy the works of the 40 artists represented by the 13 participating galleries. Drawing Room Madrid was attended by the general director of the Community of Madrid Cultural Promotion, Gonzalo Cabrera, and other representatives of important cultural institutions, such as Orlando Britto, director of the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Javier del Campo, art director of the Fundación Caja Burgos, Tania Pardo, deputy director of the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo of the Community of Madrid, and names in art collecting such as Luis Bassat, father of advertising in Spanish.

Among the galleries participating in this edition were the Madrid galleries Lucía Mendoza, Ogami Press, My name’s Lolita Art; the Santander galleries Siboney and Exhibit and the Swedish gallery based in Marbella, Wadström Tönnheim Gallery; as well as the Lisbon galleries Uma Lulik, Arte Periférica, Trema Arte Contemporánea, Perve Galería, and the Argentinean gallery Granada Gallery.

During the course of the fair, the fifth issue of the Papeleo magazine, Cuadernos de Drawing Room, entitled Highlights, was also presented, showing the work of twenty artists of different nationalities selected by three international experts: Jan-Philipp Fruehsorge, director of Drawing Hub Berlin; Carlos Pinto, art curator and member of the team of the Museu Serralves of Oporto, and Marta Mantecón, art historian and director of the Sala Robayera of Miengo.

Finally, the courtyard of the Palacio de Santa Bárbara hosted a new edition of Proyecto Tiza, this time by the Argentinian Deborah Reda (Buenos Aires, 1976), whose iconic characters populated this rest area for visitors. 

DRAWING ROOM 2020 - PALACIO SANTA BÁRBARA

Drawing Room Madrid closed its fifth edition after receiving more than 10,000 visitors at the Palacio Santa Bárbara. Turned into a very special agent of the Madrid art scene, the drawing fair stood out for the presence of galleries from eight countries: Holland, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Colombia and Argentina.

Drawing Room has consolidated its Collectors Program under the coordination of the cultural manager Lucía Zabala. Thus, an exclusive preview of the fair, a private breakfast or meetings with various artists have caught the attention of the participants of this VIP program for lovers of drawing.

Besides, the first instalment of Tize, the site specific project carried out by the Argentine artist Valeria Traversa, has been presented in the palace courtyard. Not to mention the presentation of the fourth edition of Papeleo magazine, dedicated to contemporary Italian drawing, created by the Bolognese curator Antonio De Falco and published with the collaboration of the ABC Museum of Madrid and the Collezione Maramotti of Reggio Emilia.

The Kells Collection has awarded one more year his Acquisition Awards, which have been assigned to Javier Tibidal, from the Madrid gallery Ogami Press, and to Paulo Lisboa, from the Portuguese Uma Lulik. The Grupo DMG Award for young talent was awarded to Felipe Bedoya, from the Colombian gallery José Amar.

DRAWING ROOM 2019 - PALACIO SANTA BÁRBARA

The fourth edition of Drawing Room Madrid closed with the applause of the public, critics and the artistic community, confirmed the suitability of the Santa Barbara Palace to show the latest trends in contemporary drawing. More than 8,000 people visited for five days the proposals of about twenty galleries from Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Japan and a new program of activities, designed especially for collectors and art advisors, managed to attract new audiences and international buyers to the fair.

Drawing Room Madrid has served as a platform for the promotion and recognition of the work of artists and collectors through its awards. Spanish company El Corte Inglés awarded its New Talent Award Drawing Room – El Corte Inglés to artist Luna Bengoechea Peña for her series Elaeis Guineensis (2018), which has been presented by the Lucia Mendoza gallery. Artist Clara Sánchez Sala – ATM and Addaya galleries – has been doubly recognized with the Kells College Prize and the Navacerrada Collection Prize. DKV Seguros has added to its collection of contemporary Spanish drawing several artworks by Marta Barrenechea, presented by the Silvestre gallery. The Alice Cortes Prize has been awarded to Mizuho Koyama of Kitay Gallery and the Campocerrado Collection has awarded Sergio Porlán, who exhibited the Art Nueve gallery.

Drawing Room had in this edition the collaborations of Arte Madrid, Casa Decor, WeCollect Club and Kooness with which important synergies have been obtained. In addition, the students of the Master in Internationalization in the Management of the Cultural and Creative Sector of the Madrid Complutense University have had the opportunity to receive a master class, taught by the director of the fair.

DRAWING ROOM 2018

The great reception of the third edition of Drawing Room Madrid, held at the ballroom of the Círculo de Bellas Artes, was confirmed by more than 11,000 visitors and 193 accredited journalists who were able to see the strong impact and growing interest that contemporary drawing continues to experience in the current art scene.

In addition to the projects of the 73 artists presented by 30 galleries from Austria, Japan, France, Portugal, Italy and Spain, it took place the exhibition Islas del dibujo: trazos comunes, curated by Emília Ferreira (Director of the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea – Museu do Chiado, Lisbon); and the project of the artist Adrián Martínez for the Wall Drawing area, both supported by the Institut d’Èstudis Baleàrics

The Off Site Programme included the II Encuentro Coleccionar dibujo contemporáneo en museos y centros de arte, held at the Museo ABC, with the participation of Katharine Stout (Deputy Director of CA, London), Brett Littman (Director of The Drawing Center, New York) and Tobías Burg (Curator of Drawing and Engraving at the Folkwang Museum, Essen); as well as the first solo exhibition of Marco Cordero in Spain, A Perdita d’Occhio [As Far As I Can See].

The Kells, Campocerrado, Navacerrada, DKV and IMEM Ascensores collections awarded with their acquisition prizes to the artists Philip Patkowitsch, Pablo Capitán del Río, Nieves Torralba, Sergio Porlán and Berta Cáccamo, respectively. And artist Sandra Krasker from Galerie Jean-Louis Ramand received the SetUp Contemporary Award.

DRAWING ROOM 2017

Almost 7000 visitors and 185 accredited journalists allow us to confirm that Drawing Room 2017 was closed with an excellent balance of quality, visits, sells and critic recognition. The contest was consolidated as the only Spanish Fair that fully recognises the powerful presence of contemporary drawing in the visual arts. It showcased the projects of 37 artists presented by 21 galleries, coming from Germany, Poland, France, Portugal, Italy and Spain.
The Italy Program was headed by a core of exhibition in the inside of the fair composed by four galleries, where the “Chinese Ink Club” ran a collective drawing session. On the Program Off Drawing, the conference celebrated in the ABC Museum stands out: To collect contemporary drawing, Three European examples. It counted with the participation of Elsy Lahner  (Albertina Museum, Vienna), Marta Kolakowska (Leto Gallery, Warsaw) and Andrea Losavio (Drawing Biennial, Rimini). Also, the exhibition Linee Forti and Drawing temptation, curated by Antonio de Falco in the gallery of Cano Studio, Untitled Space.
We were visited by members of purchasing committees from several different foundations, art centers and corporations, all seeking to keep improving and increasing their funds with new creations of contemporary drawing. Among them, the collections DKV, Kells, Navacerrada, the New Collection Pilar Citoler and the foundations Carmona e Costa and Centenera Jaraba, plus many particular collectors, Spanish and foreign.
The Gallery SET from Valencia won the prize SetUp Contemporary and the Belgian artist William Ludwig Lutgens the Prize First Lines Lyra Germany.

DRAWING ROOM 2016

The first edition of Drawing Room Madrid, the first drawing fair held in Spain, offered its 4500 visitors a careful selection of 19 galleries, 11 Spanish and 8 foreign, coming from Europe, China and South America, who were invited to show the work of thirty artists. Among them, many are exceptionally significant in the contemporary drawing field, like the French Abdelkader Benchamma, the Greek Christos Venetis or the Hungarian Karoli Keseru.
The most recent evolution of drawing in China could be appreciated through the works of Lei Ziren and Zhao Lou, two artists formed in CAFA, the Fine Arts Academy of Beijing, who remake a tradition in which the search for rithm and expressivity is based on the line, the brush-stroke and the emptiness.
The Sevillian artist Manuel Rufo brought together in the park El Retiro a large public in the drawing action of “Walking 8 KM to create a new drawing”, and the platform Bcollector guided the new collectors in the appreciation of contemporary drawing.
Spanish artists like Jesús Zurita, Javier Arce, Fernando Martín Godoy, Marta Bran, Santiago Ydáñez and José Miguel Pereñíguez left their works in important Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian collections. The gallery Addaya from Mallorca won the Prize SetUp Contemporary, and the artist Raúl Artiles was distinguished with the prize Canson.