This year, the international contemporary art fair in Madrid recorded a sharp increase in the number of women artists represented, without however reaching parity.
Painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video and performance. All formats are exhibited at ARCO Madrid, which has 205 galleries for this edition. This year, the fair moved closer to parity between male and female artists, which is not an easy task, according to its director.
“The presence of women has really improved,” explains Maribel López, director of ARCO. “A very significant data is that last year the percentage was 37%, this year we reach 43% (…) We are moving in the right direction.“
In 2018, only 19% of ARCO artists were women. Semiramis González, art critic and curator, believes that this change is due to an evolution in the art world.
“Art professionals denounced the fact that women could not represent 80% of fine arts students, when we arrived at the most important Spanish art fair and we were only 20%.“.
“So there has been a change within the system itself and in society. There are more collectors buying works by women, there is more and more interest in what women are doing, the market is starting to move in favor of female artists“.
Artistic diversity
The artists address themes such as agriculture, memory, education, sustainability, violence and even power.
Spanish artist Marina Vargas won the photography prize last year at ARCO. She returns with three works that are inspired by the experience of women. “Anonymous was a woman“takes its title from Virginia Wolf’s article in her book”A Room of One’s Own“, in which she talks about the difficulty for a woman to tell her own story”, explains the artist.
Artist and collector Claudia Vives-Fierro believes that the fair is moving away from the big names. “A few years ago, when you came (to ARCO), we offered you contemporary art and you saw Picasso, Tàpies, Miró and you said to yourself, well, it’s contemporary because the painting is there, but not them. Today, I think they give voice to emerging artists, mid-career artists and, above all, women artists“, she explains.
Of course, you can still see a Tàpies or a Picasso there, but they now share the walls with a wider variety of artists. Created in the aftermath of Franco’s rule, the event is today a meeting point for collectors, members of renowned museums, as well as private companies which participate in acquisitions and artistic recognition.
A day when the genrewill no longer have an impact“
Ifeoma Dike, a collector and art advisor from the United Kingdom, has found a unique method to encourage people to broaden their artistic horizons.
“I created a blind portfolio, where you put artists, no name, no nationality, no nothing, you just have a blank portfolio of works, and then they choose what they really like, and s If it’s a female artist, that’s fantastic, and if it’s an artist from Latin America or Africa, that’s great. But they choose what they like, while respecting the balance that I would like to see in the art world“, she says.
Some are also pushing to open the art world to the new generation of collectors.
Enrique Vallés, president of the association of contemporary art collectors 9915, believes that it is essential that the market develops.
“Young people bring parity, there are no more differences. For us it is important because there is a generational change, different tastes, which is also important and enriches the art world, and because they are integrated on an equal footing and in equal situations“, he explains.
German gallery owner Jochen Hempel brought in young artist Finja Sander, who uses performance to illustrate the notion of memorial and commemoration in public space.
She notes that for centuries the art world was “on the man’s side” and that today there is a conscious effort to reverse this trend.
But she hopes that a day will come when gender “no longer has an impact.”
Around 65% of the galleries present are international, and the fair has above all become a meeting point between Europe and Latin America.
ARCO Madrid 2024 is open until March 10 at the Ifema Madrid exhibition center.