LEXUS x UVNT 2025 PUBLIC ART PROGRAM

24th February - 10th March 2025

For the second consecutive year, LEXUS and UVNT have joined forces once again to take art beyond the traditional circuits and bring it closer to the Madrid public. Thus strengthening the firm collaboration of the fair with LEXUS and contemporary art. From 24 February, from Pedro Zerolo to the fair headquarters in Matadero, the city centre will be transformed into a perfect setting for discovering innovative expressions of contemporary art in sculptural format.

The route takes in different parts of the city of Madrid, from Plaza Pedro Zerolo, passing through Embajadores and culminating at the Matadero square, the fair's headquarters. This year the participating artists will be Adrián Castañeda represented by SHANKAY gallery (Porto/Dubai), Agustín Esteso represented by MXM (Madrid) and Lara Ruíz, represented by Gabinete de Dibujos (Valencia). They can be visited until 10 February and Ruiz's until 13 February.

Key points:

Adrián Castañeda Glorieta de Embajadores corner with Martín Vargas.
Agustín Esteso Plaza de Pedro Zerolo.
Lara Ruiz Plaza de Matadero*

*from 3 - 13 March

Sobre Lexus y el Arte
KÚU es un concepto de origen japonés que define un espacio vacío, imposible de medir o pesar, donde el poder de crear no tiene límites. A lo largo de toda su existencia, Lexus ha trabajado incansablemente a través de la creatividad, la artesanía y la inspiración, con la convicción de que aún hay muchos horizontes por explorar. En esta ocasión, la marca se sumerge en el mundo del arte, colaborando con artistas que comparten la misma energía, que se integran con las calles y buscan la expresión sin restricciones. Es un movimiento que refleja "THE POWER OF KÚU".

Gracias a la colaboración de Lexus y el Ayuntamiento de Madrid a través de Todo está en Madrid

Agustín Esteso

Represented by the gallery MXM (Madrid).
Location: Pedro Zerolo square

Bio:

Agustín Esteso (ES, 1984) is a Valencian artist dedicated to wrought iron sculpture. Trained in graphic design and illustration, his work stands out for its figurative, fun and intelligent style. His works, with a contemporary aesthetic, reflect his experience in design, ceramics, photography and mural painting.

About the work:
Big Peanut 2025

The first public sculpture by the artist and sculptor Agustín Esteso is called ‘Big Peanut’, related to the series of pieces ‘Penauts’ that he made on a small scale.

The Valencian artist's star work is a totem made up of three modules of forged steel sheets, assembled with the precision of someone who transforms iron into art. Up close, every detail reveals the process: bumps, joints and imperfections; from a distance, a perfect, clean, flawless volume emerges. His obsession for mastering volume in iron advances with each piece, a family legacy started by his grandfather and continued by his father, an artisan blacksmith. Now, as the third generation, he brings this traditional technique into contemporary art.
Adrián Castañeda

Represented by SHANKAY Gallery (Porto/Dubai)
Location: Glorieta de Embajadores con Calle Martín de Vargas

Bio:

(Salamanca, 1990) works and lives in Bilbao. He considers his work as a tool to generate critical thinking and reflection. For this reason, he addresses issues such as the mechanisms of political power, migratory flows or class consciousness, often with irony or satire, using objects that he decontextualises or gives a new meaning to. Awarded a grant by the BilbaoArte Foundation in 2017 and 2021, his work has been exhibited at Las Naves in Valencia, the Sala Amadís de Injuve in Madrid, the Archaeological Museum of Bilbao, the Vitriol Gallery in Buenos Aires, the Cantieri Culturali Alla Zisa in Palermo and the Kunstkerk Dordrecht in the Netherlands.

About the artwork:
Mantén la calma, 2025

Public space is more than a place of transit; it is a territory of dispute between control and freedom, order and resistance. Pedestrian fences are versatile barriers, designed to divide and divert in the city. This project transforms them into chairs, resignifying them as spaces of pause and encounter. Instead of impeding passage, they invite rest and interaction. Similar to beach loungers, they question haste and reclaim the street as a place of permanence and shared enjoyment.
Lara Ruiz

Represented by: Gabinete de Dibujos
Location: Matadero Madrid*.

*From 3 March.

Bio:

Lara Ruiz (Luxembourg, 1986) holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Salamanca and a Master in Artistic Production from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. She has received grants from various institutions such as the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Junta de Extremadura. Her work has been exhibited in fairs and spaces such as Artesantander, Art Code Space (Miami) and DA2 Salamanca. She has participated in international projects in Mexico and Serbia, and has held residencies at Chiquita Room and Galería Vilaseco. She was recently awarded a prize in the ‘El Brocense’ Plastic Arts Competition.

About the artwork:
CDC Matadero, 2025

The filiform piece CDC Matadero occupies the space with PVC-O pipes for recycled water, responding to a modular game where a pattern breaks itself. Its structure alters the standardised: a purple pipe emerges from the floor like a visible entrails, impossible to hide. Its shape traces an autonomous squiggle that invites the viewer to walk around and play without rules. The work pays homage to sculptors such as Bourgeois and Saint Phalle, reclaiming volume and materiality as strength and resistance.

Produced by MOLECOR Smart Water.