Collections' Awards UVNT 2024

Colección Aldebarán

The Aldebarán Collection was born out of the desire to give continuity to a personal project whose benefactor was able to pass it on to his children. Perhaps, the easy path would have been another, however, it is enough to remember the devotion and passion with which Victorino managed to create an international collection of the first order to want to preserve his legacy. A life supporting culture... 

This is a project that seeks to promote socio-cultural initiatives within art in Spain, combining the two fundamental pillars that could be asked of a professional art collection; a patronage that supports and endorses the youngest artists, allowing them to develop their work while they study, research and create, and a collecting work that lasts over time, always aligned with the artists of the time we live in.

Aldebarán Collection will give an adquisition price in the UVNT Art Fair 2024 edition for the first time. 

2024 Award Winner
"074 de la serie punchilne" de Ray Medina represented by Espacio Líquido + La Gran 

Given by Victorino Rosón to Ray Medina.

Colección Kells

The Kells Collection was established in 1996, as a result of the approach of Juan Manuel Elizalde and Choli Fuentes to the world of Art. At that time, their interest was focused on artists and works of modern art, mainly in the language of painting and sculpture of the second half of the 10th century: Feito, Saura, Clavé, Sempere, Genovés or Baltasar Lobo, among others.

Since then, the Kells Collection is immersed in a continuous process of growth through the incorporation of new languages such as photography, for which they feel a special passion. As well as video, video-installation, installation, archives and objects of character that are added as means of expression. Conceptually, Juan Manuel and Choli understand collecting as an intense journey of learning and emotions. Currently, the Collection is made up of several hundred works, structured from an eclectic character, reflecting their interests and the themes for which they feel a special affection and sensitivity: language and communication in its various fields occupy an important part in the Collection. 

In 2004 the Kells Collection turned its attention to contemporary works and creative processes, including objects of character, by acquiring the first contemporary work. It takes into account emerging artists such as Kepa Garraza, Guillermo Mora, Blanca Gracia, Clara Sánchez and Miguel Angel Tornero, who are in the process of aesthetic research and formal development, as well as national creators of long trajectory such as Juan Uslé, Carmen Calvo, Esther Ferrer, Angela de la Cruz, and international artists such as Gustav Kramer, Liliana Porter, Sandra Gamarra, Carlos Bunga, Carlos Garaicoa or Maria Loboda. 

2024 Award Winner 
"El último abrazo IV" Ela Fidalgo represented by LA BIBI

2023 Award Winners
"Pergola de químicos oxigenada" Juana Gonzalez represented by Trinta Gallery and "Sin titulo" by Carlos Pesudo from Herrero represented by Tejada Gallery.

2022 Award Winners
"ST 02" by Amaya Suberviola, represented by SC Gallery at UVNT 2022.

Casa de Indias

Casa de Indias collection is exhibited permanently in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cádiz, iinside the Contemporary Art Center which bears his name. It includes more than 70 works of painting, sculpture and photography by established, mid career artists and emerging new talents.

Casa de Indias also develops a non profit program of artist residency connecting new talented artists to distribution channels in the art world, in adition to motivate new collectors to join the art market.

2024 Award Winners 
"Escultura para narcotraficante" de Alberto Ardid represented by Arniches 26
"Sin título" de Srger represented by Swinton Gallery

2023 Award Winners
"Light man" de Cesc Abad represented by The Curators Room, Studio Lenca de Gallery RED y Alfonso del Moral represented by Arniches 26.

2022 Award Winners
"Fat Chance" by Scout Zabinski, represented at UVNT 2022 by Adhesivo Contemporary gallery.
"Rat" by Miguel Angel Erba, represented at UVNT 2022 by Herrero de Tejada gallery.
S/T by Olga de Dios, represented at UVNT 2022 by Swinton Gallery.
Ceramics by Iván Forcadell represented at UVNT 2022 by Badr el Jundi.

2021 Award Winner
"Valuable" by Johan Deckmann, represented at Urvanity 2021 by Badr El Jundi.

Carmen y Lluís Bassat

Over the course of more than 40 years, Carmen and Lluís Bassat have built up an important collection of art, which today constitutes one of the most representative collections of contemporary art made in Catalonia during the second half of the twentieth century.

In 1973, one afternoon, after leaving work, Lluís Bassat entered the Adriá Gallery in Barcelona. Three hours later, he had bought the second painting of his life and 35% of the gallery. Over the next seven years, he got to know many of the young Catalan artists of the time personally, visited their studios, took an interest in their work and tried to promote them internationally, taking advantage of his frequent professional trips to New York, which he achieved with Josep Guinovart: three of his works at the Guggenheim Museum, an exhibition of recent work at the Martha Jackson Gallery and an anthological exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.

From that moment on, his love of art was joined by his love of collecting. The result is a private collection of more than three thousand original works, which since 2010 has begun to be made public in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Mataró, as well as in Bulgaria, Poland, New York and in a number of Spanish cities.

"In 1973, while visiting galleries in Carrer Concell de Cent, I fell in love with a painting by Xavier Serra de Rivera, Bañista, and I spoke to the director of the Francesc Mestre gallery and bought the painting from him, convinced that Carmen would love it, as she did" Lluís Bassat.

2024 Award Winners 
Díptico "Lingum" + "(B-V)", de Alba Lorente represented by Arniches 26
Instalación "Between the greenbelt and the rest" de Terry Craven represented by Arniches 26 
"Log in" de Hugo Alonso representado represented by Galería Llamazares

2023 Award Winner
"Futuro" de Quintin Rivera Toro con Zawahra Alejandro.

Colección MER

The MER Collection, with main warehouses in Segovia, is the result of the dedication, perseverance and collecting passion of the married couple formed by Elena Rueda and Marcos Martín Blanco, and their son Rafael Martín - the trio from which the acronym of the collection was born. 

It began in the 1980s and has matured to become one of the most important international private collections in Spain and Europe. Thanks to its efforts to educate its visual culture and its curiosity to study and learn about contemporary art, the MER Collection brings together nearly 800 works with both national and international names, such as Luis Gordillo, Eric Fischl, Lisa Yuskavage, Norbert Bisky, Marilyn Minter, Hugo Crosthwaite, Bill Viola or Miquel Barceló, among many others. 

2024 Award Winner
"Eros y Psique" de Horacio Quiroz represented by S Gallery. 

2023 Award Winner
"The Stripper" by Shinkichi Hiroshima represented in 2023 by Moosey Art.

2022 Award Winner
"Tio Hernan" by Studio Lenca & Carlota Pereiro, represented at UVNT 2022 by Arniches 26 gallery.

2021 Award Winner 
"Bostezo" de Imon Boy, representado en Urvanity 2021 por La Causa Art Gallery.

Montresso* Art Foundation

Settled in Morocco since 2009, the Montresso* Art Foundation is a hybrid place that aims to support the creation and promote the diversity of fields of the current artistic research.

The artistic residency Jardin Rouge, created by the Montresso* Art Foundation, has been supporting and accompanying the research of international artists for eleven years now. Eight studios allow to welcome nearly thirty artists per cultural season, in a preserved environment, conducive to experimentation and dialogue. Focused on the theme of territories, Jardin Rouge is a creative laboratory in which artists benefit from research time but also help with visibility.

2024 Residency Award Winner
Alba Lorente represented by por Arniches 26

2023 Award Winner
"De un hilo" de Susanna Inglada represented by Gabinete de Dibujos.

2022 Award Winner
Rosh333, representaded by Gärna Art Gallery. 

2021 Award Winner
"La Alegoría del Hombre" de Mario Antón, represented by Lariot Collective.
Elena Rato, representaded by Furiosa Gallery.

Piramidón Centre

Created in 1990, Piramidón is a hybrid space between a creative factory and an art gallery that merges the field of artistic creation with that of diffusion, exhibition and sale. The configuration of the center, made up of eighteen studios and a gallery, allows visitors to get to know the artists and their work in their production environment.

Since its inception, Piramidón has sought to support artists in the face of the instabilities of the art market and the difficulties of finding a work space suited to their needs. The aim is to favor the development of their creative moment by providing them with facilities to develop their artistic career. With this objective, Isidre Bohigas as president and Marc Comerma and Josep Alavedra as advisors, initiated this ambitious and original project in this city, more than twenty years ago. It was at this time that the Piramidón art collection also began.

From its beginnings, the center is based on the promotion and exhibition of contemporary art in its different languages. The aim is to bring contemporary art closer to the general public, both for those who wish to have a first contact with this world and for those who are looking to expand their collection.

2024 Adquisition and Residence Award Winner
"Los asesinos de la luna" de Pablo Castañeda represented by Berlín Galería.

2023 Adquisition and Residence Award Winner
"Toda la puta vida igual" Fran Baena con Galería Yusto/Giner.