By Invitation, Círculo Internacional de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo, an initiative created in 2020 by Enrique Lacalle at the Círculo Ecuestre, will celebrate its third edition from December 14 to 18 with a program that grows in number of proposals and ambition. The modernist mansion on Calle Balmes will once again be transformed into an exclusive boutique fair that this year will have Antoni Tàpies as the main protagonist, whose works will tour the different rooms ahead of the acts to honor the centenary of the painter's birth, which will start at the end of 2023 and will last until December 2024.
"We will be full to the brim, there is not room for a single gallery more," says Enrique Lacalle, who, given the success of the inaugural edition, last year already decided to occupy all the Equestrian facilities. In total, a thousand pieces by artists such as Plensa, Picasso, Miró or Barceló will be shown, as well as Tàpies himself, as well as a good number of emerging creators. “In record time we have become a point of reference for modern and contemporary art in Barcelona,” says Lacalle, who has the complicity not only of gallery owners but also of a good number of collectors, both local and from other points of interest. Spain, who will travel to Barcelona on those dates. “The days before Christmas are a good time to buy art, either to give to others or to give to ourselves,” he considers.
This new call includes names such as Alzueta Gallery, Art Petritxol, Carlos Teixidó, Casa Zóbel, Cortina, David Cervelló, Dolors Junyent, Imaginart, Joan Gaspar, Jorge Alcolea, Espacio Lobo, Fernando Pinós, Lanipsebooks, Lorenart, Marc Calzada, Marlborough, Marc Domènech, Mayoral, Senda, LAB36, Pigment Gallery and Piramidón, Contemporary Art Center. As a novelty, professor Lourdes Cirlot will make a series of private visits. Once again, access will be by invitation only, which is extended to members of a good number of private clubs in Barcelona and the Matador Club in Madrid.
Beyond its commercial nature, By Invitation aspires to be more than a fair to become a true artistic meeting with spaces for dialogue and reflection. On this occasion, the presence of Baroness Carmen Thyssen stands out, who will talk on the 16th with the curator of her collection Guillermo Cervera and the writer and director of Cultura|s Sergio Vila-Sanjuán, who on the 14th will talk with the deputy director of the Sorigué Gemma Avinyó Foundation and the artist Julio Vaquero on the PLANTA project.
On the 15th, the director of the Fundació Macba, Cristina López, will discuss new formulas for collecting with the market analyst, Llucià Homs, and the director of Bonhams Spain, Teresa Ybarra. And although the date is yet to be determined, the relationship between art and science will also be the subject of a meeting between the artist Mónica Rikić, the photographer Xavier Bou and the physicist and researcher Josep Perelló.
