Picasso, Miró, Braque, Plensa, Sorolla, Manolo Millares, Fernando Zóbel, Oteiza, Barceló, Dalí, Saura, Chillida, Lita Cabellut, Ramón Casas... If it were a permanent collection, it would be one of the great European museums: the Círculo Ecuestre de Over the last five days, Barcelona has hosted an ephemeral but high-level modern and contemporary art event, at the By Invitation fair, through which hundreds of people have paraded, attracted by 23 local galleries, which have exhibited around a thousand works . Of his best works.
It has been the third edition of a fair that grows year after year – it started in 2020 with 15 galleries – although limited by the limited space of the Barcelona mansion, where practically every corner is already used to exhibit art.
The contrast between tradition and modernity is fabulous. In the main hall, where the staircase leading to the upper floors begins, there is a fantastic oval room that exudes nobility, these days taken over by three sculptures – a counterpoint of sparkle and color – by Mina Hamada, an artist born in the United States, educated in Tokyo and resident in Barcelona.
In addition to established and highly valued artists of the last 100 years, the fair has also offered emerging art.
In the Gothsland gallery, for example, María Corte Maidagón has exhibited Cuerpos divinos, an NFT created this 2022 and consisting of digital animation, liquid Barcelona scenes, permanently mutating on screen. In front of her, the delicate figures painted by Ramón Casas at the beginning of the last century. This is Barcelona. “Our city is overflowing with art, it has a fantastic climate, everyone wants to come, if we were able to bring the best we would have a great fair and I think we should bet on it”, bets the organizer of the event, Enrique Lacalle.
Today, this is the only modern and contemporary art fair held in the city, and despite the growth and limited space, a change of venue is not being considered for now. “But Barcelona needs a great modern and contemporary art fair, if we don't have Arco it's our fault, but I think it could help to achieve it, to hold a great fair in the city. Not to replicate Arco, but to organize an appointment of the dimensions appropriate to the size of our city. We could do it if we invited the best galleries and the best collectors in the world”.
"A lot of people come here to walk, the visitor to Ifema is different, when they go there it is already with the intention of buying," analyzes Cuca Iriarte, from Sala Nonell.
By Invitation "is a great opportunity to make contacts, many people pass through here concentrated in a few days to meet you and then visit you," explains Jordi Pascual, from the gallery of the same name. One of the visitors to the event was yesterday Javier Godó, Count of Godó and president-editor of La Vanguardia.
Lacalle believes that a fair of this type is "a good place to start collecting, because there are pieces from 5,000 euros up to a million and a half by Manolo Millares, an artist highly valued at auction, so you can invest a modest amount and start So".
By Invitation responds exactly to that name, and can only be visited by invitation due to the conditions of the place. “A small space like this – argues Lacalle – would not allow a massive fair”.
