Artesantander 2019: A showcase of artistic creations

After five days of intense exhibition activity, Artesantander 2019 closed the doors of its 28th edition with a very positive feeling regarding the acceptance of projects, artists and galleries, gathered in the Sardinero Hall of the Palace of Exhibitions and Congresses of Santander between July 13 and 17.

Nearly seven thousand people visited the forty-two stands of the fair, in what some gallery owners have called a "walk through micro-museums or a street of galleries." Without forgetting the quality of the works and pieces exhibited in the rest of the spaces that make up this edition: Redondo Museum, with its selection of round pieces, in what they call "quadrature"; Santander Music, with the pieces of the Italian designer Michela Picchi; the delicate works of the Mallorcan artist Amparo Sard in the stand of the Institute of Balearic Studies; and the considerable presence of the Cantabrian publishing house Nocapaper, the Gil and Carmen Alonso Libros bookstore.

Five days in which they highlighted the visit of the participants and a significant increase in students enrolled in the VII Meeting of Collectables, Contemporary Art and Society; and the professional sector of contemporary art and collecting «A better future through debate» (UIMP 2019), directed by Isabel Durán, president of the Institute of Contemporary Art (IAC), and Jaime Sordo, president of the Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art.

In terms of sales, red dots are observed in the stands of Gema Llamazares, Rafael Ortiz, Puxagallery, Minimum Space, Espai Tactel, Espacio Olvera, Javier López & Fer Francés, Acervo, Marta Cervera, and A Pick Gallery / Opere Scelte / Set Espai d´Art. Pieces of the artists Arancha Goyeneche, Janek Zamoyski, Dorothea von Elbe, Mar Solis, Leonor Serrano Rivas, Eduardo Sarabia, Guillermo Peñalver, Antonio Fernández Alvira, James Scott Brooks, Paula Rubio Infante, Manu Muniategiandikoetxea and Magda Delgado have been acquired by individuals, collectors or institutions.

The public attendance has been very satisfactory, greater than in previous editions. All the workshops included in the Arte Menudo program have had the full capacity of children. Guided tours such as María von Touceda's have exceeded all expectations.

The director of Artesantander, Juan González de Riancho Bezanilla, is very satisfied. The planning and organization work has fulfilled its objectives, enabling a balanced and diverse fair. For five days, veteran galleries of the national scene were agglutinated with others of shorter travel, as well as artists consecrated with emerging. «Artesantander stands out for its plurality —ha Juan González—, as a showcase of a contemporary art where diverse artistic creations converge».

On the closing day, the vice president of the government of Cantabria, in turn responsible for the Ministry of Culture, Pablo Zuloaga, accompanied by the general director of Culture, Eva Ranea, the president of Parliament, Joaquín Gómez, and other government representatives from Cantabria visited the fair, accompanied by the director of Riancho Bezanilla.