Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend launches in the Spanish capital

Organised by Arte Madrid, each year the cultural event brings together curators, collectors and emerging artists from across the world to celebrate the art and culture of the Spanish capital – affirming its status as one of the epicentres of the contemporary art world.

Showcasing the work of over 60 artists, the latest edition sees 43 galleries simultaneously open their doors to the public, offering extensive activities, events and exhibitions with the aim to “bring contemporary creation to the people and to raise the profile of Madrid art’s scene”.
As part of the event, Blanca Berlín Gallery will present past work from visual artist Juan Manuel Castro Prieto, who uses photography as a means to highlight a reality hidden behind the apparent logic of everyday life.

“Juan Manuel Castro Prieto is a virtuoso of photography, the images he captures are simple, unpretentious and unsuperfluous,” explains Blanca Berlín, “he is one of the most important photographers of the Spanish art scene, and thus has to be recognised.”
The exhibition, entitled Luz de cuarto oscuro, recognises the intimacy and elegance of Castro Prieto’s earliest work, with a collection of gelatin prints that reflect the artist’s ability to project his photograph’s into an almost dreamlike territory, one of mystery, restlessness, and adulterated beauty, ever present in the nature of his photography.

Castro Prieto series of photographs apply visual strategies at the service of their content, through white lights charged with spirituality, picturesque textures, shades and ambiguous reflections, the artist’s images are filled with harmony, and reach deeply into the field of subjectivity.

Alongside the exhibition displayed by Blanca Berlín, the Spanish Ministry of Culture has organised a major exhibition of Castro Prieto, to be held in Tabacalera, Promotion Space Art Madrid from 16 September to 13 November 2016.
Apertura Madrid runs until 17 September. Luz de cuarto oscuro will be on show at Blanca Berlín until 5 November 2016. More information can be found here.