Barcelona is full of art, but to discover it you have to jump from one place to another: from museum to museum, from gallery to gallery, from exhibition to exhibition. At By Invitation, the modern and contemporary art fair of the Círculo Ecuestre, however, it seems that all that art decided to gather in one place and, once there, explode. Explode and fill every last corner of the modernist mansion that serves as the headquarters of this private club which, for a few days, opens its doors to contemporary art, to artists, collectors, and art lovers in general.
For four days, and until this Sunday, the works overflow everywhere, jump off the walls and appear in the most unexpected corners. There are canvases hanging from the monumental staircase that presides over the building, paintings that replace the glass in the library furniture, pieces that coexist with stained glass, and even works that find their place in corners as unexpected as the inside of the fireplace. It's hard to know where to look, because at By Invitation art is everywhere. As if we could tour the galleries of an entire city without leaving the same building, like entering a universe where creativity can be breathed through each and every pore.
But what makes By Invitation special, promoted by businessman Enrique Lacalle (president of the Círculo Ecuestre), is not only this explosion of art in every corner. It is also its ability to mix artists from different contexts, times, and generations. In its seventh edition, artists from very different eras and generations coexist: Joan Miró, Antoni Clavé, Olga Sacharoff or Equipo Crónica share the stage with contemporary and emerging creators such as Sara Bonache, Agnès Essonti, Jan Vallverdú or Elena Garrigola. Works that perhaps would never have coincided under the same roof and that here meet, look at each other, and establish unexpected connections. This is precisely one of the fair's purposes: to relate different ways of understanding and experiencing art, regardless of when or where they originated.
"We are not afraid to foster great and unexpected dialogues between artists of different generations, even among those who had never met before," said Mariella Franzoni, artistic director of the fair, during the presentation. In this edition, the fair brings together 23 galleries this year, from the Catalan capital but also from cities as far away as Dubai, Porto, and Milan, and around 90 artists, including emerging, consolidated, and even deceased artists, under the theme Open Weaves, which focuses on textile art, in addition to highlighting the female presence at the fair: almost half of the participants in the 24 exhibition projects are women.
A desire to mix eras and artists is also highlighted by Carla García Castelló, an artist participating for the first time in By Invitation, represented by the Piramidón gallery, where she is currently a resident artist. For her, sharing space with more established artists means "opening a door and facilitating emerging creators to enter into dialogue with other art circuits."
Castelló also highlights the character that the building itself brings: "The Círculo Ecuestre already has, by itself, a presence and an atmosphere that generate new ways of conceiving the art it houses, unlike spaces completely alien to their context, such as fairs held in white cubes," she points out. And it is that, although these days the mansion experiences a true explosion of works, art has always been part of Casa Pérez Samanillo, headquarters of the Círculo Ecuestre. Its ceiling frescoes, stained glass windows, monumental staircase, and ornate rooms are just some of the elements that comprise it. Now, all these elements mix with the exhibited pieces and establish an unexpected dialogue between the history of the building and the creations that inhabit it.
For this reason, exploring its interiors, usually reserved for members of this private club, is already reason enough to visit the fair. But even more so if it allows discovering new artists and coming face to face with works by great names in art from the last century. And, despite what its name may suggest, you don't need to belong to the Círculo Ecuestre or receive an invitation to enter. The fair is open to the public and access is free, although it is necessary to register online beforehand to obtain the access pass.
A walk through the corners where art explodes
The visit to El Círculo Ecuestre begins on the floor that houses Espuela, the program dedicated to modern and contemporary art, with galleries Carlos Teixidó, Dolors Junyent, and Silvia Sennacheribbo. A large room with red walls welcomes visitors with works by renowned names such as Miquel Barceló, Joan Miró, Equipo Crónica or Javier Mariscal, which serve as a preview of what awaits in the rest of the fair: artists from different eras and generations sharing space and establishing new dialogues.
But to reach the other rooms of the fair, one must ascend the grand staircase of the mansion. The ascent takes place under the fabrics of Agnès Essonti, an artist represented by Bombon Projects, who has transformed this space into one of the most striking interventions of the edition. Suspended above the steps, Essonti presents three pieces from her Banderas series under the title Taym we taym bi bin taym (The time when time was time). Made with fragments of wax fabrics printed with figurative motifs, such as small horses or fans. The fabrics incorporate proverbs and expressions in Cameroonian Pidgin, through which the artist evokes the cultural exchanges between Africa and Europe and the colonial history that runs through them.
Although they are suspended at a considerable height, intuition almost makes us duck our heads, a gesture that can allude to the submission and power relations that have marked colonial history. Essonti thus introduces a vindicating perspective that is also present in other works at the fair, which use art to address social issues.
And it is not the only proposal with a vindicating perspective. In the Palacete space, the main program of By Invitation, one can also find works that address social, political, and historical issues, and that invite one to look beyond the purely aesthetic. In Untitled, Elena Garrigolas (Girona, 1998), for example, addresses the physical and psychological violence transmitted between generations of women. Inspired by the aesthetics of post-war Spain, the work questions traditional models of femininity.
A few rooms away, in this artistic house that the Círculo Ecuestre becomes, the paintings by Italian artist Andrea Mastrovito, author of the Agnus Dei inside the Tower of Jesus Christ of the Sagrada Familia, replace the glass panes of the shelves in the library. A triptych of 16 painted panels that recreate revolutionary barricades built with piles of books, including copies of Incerta glòria by Joan Sales, or La plaça del Diamant by Mercè Rodoreda.
Between paintings with a revolutionary message and works that are fully integrated into the space they occupy —from the large windows to the inside of the fireplace—, the tour leads the visitor to the top floor. There, dominated by the green color of the walls, is Vértigo, the program dedicated to national and international emerging artists, with many projects conceived specifically for By Invitation.
On this floor, works as different as the delicate paintings by Núria Valverde, with a modernist, enveloping, and slightly melancholic air; the pastel-toned sculptures by Ana Rod or the textile proposals by Guadalupe Salgado coexist. The diversity is also reflected in the origin of the participating spaces. Alongside Barcelona galleries such as Malpaís, we find proposals from Dubai, Porto, Milan, or Naples, which expand the fair's map and add new perspectives and ways of understanding contemporary creation.
Upon finishing the tour of By Invitation, the viewer leaves this modernist mansion with the feeling of having visited much more than a contemporary art fair. Art has appeared on every step, in every room, and even in the most unexpected corners of the mansion. It has also brought together artists from different eras, generations, and backgrounds, allowing works that would hardly share a stage in other contexts to coexist. But in addition to contemplating art, By Invitation is, above all, a salon, and the exhibited pieces are also for sale. Because here art is contemplated, discovered, and, for those who wish, can also be taken home.