Malaga attends ARCO once again with a dozen artists, but without its galleries.

The pattern of the last decade repeats itself: Málaga will be represented at ARCO, the largest national showcase for contemporary art, by a dozen artists but without galleries. Of the more than 200 participating, none are based in the province. In fact, only two Andalusian firms have again passed the filter of the organizing committee: Alarcón Criado and Rafael Ortiz. An anomaly that is beginning to become a custom and that occurs, moreover, at a delicate moment for the sector, in the midst of protests against the 21% VAT on art purchases, compared to the reduced tax applied in other countries.

The lack of business presence is countered by the creative power of artists from Málaga. The Contemporary Art Fair, which started this Wednesday, once again showcases the work of established veterans such as Rogelio López Cuenca (National Award for Plastic Arts), Carlos Aires, Nono Bandera, Cristóbal Ortega, and the late Chema Cobo and Manuel Barbadillo. Not missing are the works of Regina de Miguel and Juan del Junco, and names on the rise like Julio Anaya, Leonor Serrano Rivas, Federico Miró, and Paloma de la Cruz, who are also becoming regulars at the fair. And a newcomer: the young Pedro Hoz.

At 25, Pedro Hoz positions himself as one of the most unique artists of his generation with his first time at ARCO. He does so through the Mayoral Gallery, taking his surrealistic universe a step further with two large-format crosses topped with a red wooden ball. A striking proposal that refers to his cultural roots, to that image of sacrifice very present in the collective imagination since childhood, which he reinvents with recognizable bodies but slightly detached from reality. In his pieces, as he explains, "the familiar becomes strange".

In many cases, presence at ARCO coincides with exhibitions in Madrid. This is the case for Rogelio López Cuenca: while he collaborates with Elo Vega and other artists at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, his work will be at the fair in the spaces of Moisés Pérez de Albéniz (MPA) and Ángels Barcelona. Always with pieces that reflect his rebellious spirit, his critical gaze, and his reflection on the construction of individual and city identities through the figure of Picasso.

Paloma de la Cruz brings to the T20 booth her textile reinvention of ceramics with one of the pieces in homage to the Manila shawl made during her residency at the Casa de Velázquez; and at the same time shows her latest creations (surprising 'black clay fabrics') at the new headquarters of the gallery in the capital. And the same happens with Federico Miró: he exhibits at ARCO a screen-painting, his new bet to jump from the conventional canvas with a support where his influences converge and where the unreality of the landscape combines with the architectural-decorative; a piece that is also part of the exhibition that he also stars in at the Madrid gallery F2 until mid-March. In the space of the firm will also be the visual artist based in Málaga Juan del Junco, professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the UMA, owner of his own conceptual language through photography.

Leonor Serrano Rivas will have the central piece of Carlier/Gebauer: 'Freshwater Snake', a fountain-sculpture with vegetal forms electroformed in copper that generate a sort of organic body that refers both to natural systems and to internal structures, between the botanical and the anatomical, between the ornamental and the visceral.

The sweatings of Cristóbal Ortega, the hallmark of the artist from Alhaurín de la Torre, return to the Miguel Marcos gallery booth. There will be several oil on canvas paintings, each one and a half meters, in which the international artist continues to explore his own technique: applying oil on the back of the canvas, allowing the material to perspire and emerge towards the visible face. He shares the stand with the late Chema Cobo, whose painting 'Words are fictions' (2020) will be shown.

Carlos Aires does a double act another year at ARCO: in Sabrina Amrani and in ADN, with pieces that confront the viewer with uncomfortable realities that invite reflection. In the first, the artist from Ronda exhibits 'Face to face with death III', a composition of original bills from the 35 richest countries in the world intervened with shapes that allude to death: wealth does not save from mortality. In ADN he presents his 'Visceral Edition', an installation of seven silkscreens with the artist's blood representing parts of the human body. In that gallery, he shares space with another Malagueño in full international growth: Julio Anaya reinvents this time on cardboards 'Los caprichos' by Goya, eight small pieces where the master's engravings adapt to the fragility and imperfection of a waste support.

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In Espacio Mínimo stands out a new work by Nono Bandera, completed just a month ago, and titled 'Harlequined', an oil on assembly of cut canvas pieces where the Malagueño continues experimenting with his way of telling through painting, a sort of collage in which he displays his technical skills and his original perception of reality.

The list of Malagueños is completed with five pieces by Regina de Miguel, four watercolors and an acrylic on wood panel with her surrealistic imagery, in the Maisterra gallery. And with an already immortal painter: the master of geometric abstraction Manuel Barbadillo, present in the space of Rafael Ortiz.

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An interesting list that contrasts with the absence of Malagueña galleries. It is true that the fabric is limited for what might be expected in the city of museums, but it has references such as Javier Marín, Isabel Hurley, Gravura, La Casa Amarilla, and Benedito. In Marbella, there are galleries already very established and with a wide projection such as Yusto/Giner, with interesting recent initiatives such as Reiners Contemporary Art. In Villanueva del Rosario, the Estudio de Ignacio del Río resists. And there are emerging initiatives spread throughout the province. But, either they do not apply to ARCO (in some cases due to exhaustion after several noes), or they are not selected to have their own space at the fair. For one reason or another, private representation remains out of the main market for contemporary art in the country for another year.

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Genalguacil and the UMA make a strong showing at ARCO

There will be no private representation but there will be public representation from two institutions making a strong showing at ARCO. Genalguacil Pueblo Museo and the UMA along with the ONCE Foundation return to the great contemporary art fair. The commitment to current creation of the museum-village of the Genal Valley is strengthened for the sixth consecutive year at Ifema, with 36 square meters reserved where there will be works by Miguel Fructuoso and Liu Cheng-Hsiang, artists who have completed artistic residencies in the municipality during the last year; and by Yinka Esi Graves and Lola Lasurt, protagonists of the 2025 Live Art edition, curated by Laura Vallés Vílchez. All the pieces have been created in the territory, in direct dialogue with its landscape, its identity, and, above all, with its neighbors.

Especially interesting is the work of the Taiwanese Liu Cheng-Hsiang, the result of research in the Serranía de Ronda about landscape, rural culture, and adaptation to the environment. His practice intertwines photography, moving images, generative algorithms, and installations with projections to create contemplative encounters between the material and the immaterial.

For its part, the University of Málaga with the support of the ONCE Foundation will exhibit at the international event works by students and creators with intellectual disabilities. The authors are students of the Technical Assistant in Cultural Environments (TAEC) degree who have had the supervision of artists Elo Vega, Beatriz Ruibal, Abraham Lacalle, the Picasso Museum, and the Prado Museum.