Real Conservera Española Presents ‘Arte En Lata’ in ARCOMadrid

Real Conservera Española launced, at the Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo ARCOMadrid their latest creative project, “Arte en Lata”. An initiative dedicated to the Galician estuaries and their sustainability that counts with world-renowned artists, resulting in an unforgettable art collection.

At the inaurugation were the artists Mar Solís, Isabel Muñoz, Pierre D’Argyll y Juan Garaizabal, the exhibition curator, Rafael Sierra and the Real Conservera Española members, Antonio Soto y Borja Sánchez. Also there, were the Minister of Art and Culture, Miquel Iceta, el Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and Queen Letizia, who inaugurated the fair.

This artistic project, developed by Real Conservera Española in collaboration with Unidad Editorial, can be enjoyed inespacio 9A26 of the fair, from February 23rd to 27th. Thirteen artists have been chosen for this project: Isabel Muñoz, Miquel Navarro, José Manuel Ballester, Bernadí Roig, Mar Solís, Karina Beltrán, Arturo Berned, Guillermo Fornes, Hugo Fontela, Julio Quaresma, Juan Garaizabal, Pierre D’Argyll and Pepe Sanleón. Each of them exhibits four unique artworks, created exclusively for this event, which all have the common theme of the sea and its ecosystem. The exhibition curator will be Rafael Sierra, journalist, art critic and cultural manager.

A part of the proceeds from this initiative will be donated to fishermen and shellfisher associations, and to foundations related to the care and sustainability of the sea, whose daily work is a fundamental process of the canning industry. “With this initiative, we want to give back to the people who dedicate their lives to the sea, we want to thank their hard work and dedication which is what provides us with the best products from the Galician estuaries”, stated the Real Conservera Española directive.

‘Arte en Lata’, apart from being an original artistic project, greatly contributes to sustainability and social well-being, improving the working conditions of all of those involved in making our products.

The artworks, inspired by real life locations and the marine animals that inhabit them, are 50×50 cm, and are framed in a box filled with our best canned seafood.

Along the creative process, the authors have used from photography to sculpting, combining these art forrms with different digital techniques. The art collection is exhibited next to a tower made of television sets simulating a lighthouse, especially designed for the stand by Bernadí Roig.

Highly Renowned Artists

This project would not have been possible without the contributions from the great artists that are participating, creating exclusive artworks based on the sea and its ecosystem.

Isabel Muñoz

National Photography Award 2016, 2x World Press Photo, Alexandria Biennale Gold Medal 1999.

Relentless and audacious photographer of the human being in all of its polyhedral aspects, but above all where it is all questioned, and where it hurts the most: the pollution of our seas.

Miquel Navarro

Fine Arts Academic, National Plastic Arts Award 1986.

Dives into reality and sculpt cities like poems of aluminium, iron, steel or copper, where we can contemplate ourselves as part of history and project ourselves into the future.

José Manuel Ballester

Received the National Engraving Award in 1999 and the National Photography Award in 2010, undaunted observer of mankind’s work in architecture, the daily minutiae or the overwhelming dimensions of the industry.

Bernardí Roig

Princess Grace Foundation Contemporary Arts Award 2003 and the Alexandria Biennale Official Award 2002, among others. His work shakes our lack of memory, provoking us to search for our identity under an amalgamated, homologated, sterile surface.

Pepe Sanleón

“Non-conformist” artist, as he defines himself, Fine Arts professor in the San Carlos de Valencia Faculty. He is considered one of the greatest innovators on the Spanish art scene of the 1980s. From then on, his work underwent an evolution from lyrical abstraction to conceptual painting.

In 2007, IVAM held a great retrospective for him which fused figuration and the abstract. His latest work hast been closely linked to nature in an iconic way.

Hugo Fontela

He began his training in his native land and moved to New York at a very young age to study at The Arts Students League and set up his first studio-workshop. He has been awarded XX BMW Painting Award, the ESTAMPA Graphic Arts Award 2007 and Príncipe de Girona de las Artes in 2014, year in which he joined the Marlborough Gallery, alternating with his studios in Madrid and New York since then. His work is intimately linked to the landscape and nature.

Mar Solís

She is fundamentally a sculptor, with wood and steel being the essential materials of her work, always framed in abstraction. Apart from prestigious awards like the Caja Madrid Award or Ojo Crítico, her sculptures have been given the Velázquez, Ville de Paris, Festival Assilah (Morocco) y Delfina Foundation (London) grants. Her works can be seen in public spaces in South Korea, Lapland, Madrid or Valladolid, and are part of art collections such as the ones from BBVA, Cristina Masaveu, IVAM or Museum of Contemporary Art in Salta, Argentina.

Julio Quaresma

Architect and art critic as well as plastic artist. His international career has led him to participate in biennials such as those in Havana, the Ushuaia Biennial in Argentina or the Caribbean Triennial in Santo Domingo. Her works are presen in collection in museums in the United States, Spain (IVAM, Museum of Contermporary Art in Madrid and the Cristina Masaveu Foundation), Brazil, Portugal and China, among others.

Arturo Berned

Architect and sculptor whose work is based on the reinterpretation of forms and space through a geometric language. Steel and large format are two of his hallmarks, always seeking a dialogue with space and architecture. Won the first award in the national contest “Puerta Escultura Loewe” in 2000, and in 2014 was chosen to represent Spain in the 2004 Spain-Japan Dual Year in Tokyo and Fukuoka.

His most recent intervention took place in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Los Cabos, Baja California. Has participated in numerous fairs such as ARCOMadrid and Lisboa, ARTBO in Bogotá, Art Basel in Hong Kong, Art Miami, among others, and installed his workd in countries like Spain, the United States, Mexico, Japan or China.

Juan Garaizabal

Universal sculptor of the lost memory of civilizations, his public work is installed in places like Berlin, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, Miami, etc. With his large-format sculpture, he records the traditions of the people of the sea to whom we owe so much knowledge and so much enjoyment.

Guillermo Fornés

He graduated in Psychology and, starting in 1991, devoted himself to the study of Fine Arts at Kings College of Art in London, the city where he established his first studio. Back in Spain, he investigates and experiments with his own pictorial language loaded with archetypal codes, signs and symbols with which he lays the foundations and builds his visual poems.

He has worked for the Bilbao Arte Foundation and has collaborated with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. His work can be found in museums and institutions such as the National Library, the Contemporary Engraving Archive, the Casa de la Moneda, the National Chalcographic Museum, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and Fundación Telefónica, among others.

Pierre D’Argyll

He studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, was awarded the Prize of the Cite Internationale des Arts, Montmarte, in 1988, and since 2006 he has been an academic at the Real de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. His work is regularly exhibited in New York, Madrid, Paris and Mexico City, and can be found in collections such as those of Mapfre, IESE Business School in New York or the Herbert Smith Freehills Foundation in Madrid, among others.

Karina Beltrán

Karina Beltrán has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of La Laguna in 1991. From 1998 to 2010 he lived in London, where he did postgraduate studies. Master of Fine Arts from Chelsea College of Art and Design and Postgraduate in Photography from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

An exhibition throughout Spain

The presentation at ARCOMadrid has been the starting point of the project, which will continue through a traveling exhibition that will tour different spaces of the national and international geography before concluding at the headquarters of Real Conservera Española, in Cambados (Pontevedra). A museum space will be opened there that will house a work by each of the artists.

Real Conservera Española: “The best seafood cannery in the world”

Real Conservera Española is committed with the quality of the products. All of Real Conservera Española’s products have fish and seafood from the Galician estuaries, both from the Atlantic Ocean or the Cantabrian Sea. Only the best specimens are used, always caught during season when they are at their best.

The canning process is done in an artisanal way, selecting and canning the fish and seafood by hand. A traditional process which does not impede the application of new technologies which allow for a more environmentally friendly and sustainable productive process.

As a result, all 7 gourmet products which Real Conservera Española entered in “2021 World´s Best 101 Canned Food Products from the Sea” entered the top 10 in their respective categories. Three of which – Scallops in Brine, Mackerel in Olive Oil and Sardines in Olive Oil – have earned the number 1 spot.

The jury also described Real Conservera Española as the “best seafood cannery in the world”.