The space of an old cow trough caught the attention of Sol Abaurrea and Ana Coronel de Palma and love at first sight was the motivation for the Belmonte gallery to be located there.
Carabanchel se ha convertido en un nuevo enclave para el arte en Madrid y las jóvenes galeristas han sido las últimas en instalarse en el barrio, aprovechando las posibilidades que les ofrece la amplitud de la nave. Abaurrea and Coronel de Palma attend ABC Cultural in their office and, with an almost deafening echo, they explain the process of the new opening, the difficulties of the sector, daring to open in the middle of a pandemic and how they are facing the Madrid fair.
—How was the Belmonte gallery born?
—Sol Abaurrea: Belmonte was born from Intersticio, a gallery that was located on Alcántara Street until a few months ago. We were three partners, we had a space in London and another in Madrid.
—Ana Coronel de Palma: England did not work very well so it closed, the third partner left the project and we have changed the name and location. However, we continue to represent the same artists and continue with the same line of programming.
—Which artists do you work with?
—S. A.: We bet on emerging and young artists who attract our attention due to their work or the projection they have. We know many of them from before, others we sign up for group exhibitions, recommendations from curators… We like to work with professionals of our generation since we share a lot and grow a lot with them.
—A. C.: For now we represent four: Lucía Bayón, Andrés Izquierdo, Martín Llavaneras, with whom we went to the last edition of ARCO, and Augusta Lardy, who we started to represent now. Lardy is a Swiss artist living in London with whom we are collaborating on a group exhibition in November 2021. She introduced us to her work, we loved it and now we collaborate with her.
—Why Carabanchel?
—A. C. There are many studios in this neighborhood and there are also two galleries right next door. Our artists are in Usera, and Matadero, the Reina Sofía Museum or Casa Encendida are across the river. In Carabanchel there are many things happening on an artistic level and where we were we felt far from the paracircuit.
—S. A.: We see a lot of interest in this area. This is also positive for the galleries themselves since this way we can visit each other. Normally, the opening and closing times are the same and there have always been problems, but the proximity solves this for us.
—Why did you choose this warehouse to open the gallery?
—S. A.: We liked it from the beginning because of the garden, the ceiling is very high and the windows offer a lot of light. It is an old cow trough and we decided to maintain a bit of the structure in the office part and in the warehouse. Finding spaces like this in the center is complicated, in addition to the natural movement that artists are having to move away from it and look for larger spaces.
—Making a place in the art world is complicated. How do you deal with this?
—A. C. When you start everything is much more uphill. The truth is that we are not very aware that there is much aid. From February to May we were selected for an exhibition at CentroCentro and that kind of thing is good, since many more people met us than could come to the gallery. However, for many of the grants you are required to have been active for at least two years and in the end the galleries that have been established for the longest are recipients.
—How are you coping with ARCO?
—S. A.: We are very excited and we are already preparing everything for the fair. It is our second year at ARCOmadrid and the truth is that they have treated us phenomenally. When they called us last year to participate, we were very happy because they went out of their way to help us.
The curators of the ‘Opening’ section accompany us a lot in the previous process and do a great job during the fair, they bring us directors of institutions, collectors, curators and they make sure that everyone stops by the stand. The fair is very large and there is not always time for people to reach the hallway where the new galleries are located. In ARCO people usually go to the ones they already know, a bit with the plan of what they want to see already studied from home. However, they do this job of attracting the public very well.
