The jury of the IV Edition of the A&G Art Prize has selected “Opfergang”, by the artist Cristina Toledo, as the winning work of this fourth edition of the competition organised by the private banking entity. The work of Cristina Toledo (Las Palmas, 1986) was born “from an interest in the transformation of the photographic image into a pictorial image. I use painting, due to its corporeality and plasticity, as a mechanism to re-signify these images and reactivate their capacity to pose questions, taking into account that we live immersed in an inexhaustible flow of visual stimuli.”
Elisa Hernando, CEO of Arte Global, the international art consultancy firm with which A&G has collaborated on this project since its inception, commented: “The exhibition has received more than 100 applications for the fourth consecutive year, including visual and aesthetic proposals ranging from abstraction to figuration, geometry and the conceptual. Artists from a large number of regions of Spain and of very different ages have opted for this award, which is already well-established in the art sector.”
The winning piece, which will receive a prize of €6,000, will become part of the A&G collection and will be displayed for a year at the A&G headquarters at Paseo de la Castellana 92 (Madrid), on the floor dedicated to client meeting rooms.
In addition, the jury has selected a total of five finalists: Álvaro Borobio, also a finalist in the 1st Edition, Enrique González, Inés Rubio Roa, Iñigo Navarro and Julia Llerena, whose works will be exhibited alongside the winner with options for sale to the public.
This award is part of and reinforces A&G's social commitment and its support for culture. This year, the entity also exhibited the art installation “Take Over Madrid” by Andrés Reisinger outside its headquarters on Paseo de la Castellana, in the context of the ARCO Fair.
Alberto Rodríguez-Fraile, president of A&G, said: “We would like to congratulate all the candidates for the award for the high level of the works presented. We are very pleased with the consolidation that the award is obtaining in the art world. We believe that this award is a very good opportunity to offer our support to emerging artists and we are proud to be able to exhibit their works in our offices.”
A&G Art Award
The A&G Art Prize is an initiative that began in 2021, and whose main objective is to support emerging Spanish artists and offer them the possibility of enhancing the visibility of their work.
Winners of previous editions: Maíllo, Rubén Rodrigo and Diego Benéitez.
The winners of the first edition were Alvaro Borobio, Cristina Gamón, Elvira Amor, Federico Miró and Pablo Mercado in the first edition, Olimpia Velasco, Jorge Isla, Silvia Olabarría, José Moñú and Oliberg in the second edition, Alicia Martín López, Daniel Domingo, Keke Vilabelda, Lúa Gándara, Mery Sales and Vicent Machí in the third edition.
The A&G Art Prize Jury is composed of: Ana Serratosa (Gallery Owner), Chus Pedrosa (Collector), Isabel Alonso (Artist), Isabel Ballesteros (Cultural Journalist), León Banelbas (Vice President of the Friends of the Museo del Prado Foundation), Lucía Ybarra (Cultural Manager), Luis Chillida (President of the Eduardo Chillida – Pilar Belzunce Foundation), Mª Eugenia Rodríguez-Fraile (Postgraduate Course in Art History at the Sotheby's Institute of Art), Monica Riberas (Specialist in Modern and Contemporary Art), Pedro Sendagorta (Collector) and Elisa Hernando (CEO of Arte Global and RedCollectors).