COLLECTION AWARDS 2025

Candela A. Soldevilla is the creator of the Studiolo Collection, a project that was born almost by chance when she acquired her first work in a small gallery in Paris. From the beginning, she showed interest in the avant-garde of the 20th century, although she currently focuses on contemporary art, with special attention to emerging artists.

The collection is based at Studiolo, a unique space in Madrid inspired by the old Italian Renaissance studioli, where works of art and singular objects were treasured as havens of contemplation and knowledge. In this spirit, Studiolo not only preserves its collection, but also fosters dialogue between artists, collectors and cultural professionals.

Today, Studiolo Collection brings together more than 600 works by contemporary artists such as Rafael Canogar, Juana Francés, Jaume Plensa, Miquel Barceló, Anish Kapoor and Man Ray. It also actively collaborates with loans to museums and projects in institutions such as the Fundación Lázaro Galdiano, the Centro de Arte de Alcobendas or the Instituto Cervantes.

The STUDIOLO Collection will award an acquisition prize for the first time at UVNT Art Fair 2025. 

Casa MER, based in Segovia, 30 minutes from Madrid, is the result of the collecting passion of Elena Rueda, Marcos Martín Blanco and his son Rafael Martín, whose initials give the collection its name. Started in the 80s, it has become one of the most important private collections in Spain and Europe, gathering nearly 800 works by national and international artists such as Luis Gordillo, Jenny Saville, Bill Viola, Eric Fischl, Lisa Yuskavage or Miquel Barceló.

The MER Foundation is currently working on the opening of a House Museum in Segovia, which will tell the story of the collection and position the city in the international circuits of contemporary art.

CASA MER will award an acquisition prize at UVNT Art Fair 2025.

The Kells Collection, created in 1996 by Juan Manuel Elizalde and Choli Fuentes, was born with a focus on modern art, highlighting artists such as Feito, Saura, Clavé and Baltasar Lobo. In 2004 it broadened its interest towards contemporary art with the acquisition of its first work, initiating a continuous process of growth. It currently includes photography, video, installations and objects of character.

With an eclectic vision, the collection reflects his passion for language and communication in diverse forms, and today includes several hundred works. It includes emerging artists such as Juan López, Kepa Garraza, Blanca Gracia or June Crespo, as well as consolidated national (Juan Uslé, Carmen Calvo, Angela de la Cruz) and international creators (Richard Mosse, Liliana Porter, Sandra Gamarra, Tony Ousler).

Kells Art Collection will award an acquisition prize at UVNT Art Fair 2025.

Montresso Art Foundation* was established in Morocco in 2009 as a hybrid space dedicated to supporting creation and promoting diversity in contemporary artistic research.

Its artistic residency, Jardin Rouge, has been accompanying international artists in their research for more than a decade. With nine studios, it hosts about thirty artists per cultural season in an environment conducive to experimentation and dialogue. Focused on the theme of territories, Jardin Rouge acts as a creative laboratory that combines research time with opportunities for visibility.

Montresso* Art Foundation will award a residency prize at UVNT Art Fair 2025.

Born in 1990, Piramidón is a hybrid space between a creative factory and an art gallery. It merges the field of artistic creation with the distribution, exhibition and sale of the pieces. The unique design, consisting of eighteen studios and a gallery, allows the visitor to get to know the artists and their work in their own artistic environment.

Piramidón Centre D'Art Contemporani will award an acquisition and residency prize at UVNT Art Fair 2025.

The KLASSE Awards are given by the businessman, collector and patron of the arts, Jaime Colsa, to support the creation of artists and the dissemination of the fairs. Jaime Colsa is founder and CEO of the express transport network Palibex, member of the Collectors' Association 9915 and founding member of the Matador Club.

Other artists who have previously received the KLASSE Award include David Martínez Suarez, Imon Boy, Samuel Salcedo and Julio Galindo.

About the KLASSE Collection

The KLASSE Collection consists of around one hundred works by contemporary artists, mostly Spanish, including Juan Uslé, Rafa Macarrón, Abraham Lacalle, Ana Barriga, Manuel León, Juan López, Santiago Ydañez, Javier Calleja, Marina Vargas, Javier Arce, Clara Sánchez, Belén Rodríguez, Matías Sanchez, Gorka Mohamed, Cristina Lama, OKuda and Eugenio Merino.

Along with this private collection, Jaime Colsa promotes another public collection that aims to bring art to the street so that as many people as possible can enjoy it, through the patronage and cultural promotion projects Truck Art Project and PBX Creativa.

Boom! Art Community is a cultural ecosystem that connects Latin American migrant artists with Ibero-American agents and institutions. We seek to dismantle barriers to adaptation to the cultural system in Spain, facilitating encounters with contemporary art professionals. We develop the potential of migrant talent through tools and opportunities adapted to their new context. Our methodology fosters artistic and professional growth in Madrid. We are committed to the integration and success of artists through culture.

BOOM! Residency Award 

The Boom! Artistic Residency Award supports Latin American migrant artists, facilitating their adaptation to the Ibero-American context of art. We believe in culture as a bridge that breaks down borders and generates transformations. The residency, based in Madrid, offers one artist from UVNT Art Fair 2025 a month's stay with workshop space, accommodation and meals covered. In addition, the curatorial team provides continuous support and advice. 

BOOM! Art Community will award a residency prize at the ninth edition of UVNT Art Fair for the first time.

Over the course of more than 40 years, Carmen and Lluís Bassat have built up an important collection of works of art, which today constitutes one of the most representative collections of contemporary art made in Catalonia during the second half of the 20th century.

In 1973, one afternoon, after leaving work, Lluís Bassat entered the Adriá Gallery in Barcelona. Three hours later, he had bought the second painting of his life and 35% of the gallery. Over the next seven years, he got to know many of the young Catalan artists of the time personally, visited their studios, took an interest in their work and tried to promote them internationally, taking advantage of his frequent professional trips to New York, which he achieved with Josep Guinovart: three of his works at the Guggenheim Museum, an exhibition of recent work at the Martha Jackson Gallery and an anthological exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.

From that moment on, his love of art was joined by his love of collecting. The result is a private collection of more than three thousand original works, which since 2010 has begun to be made public at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Mataró, as well as in Bulgaria, Poland, New York and in a number of Spanish cities.

“In 1973, visiting galleries in Concell de Cent street, I fell in love with a painting by Xavier Serra de Rivera, Bañista, I talked to the director of the gallery Francesc Mestre and bought the painting from him, convinced that Carmen would love it, as she did” Lluís Bassat.