ARCOMadrid 2026: Booth C27

Baró Galeria is proud to announce its return to ARCOmadrid 2026 with “El Jardín Secreto” (The Secret Garden), a group presentation featuring works by Ayako Rokkaku, Alymamah Rashed, Rafaela Baroni, Elias Crespin, Joana Vasconcelos, and Violeta Quispe. Inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel, the booth evokes an intimate and fantastic space where nature and humanity intertwine through raw strokes and visionary gestures, suggesting hidden desires and thoughts. The project weaves together formal and conceptual threads between the gallery’s historical roster and new voices from its recent expansion into Abu Dhabi.

Central to this narrative are the radical voices of Alymamah Rashed (Kuwait, 1994), who explores the sacred dimensions of the female body through her “Muslima Cyborgs,” and Violeta Quispe (Peru, 1989), who reinterprets Sarhua boards to reclaim the historical role of Andean women.

A major highlight is the work of Rafaela Baroni (Venezuela, 1935–2021). A self-taught visionary whose work mediates between the living and the dead, Baroni’s practice represents a spiritual feminism that has recently been recognized by the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), which has added her work for its permanent collection with the support of Baró Galeria.

Making her ARCO debut with the gallery is Ayako Rokkaku (Japan, 1982). Following her recent acclaimed exhibition at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Rokkaku’s painting brings the energy of kawaii culture to the booth, where childhood imagery merges with powerful expressionism.

The presentation is further activated by Joana Vasconcelos (Paris, 1971), whom the gallery is delighted to bring back to the fair once again. Following her iconic exhibition “Flamboyant” at Madrid’s Palacio de Liria last year, Vasconcelos has been awarded the prestigious 2026 Julio González International Prize by the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM). To mark this distinction, IVAM will host a major exhibition of her work in late 2026, curated by Blanca de la Torre. In “El Jardín Secreto,” her “crochet paintings” transform traditional domestic techniques into monumental sculptural gestures, ironically deconstructing the boundaries between high and low culture while establishing a profound poetic relationship with the surrounding space.

Finally, Baró Galeria is honored to include Elias Crespin (Caracas, 1965) as part of this year’s fair program. In a special collaboration at the El Mundo booth, Crespin presents TriNet, a suspended grid of triangles that explores geometry as a provisional order shaped by time and movement. This “floating world” of motors and nylon threads generates a sensitive and emotional experience through mathematical rigor.