Can Ibiza 2025 focuses on painting and consolidates its boutique model
The contemporary art fair returns with 30 galleries and an accessible offer, confirming itself as an appointment for young talents and collectors in search of new visions
4' min read
4' min read
Can, Contemporary Art Now, is back for its fourth edition from 25 to 29 June 2025 in the spaces of Fecoev, at the gates of Ibiza's picturesque city walls. The fair reconfirmed its winning formula, the boutique dimension with 30 galleries, emerging contemporary art, the relaxed atmosphere typical of the Mediterranean and the energy of early summer. In an increasingly uniform and predictable fair context, Can Ibiza stands out as a creative oasis capable of attracting a transversal public: collectors, art enthusiasts, luxury holidaymakers and new international residents who, after the pandemic, have turned the island into a privileged refuge.
Far from the speculative clichés and hyper-conceptual installations that crowd the large global fairs, can 2025 boldly relaunches painting as a central language signed by young artists making their debut on the market. Many of the artists exhibited come from backgrounds peripheral to the major art centres, some have recently completed their studies and find here a space of legitimisation that escapes the usual logic of visibility and market.
Focus on emerging artists
.And on the commercial front, the fair is well aware of the potential of the demand, and consequently the galleries invited to participate offer works with a price range starting from one thousand euros and not going beyond 50 thousand euros, a level that favoured some purchases - albeit in a reflexive manner even in this more affordable context - during the opening, but at the same time there was no lack of curiosity on the part of the public. There were many galleries from Spain and the Mediterranean region, including LA BIBI + REUS, two galleries from Palma de Mallorca, which recently merged "with the aim of becoming more globally competitive and expanding the reach of the artists they represent". In their Mediterranean-inspired stand, the prices of the exhibited artists ranged from EUR 1,500 to EUR 20,000. Paintings by the young Jamie Bragg (class of 2001) found a new destination. They were inspired by photographs taken by his great-grandfather between 1915 and 1916 that mix serene landscapes and moments of camaraderie with the harsh reality of trench warfare (from Gathering, London, Cologne, Ibiza prices from £2k to £8k) as well as the canvases ofLydia Blakeley in which she transfers her surroundings often first translated through the screen of her camera or laptop. Presented by Tube Gallery (Palma de Mallorca) won the OD Hotel prize, one of the fair's sponsors (prices from 5 thousand to 23 thousand euros).
Also appreciated was the work of Francesc Rosselló (1994) between the intimate and the allegorical (Galeria Pelaires, Palma de Mallorca prices from 10 to 14 thousand euro for large paintings), while on the stand of the Herrero de Tejada Gallery (Madrid), for the first time at the fair with several emerging artists, attracted the attention of the work Gema Quiles (1994) who through dense surfaces and saturated colours reflects on the creation of new private spaces as a refuge (prices from 1,000 to 3.600 euros). There was no shortage of international galleries and, among them, from New York but also with a recently opened base in Basel, 532 Gallery which presented, among others,Yongjae Kim, American but originally from South Korea, who in his paintings portrays ordinary spaces and urban places, arousing a sense of loneliness, desolation and melancholy (prices from 700 to 5,000 euros).
A growing cultural ecosystem
.Ibiza's cultural ecosystem is expanding and the fair acts as the centrepiece of the new art week, an initiative supported by the local government to re-launch Ibiza as a cultural destination rather than a nightlife destination. The OFF programme supported by the Balearic tourism company is outlined through site-specific exhibitions in a historic lighthouse in Sant Antoni, in a restored mill in Sa Punta des Molí, and in other places on the island such as La Nave Salinas, a salt warehouse converted into an exhibition space. Founded by the New York-based Colombian collector and hotelier Lio Malca, in recent years it has hosted important installations by artists such as Bill Viola and Kenny Scharf, and for this event the space is enriched by the large, material and chromatic canvases of Californian artist Spencer Lewis (in Italy he works with Massimo De Carlo). For the second year, the fair installed a public sculpture in the old town of Ibiza as part of its public art programme: a monumental bronze owl designed by the German artist Stefan Strumbel (at Ruttkowski 68, small sculptures are priced between 8 and 9 thousand euro at the fair).
