FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

THE CISNEROS FONTANALS ART FOUNDATION (CIFO) ANNOUNCES 2018 ARCOmadrid

EXHIBITION PROGRAM, FROM THE ELLA FONTANALS-CISNEROS COLLECTION

Ella Fontanals-Cisneros will receive the “A” Prize for Collecting from ARCO

in recognition of her contributions to the visibility of Latin American art and artists

Photo: L-R: Leppe, Carlos. Acción de La Estrella, 1979. Black and white photograph. 39.76 x 38.5 in (101 x 97.8 cm). Leirner, Jac. Blue Phase, 1992. Bank notes and ink on canvas. 28.25 x 29.75 in (71.8 x 75.6 cm). Images courtesy of the artists and the Ella Fontanals Cisneros Collection.

Miami, Florida (February 12, 2018) The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) is pleased to announce that it will present a special exhibition of works from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection at the 2018 edition of ARCOmadrid, from February 21 - 25. Curated by Jesús Fuenmayor, the presentation will be based on 20 CIFO exhibitions from the past 12 years. Additionally, in recognition of her significant role in elevating the international profile of Latin American art and artists through her Collection and Foundation, ARCO will honor Ella Fontanals-Cisneros with the “A” Prize for Collecting at the 2018 edition of the fair.

CIFO’s presentation at ARCOmadrid 2018 will include key works of Latin American art from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros collection, drawn from exhibitions presented by CIFO throughout the foundation’s 15-year history. Included in the exhibition will be works by Lygia Clark, Antonio Dias, Jac Leirner, Luis Camnitzer, Gabriel Orozco, Sameer Makarius, Carlos Leppe, Lazaro A. Saavedra Gonzalez, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Gustavo Perez Monzon, Sandu Darie, and Dolores (Loló) Soldevilla, among others.

“When CIFO was created in 2002, I decided to share my personal collection with the public through exhibitions and opportunities for specialized research,” said Ella Fontanals-Cisneros. “Although I had dedicated long years to creating the basis of the collection, it was then that the collection little by little became a platform for knowledge and a meeting place, with many associated events and publications. In this presentation on the occasion of the “A” Prize for Collecting granted to me by ARCO, we have decided to present a selection of works organized by CIFO as a testimony of the labor we have done in the past.”

“Each of the exhibitions organized by CIFO has offered a different curatorial view of the collection,” said curator Jesús Fuenmayor. “They all incorporated a notable presence of Latin American artists along with curatorial concepts and themes as diverse as the relationship between photography and space, the questioning of the global reach of conceptualist practices, the use of power or language in contemporary art or the re-evaluation of concrete art under the premise of its relationship with location. These exhibitions serve as a reference to the significant depth of Latin American art and the richness and complexity of the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection.”

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About Ella Fontanals-Cisneros

Ella Fontanals-Cisneros is a philanthropist, an entrepreneur and businesswoman in new technologies and other industries, and a collector of contemporary art. She began collecting art in the 1970s and her collection has an international profile with emblematic figures of modern and contemporary art, with a focus on Latin American art. As the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection has grown and developed, its scope has broadened. There are four main areas of interest that have been systematically increasing in recent years: geometric abstraction from Latin America; contemporary international and Latin American art; contemporary video; and modern and contemporary photography. Today the collection has more than 2,500 works. In 2002, Ella Fontanals-Cisneros established the non-profit Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO). The foundation’s mission is to support and foster cultural understanding, as well as an educational dialog among Latin American artists and global audiences. CIFO is a platform for emerging, mid-career and established Latin American artist through the Grants & Commissions Program, the CIFO Collection, the CIFO Art Space and other related art and cultural projects in the United States of America and internationally. Ella Fontanals-Cisneros has been and sits on the board of many different arts and educational institutions including the Tate Americas Foundation, United Artist, Cintas Foundation, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, New Museum, The Fulbright Program, Princeton University's Program in Latin American Art Studies, among others.

About CIFO

Ella Fontanals-Cisneros established the non-profit Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) in 2002. The foundation’s mission is to support and foster cultural understanding and educational dialog among Latin American artists and global audiences. CIFO serves as a platform for emerging, mid-career and established Latin American artists through the Grants & Commissions Program, the CIFO Collection, and other related art and cultural projects in the United States of America and internationally. 

For more information about CIFO exhibitions, and other programs, please visit cifo.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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