The artist Max is guest artist at EL PAÍS’s stand at ARCOmadrid 2013

ARCOmadrid celebrates its 32nd edition this year and EL PAÍS will be present, once again, at Spain’s leading contemporary art fair. The artist Max, from Barcelona, one of Spain’s most famous comic artists and illustrators, has been chosen by the newspaper for its stand.

Max accepted the invitation to EL PAÍS’s stand with a project exploring the inspiration and lack of inspiration of the artist. Choosing the issue of El Pais from January 2, he developed a narrative mixing ink, collage and acrylic paint, using the pages of the newspaper as a base. The character in the story jumps from page to page in search of his muses. The resulting 46 A3-sized comic panels, viewed one after another, tell the story.

Max is the creator of such popular characters as Gustavo, Peter Pank and more recently Bardin, star of his latest comic, Bardin the Superrealist June 2006). He won the National Illustration Prize 2007, and his cartoons and illustrations have been published in a number of European and American countries. Other awards include the Ignatz Award (USA, 1999) and the Grand Prize of the International Comic Fair Barcelona (2000). Max publishes a weekly cartoon in the El País cultural supplement, Babelia. His most important works as an illustrator include covers for The New Yorker magazine, a design for a Swatch watch (1997) and the creation of the mascot for the centenary of Barcelona Football Club (1998).

In previous editions of ARCO, artists such as Miquel Barceló, Eduardo Arroyo, Luis Gordillo and Alberto Garcia-Alix have showcased their work at El País’s stand. In 2011, the Cuban sculptors Los Carpinteros joined the stand, while in 2012 it was the turn of Suso33, Sixeart, Spok, 3ttman, Neko and Nuria Mora, from the post-graffiti art movement.

EL PAÍS can be found at stand 8H19 in Hall 8 of Arco from  February 13 to 17.

More information on the artist and his work.