The Down Syndrome Foundation presents, under the Presidency of Honor of H.M. The Queen of Spain, the exhibition “El Abrazo del Arte”, where the best Interior Architects, Fashion Designers and Painters with Down Syndrome of Spain converge under one project in order to create a space in which three artistic interpretations dialog. The exhibition is made up of twelve 3D stands, exhibited in the Matadero Gallery of Madrid and made jointly by 12 Down artists, 12 interior architects and 12 fashion designers, who, from the inspiration and free interpretation of 12 famous Spanish painting of the nineteenth century, and the beginning of the twentieth, have made each of the spaces. The inspiration arising from famous painters like Fortuny, Sorolla, Anglada Camarasa, Labrada, Madrazo, Muñoz Degrain or Picasso, is transformed into current creation.
Extensive report in ‘Yo Dona’ magazine’s web or download PDF

For this purpose, each of the 12 selected paintings was assigned to an interior designer, a fashion designer and an artist with intellectual disability. The great Spanish interior architects chosen, Tomás Alía, Javier Castilla, Luis Galliussi, Mamen García de la Hoz and Inés Benavides, Pepe Leal, Olga López de Vera, Javier Muñoz, Pascua Ortega, Diego Rodríguez, Guillermo Sol and Jorge Varela, made an artistic proposal from the recreation of the space. The top Spanish fashion designers selected were Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Alma Aguilar, Ailanto, Amaya Arzuaga, Elio Berhanyer, Juanjo Oliva, Miguel Palacio, Teresa Palazuelo, Ángel Schlesser, Roberto Torretta and Petro Valverde, which interpreted the paintings by creating the costumes. And the true protagonists, the 12 artists with Down Syndrome, were in charge of creating the pictorial interpretation of the work. MARTA PÁRAMO was selected among the 12 most awarded Down painters in Spain, and she was responsible for interpreting Mariano Fortuny’s painting at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, “The children of the painter in the Japanese lounge”, together with AGATHA RUIZ DE LA PRADA and MAMEN Gª DE LA HOZ, that was exhibited in STAND No. 1 of the MATADERO Gallery in Madrid from March 15 to 31, 2011.

The sponsors of the exhibit, whose financial contributions were entirely dedicated to the new Down Syndrome Foundation Center, were Movistar, ACS Construction, Banco Santander, UNEDISA and Mahou Beers.