The 2016 GAC Awards, organised by Gremio de Galerías de Arte de Cataluña is one of the most important events on the cultural agenda, bringing together more than 250 personalities from the world of culture: artists, gallerists, curators, critics, journalists and institutional representatives.

From left to right: Ernesto Ventós, Carles Taché, Francesc Mestre, Josep Casamartina, Josep Santacreu, Carles Geli, Anna Maria Guasch, Marc Domènech, Victòria Combalia, Rafael Tous, Mònica Ramon, Eduard Mayoral, Jordi Mayoral, Miquel Molins, Enric Farrés, Antoni Llena, Manel Esclusa and Frederic Montornés.

This Tuesday, 7th June, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Barcelona (MACBA) hosted the IX evening of gallerism to celebrate the 2016 GAC Awards, with the objective of reinforcing the distributary role of art galleries in Catalonia and positioning them as the fundamental centres of the art market and recognition of the artists.

GAC Honorary Award- Banco Sabadell Foundation for gallerist and artist

This year, for the first time, in addition to acknowledging the career of an artist, the Foundation also acknowledges the career of a gallerist. Accordingly, the Foundation has awarded two prizes:

GAC Honorary Award–Banco Sabadell Foundation presented this award to Irish artist Sean Scully. He has proven himself to be a great advocate of contemporary art on an international level. His work is recognised for its mastery of colour and combination of horizontal and vertical lines. A number of reputable art collections all over the world display some of his works, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía or the Tate Gallery. With this award, the Irish artist joints the list of GAC Honorary Award Winners: Antoni Tàpies (2010); Jaume Plensa (2011); Richard Hamilton (2012); Antoni Muntadas (2013), Alfons Borrell (2014) and Susana Solano (2015).

GAC Honorary Award- Banco Sabadell Foundation presented this award to gallerist Francesc Mestre. With a career spanning more than 40 years, he is considered to be one of the biggest experts on Catalan art. He has been linked to prestigious galleries such as Adrià or René Metras. In 2001 he opened his own gallery in Barcelona, a space which he has opened up to Catalan artists such as Josep Obiols, Opisso, Lola Anglada or Feliu Elias, among others. Furthermore, artists such as Subirats and Francesc Domingo; sculptors including Rafael Solanic, Miguel Berrocal and Manolo Hugué, and representatives of the Historic Vanguards such as Picasso, Miró, Guinovart or Ràfols Casamada have all been linked to his gallery, among others. Mestre is the first gallerist to receive this award, which is a new addition to GAC Awards.