Marval Acquisition Award
Addressed primarily to emerging and mid-career artists, the Marval Acquisition Award consists of an acquisition to be added to the Marval Collection, a residency offered to the winning artist, and a targeted post on the Collection’s network to give the artist and gallery as much visibility as possible.
The Marval Collection was formed in 2018 by two collectors - Marco and Valeria - who decided to join forces by creating a foundation and a program to support not only young artists, but fairs and galleries as well.
Marval believes strongly in the art system consisting of institutions, galleries, and fairs that work daily to sustain skilled and talented artists who need visibility and assistance. Therefore, it supports institutions and fairs so that they may provide space to all of the artists who feel the need to transmit, through their work, something they deem important from a social, political, emotional, and economic perspective.
In recent years, Marval has collaborated with museums, private institutions, and fairs in cities such as Turin, Verona, Barcelona, Madrid, and Marseille, providing awards, loans, and acknowledgements. Among these is the Marval Acquisition Award, with which the collection has participated in Arte Fiera since 2024.
Promoter:
Marco Curina
Jury:
Claudio Cerabolini, collector
Luca Curradi, Fine Art Consultant
Giovanni Loi, Senior Legal Counsel
Clarissa Pelucchi, Managing Director Frigoriferi Milanesi
Daniela Sterza, Partner di wazaBe, event organization
Selected artists:
- Amalia Pica, Daisy Chain #7, 2025 (pencil and watercolour on wood 52x56x1.9 cm), Herald Street Gallery (Hall . 25, B8)
- Micaela Piñero, El sueño del agua, 2026 (acrylic, brass, copper, nickel silver, and gold leaf on wood, 110x65 cm, 50x65 cm – closed), Una Gallery (Hall 25, B75)
- Ilaria Vinci, Long-standing and never ending, 2026 (watercolour and pencil on cotton paper, walnut wooden frame, 125x96x3 cm), Alice Amati Gallery (Hall 25 B39)
- Romane de Watteville, I could claim the dreamers from the dreams, 2025 (oil on canvas, 140x100 cm), Ciaccia Levi Gallery (Hall 25, B34)
Winning artist: Romane de Watteville
Title of work: I could claim the dreamers from the dreams, 2025 (oil on canvas, 140x100 cm)
Gallery: Ciaccia Levi (Hall 25 B34)
Motivation: The award is assigned to Romane de Watteville, with “I could claim the dreamers from the dreams” presented by the Ciaccia Levi Gallery. The works express happiness deriving from carefree, relaxing times spent with her companion during travels and stays in hotels. Playing cards, candy, reflective objects show us parts of the couple without every revealing their faces, as if to create a sort of expectation between what is happening and the viewer’s interpretation of the image. Another interesting characteristic of the gallerist’s presentation is the artist’s attention to her clothing and her beauty treatment, not to show herself to the outside world, but more for the personal pleasure of feeling beautiful. By means of elegant, knowledgeable painting, the artist constructs intimate, layered scenes which, in a present marked by conflicts and uncertainties, confirm the importance of feeling good about yourself without necessarily having the approval of others.
