With walls painted in a deep terra-cotta and in pole position right at the fair’s entrance, VETA’s booth is impossible to miss. The solo presentation of works by Javier Ruiz, a Spain-born, Amsterdam-based painter, felt immediately at home against the warm walls; his canvases, populated with vivid floral arrangements, ceramic-filled shelving units, and parrots set against burnt-orange Mediterranean horizons, were elevated by the booth’s reddish hue.
“We felt his paintings would fit in very well with the Ibiza ambiance and feeling of the island,” explained the gallery’s founder, Fer Francés. Two standout large-scale works, Compleja naturaleza (2026) and Dejé mi cabeza al amparo de la nada (2026), provide anchor points, while smaller floral compositions radiate outward. Ruiz painted the new series with the terra-cotta booth in mind—he’d originally envisioned a fuller floor installation—and the effect gives the presentation a warmth befitting the Balearic island atmosphere.
VETA, founded in 2021 by Francés in a converted 1,200-square-meter Carabanchel, Madrid, space, has put its full weight behind the rapidly rising painter: Ruiz’s previous solo there in March sold out entirely. At CAN, all the smaller landscape works had sold within hours, while the larger painting, Compleja naturaleza (2026), was purchased by “an important collector in NYC,” according to the gallery.
