F2 opened in 2014 at Doctor Fourquet 28, one of the streets with the highest concentration of contemporary art galleries in Madrid. Paloma González and Enrique Tejerizo curate a program that brings together painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, video, and installation. Among its artists are Jitka Hanzlová, Vincenzo Castella, Federico Miró, Álvaro Negro, Pere Llobera, Miguel Fructuoso, Julia Santa Olalla, Inma Herrera, and Raúl Silva.
Gallery Profile
F2 officially opened on September 11, 2014, with *Lo feo no se vende*(Ugliness Doesn’t Sell), an exhibition by Miki Leal. When announcing the opening, Paloma González and Enrique Tejerizo explained that the project was the result of years of prior work. The initial roster included Maggie Cardelús, Vincenzo Castella, Jacobo Castellano, José María Guijarro, Jonathan Hammer, Lluís Hortalà, Pere Llobera, Jaime Pitarch, Rubén Ramos Balsa, Simeón Saiz Ruiz, and Clare Strand, in addition to Leal himself. Over the years, artists from other generations and backgrounds have joined the group. Julia Santa Olalla began working with F2 in 2023, as did Miguel Fructuoso, while Nieves González joined in 2026.
The gallery regularly participates in ARCOmadrid. At the 2026 edition, it presented works by Julia Santa Olalla, Jorge Diezma, Pere Llobera, Clara Montoya, Álvaro Negro, Federico Miró, Jitka Hanzlová, Miguel Fructuoso, Inma Herrera, Eduardo Martín del Pozo, Juan del Junco, and Jonathan Hammer. That same year, it also participated in Art Cologne Palma Mallorca.
Program
Why Go
Painting plays a significant role in the program. Federico Miró (Málaga, 1991) constructs his paintings using patterns and successive layers of paint that make it difficult to immediately recognize how the image was created. He studied Fine Arts in Málaga and completed a research master’s degree at the Complutense University of Madrid. He had his first solo exhibition at F2 in 2018, returned in 2021, and kicked off 2026 with *If this world was mine, I’d take your dreams and make ’em multiply*. During 2025 and 2026, he was an artist-in-residence at the Casa de Velázquez.
Photography has been a part of F2 since its inception. Jitka Hanzlová (Náchod, 1958) left Czechoslovakia in 1982 and settled in Germany, where she studied photography in Essen. Since the 1990s, she has created series such as *Rokytník*, *Bewohner*, *Female*, *Forest*, *Flowers*, and *Water*. F2 dedicated exhibitions to her in 2018 and 2022. Her work has been shown at institutions such as the National Gallery in Prague and the Museum für Photographie in Braunschweig.
Vincenzo Castella (Naples, 1952) has been working with photography since the 1970s. Cities, architecture, and botanical gardens have been the subject of various series in his body of work. In 2022, he presented *Il Giardino era così bello che lei ebbe paura dell’Inferno* at F2, a project based on photographs and video footage taken among the plants in botanical gardens. Castella was already part of the program with which F2 began its activities in 2014.
Painting and photography coexist with works that use found images, archives, reproductions, digital techniques, and printed materials as a starting point.
What to Expect
Julia Santa Olalla’s exhibition *Hay un vencejo volando dentro* is on view, having opened on September 10 during Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend. This is her second solo exhibition at F2, following *Las Mirlas*, which was presented in 2023, and is organized in collaboration with the T20 gallery.
Santa Olalla works primarily with paint. Her paintings are based on recognizable spaces and objects: domestic interiors, furniture, windows, swimming pools, awnings, plants, and reflections. The scenes are often cropped by the frame, partially hidden, or constructed around objects whose position alters an everyday situation.
That technique was already evident in *Las Mirlas* and continues in his recent paintings. In *Silla playa* (2026), for example, he uses oil on linen in a 70-by-50-centimeter format. In other works, glass, shadows, and reflective surfaces appear, altering the perception of the depicted spaces.
Santa Olalla has held solo exhibitions at the Palacio de los Condes de Gabia, T20 in Murcia, LOR Gallery in Santo Domingo, and SC Gallery in Bilbao. In 2025, she presented an exhibition at MARCO in Vigo. Her work is included in collections such as those of the CA2M and the Sorigué Foundation.
What to Do Nearby
La Casa Encendida is located at Ronda de Valencia, 2, within easy walking distance of Doctor Fourquet. Its program features exhibitions, films, music, and educational activities, allowing visitors to continue their visit in a different setting. The building features gathering spaces and a terrace; check the center’s calendar for opening hours and scheduled activities.
On Valencia Street is Bajoelvolcán, an independent bookstore that opened in 2010 and specializes in fiction, essays, poetry, art, and music, with a wide selection of vinyl records. It’s about a ten-minute walk from the gallery.
For dining, La Fisna occupies a small space at Amparo 91. It functions as a restaurant, shop, and wine bar, with a wine cellar focused on small producers and wines from various Spanish and European regions. It’s about a fifteen-minute walk from F2 and offers a chance to explore Lavapiés after strolling down Doctor Fourquet.
