The exhibition Recent Acquisitions, 2001-2002 presents a selection of purchases that ARTIUM Álava has made during the past two years. Trough purchases in galleries, Fairs and auctions, over 120 art works have swelled Atium's collection. If we take in account recent acquisitions through deposits, donations and gifts, there are almost 200 pieces thickening the already fruitful funds of the museum.

The wide activity in ARTIUM can be perceived through the flow of art pieces. Artium's aim and responsibility is not only that of diffusing and educating people in Art, but also that of thickening and shaping the huge body of the collection, which hosts and interprets the interests and ways of working of our artists. Thus, the collection traces the art evolution of a society, its worries and wishes, from the beginning of the 20th century till present days.

Many are the pieces in Artium funds that have already been viewed in both displays of the Permanent Collection (I and II), and also, in temporary exhibitions such as So Close...So Far and Paint in Spain and Germany, 1945-1960. That is why, the present exhibition focuses mainly on the recently acquired art works. These works unveil both, the beat of what is currently happening in the art scene, and the variety of aspects and subject matters over which current artists meditate.

On display are the works by Antoni Muntadas and Fernando Illana, which exemplify the artists' interests in social issues. Magi Cardelús and Mira Bernabeu step into their inner world in order to search for introspection aspects. Other common resources used in contemporary art creation are irony and sarcasm, elements that can be seen in the photographs done by Valentín Vallhonrat; other artists such as Alicia Framis and Luis Candaudap are more interested in adopting new attitudes towards art itself. It the exhibition, it is also evident the wide variety of techniques that have been used in present-day art creation. Such variety unveils the many paths art and artists can take. Truthful to painting, we see Andrés Nagel and Gonzalo Sicre, as well as others who helped themselves with new technologies to fulfil their work. Such is the case of Antoni Abad, la Ribot and Pepo Salazar. In conclusion, the display offers a selection of 30 artworks which express some of the many wishes depicted by our artists form vitoria-gazteiz and Bilbao, and others from Madrid, New York, Berlin and other countries.