Exhibition view: Spencer Lewis, La noche de día (Night by Day)
Fundación La Nave Salinas, Ibiza
Courtesy Fundación La Nave Salinas.
I meet Lio Malca relaxing at sunset by the entrance of Fundación La Nave Salinas in Ibiza. He’s wearing Adidas trainers, a light scarf over his shoulders, a dusting of stubble. The cork goes on a bottle of rosé. He couldn’t look more at home, yet it’s a big occasion; he’s celebrating ten years since he transformed the once-derelict warehouse, built into a bay on the island’s lusher north, into a non-profit art foundation.
‘I’ve been coming to Ibiza for 20 years,’ Malca tells me. ‘Initially just on holiday. But over time, I met locals who showed me the island beyond the beaches and parties. I fell in love with its energy and spirit. Eventually, I found a house and came to feel indebted to the place. I knew I wanted to give back.’
Malca has just opened the 2025 summer season with a solo exhibition by the Los Angeles-based abstract painter Spencer Lewis, further establishing La Nave as the Spanish island’s premier space for contemporary art.
Malca, whose art collection began in 1990 with a piece by Jean-Michel Basquiat, has developed a portfolio that includes works by Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, George Condo, and a growing number of emerging artists.
‘The first piece was a drawing by Basquiat—22 by 30 inches—which I bought in Boston while I was still a student,’ Malca says. ‘That opened the floodgates … I got bitten by the bug. It became an addiction—but a joyful one. I’ve been collecting ever since.’
His activities span multiple sites—most notably Casa Malca, a hotel and exhibition space in Tulum, along with The Art Lodge, a residency in Mexico’s Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, and 60 White, a multidisciplinary venue in Tribeca, New York.
La Nave Salinas opened in 2015 as a free-admission exhibition space designed to present large-scale, museum-quality shows during Ibiza’s peak summer season and has hosted exhibitions by artists like Keith Haring, Bill Viola, KAWS, and Rafa Macarrón.
Malca emphasises that works shown at La Nave are selected not just for their formal qualities but for their ability to engage with the unique spatial and historical context of the venue: ‘The pieces truly aren’t finished until they’re in the space.’