Vision of art
1. Choose a work that represents you, describe it in relation to its format and materiality, its relation with time and space, its style and theme; detail its production process.
I’d choose the exhibition Parallel Lines touch with each other [Líneas Paralelas se tocan]. In 2007, I made a plant nursery in the courtyard with Fernanda Laguna. We sold plants and stuff. At the end of the year, just before the closing of Belleza y Felicidad Gallery, I hung in the courtyard some geometric drawings that had an organic origin, though it had been lost, and together with these plants they could recover it slightly. It was all very nice. I liked to see this relationship between my work, the plants to sell, and the drawings hanging next to them, under the starry sky. And it was like mixing life with the pure language of art, the abstraction. Parallel Lines... referred to two worlds that are supposed to be radically distant, and nevertheless they joined.
2. In general terms, how would you suggest to approach your work?
The eyes of others on my work use to surprise me, and generally go beyond my own ideas. As I have an academic life, sometimes I deform my sight and I think that simple things are complicated. I like it when they see relationships between my work and that of other artists, whether they are from the past or the present.
3. In reference to your work and your position in the national and international art fields, what tradition do you recognize yourself in? Who are your contemporary referents? What artists of previous generations are of interest to you?
At this moment I'm close to the tradition of Concrete Art, from Mondrian on, including the Argentinian artists, of course! I think that Minimalism has stuck so much because it is here pretty much related to the vanguards of the forties. The tradition of Geometric Art is very strong in our area, and that affects me. In general terms I end up mixing the tradition of pure language of art with other things. But, actually, these are ways to start working. The art, if it appears, is always on the other side, where I least expect it. If I have to give names, I discovered recently Karel Malich (although he is from the fifties), Libby Hartle and Gerwald Rockenschaub.
4. Choose works or exhibitions from the last ten or fifteen years which in your opinion were very significant and explain why
To be honest, at this moment I remember more exhibitions from the recent years, and to appoint just these would be eternal. I’ll name a few. The exhibition of Fabián Burgos in Dabbah Torrejón Gallery Love probably [El amor probablemente] was brilliant, concept art painted by gods! All the exhibitions by Pablo Rosales and Mariela Scafati. I make a special mention of “Scafati, a painting” [“Scafati, un cuadro”], because I found it incredible, and besides I bought her a painting that I hung in my room and illuminates my life. One of the last exhibitions of Fernanda Laguna was beautiful... I was moved for several days. I see in all these artists a conceptual-critical-political background, which is very unique and powerful. Tulio de Sagastizábal is a vital painter, he always makes something unexpected, and his paintings have a carefree air that actually hides a lot of concentration and great commitment. A exhibition made with stones by Irene Banchero at La Casona de Olivera Art Space, it was a more poetic version of the Land Art, a pure sculptural line, also in dialogue with abstraction. Damage [Daños], by Diego Bianchi, it damaged my mind. Daniel Joglar... The last by Roberto Jacoby... a poet, a great artist. Hart’s exhibitions, an amazing sculptor... My favorite artists are those who give very much dedication to their works, though now that I think it better I like others who are doing the opposite... Flaneur by Goldenstein; the exhibitions by Rosana Schoijett: simplicity and refinement, it seems impossible, but it is not. One by Marcela Sinclair, where she discovered the drawings of the dust under the furniture... I liked that idea very much, but It makes me sad. A exhibition by Gumier Maier in the tiny room of Braga Menéndez Gallery, and other one right there by Tomás Fracchia; similar exhibitions, intimate and spiritual. The one by Juliana Iriart in Appetite Gallery! I loved it! Lots of many others.
5. What tendencies or groupings from common elements do you see in argentine art of the last ten or fifteen years?
I think that the most significant groups in the field of art do not have styles or trends as an axis. The groups and divisions between people are always political, in a deep sense. There is a line that comes from the sixties and with no doubt has an influence on the art in Argentina, and it is the one I am more interested in. They left a conceptual basis, which crosses the most interesting of all trends and styles of art. There is also an art marked by the globalization, of “specific sites", which I consider, because of its name and everything, to be a symbol of the most "adapted" art, the one that circulates in a very specific circuit, but expands increasingly. It is generally boring but there are exceptions. So, there is very much and varied.
