The art minute
They are the contemporary Argentina
- 06/05/2021
Julio Le Parc is one of the most notorious contemporary Argentineans artists.
The native of Mendoza, at the bottom of the Andes, more than 1000 km away at the west of Buenos Aires, handles geometric forms, volume and lights with the greatest harmony and the greatest virtuosity.
He studied Fine Arts at the Prilidiano Pueyrredón National School in Buenos Aires.
In 1958, he obtained a scholarship from the French government and moved to Paris.
After stopping to produce on traditional media, he turns to an Art called kinetic or "perceptual".
Light, movement and color but also air and space twirl while the Park plays with lines, curves and contrasts to alter our perceptions of reality.
Interaction is the focal point of his artworks, which, although at first sight they do not seem, remain accessible to everyone.
Expelled from France in May 1968 for his active participation in the "popular workshops", Julio Le Parc is now Knight of the Legion of Honor.
An inveterate defender of human rights, he fought a large part of his life against Latin American dictatorships.
The shelf of this founding member of V.A.R.G. (Visual Art Research Group) also receives numerous awards such as the Venice Biennale (1966), the Biennale de Cuenca (1987) or the Konex Foundation Prize.
Present at major international exhibitions, Le Parc's work is known and recognized around the world.
As a visionary artist, Julio Le Parc is an influential figure for the younger generation, drawing on his research on the visual field, movement and the relationship between the artwork in general and the viewer.
MARCOS LOPEZ, THE ANDY WARHOL OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT
Flashy photos, saturated with very pronounced kitsch accents, here is the signature of Marcos Lopez.
Became a photographer after working with them at the 1978 World Cup held in his country, this Argentine artist who was born in Santa Fe in 1958, received a scholarship from the National Arts Fund of Buenos Aires, where he has lived and worked ever since.
Prized in 1993 by the Andy Goldstein Foundation for his portraits in black and white (Retratos), Marcos Lopez will quickly give color in his series of photographs "Pop Latino" (2000) and "Subrealismo Criollo (2003).
He expresses with force and conviction his vision of Latin America through ultra-saturated, extravagant and acidic frescoes.
A popular Argentine photographer, he is considered as a senseless portraitist who loves excess and cheap kitsch.
"I start from an emotional situation and put it in the local color like a social and political columnist of my time."
Winner of the Prix Quinquenio Photography of the Konex Foundation in 2012, his artworks are exhibited and visible in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Paris or Zurich.
Argentina experienced a period of rapid growth in the American style, and, like its neighbor to the north, three decades ago via Pop Art, mass culture became an object of Art.
And this is what is transcribed in the work of Marcos Lopez who portrays the artifices of “neoliberalism” such as cans, T-shirts, mate, fast food or common places in Buenos Aires.
To create a marketable Art, like the one of Andy Warhol.
LEANDRO GRANATO, THE EYE OF THE PAINTER
Leandro Granato was born in Buenos Aires one day of February 1986, a year so dear to the Argentineans, ask Maradona.
It was at the age of 20 years, after the rapid and brutal disappearance of his grandfather, a mentor to him, that he offered himself a workshop in the heart of the capital and decided to embark on Art. Hitherto nothing extraordinary.
But thanks to a unique gift, Leandro Granato is today a contemporary artist without equal.
To make his abstract paintings, the young man does not use his hands, his feet, nor his mouth but... his eyes!
An unusual process that allows him to throw sprays of paint on his canvases by causing it to flow from his eyes, after being injected through the nose.
"I knew very young that I had a very special bond between my eye and my nose," says the self-proclaimed inventor of lacrimal fluid painting.
"Some say I'm crazy, but this technique does not spoil my body. I am constantly examined by doctors and I know that this will not cause me any health problem in the future".
His paintings take between 10 minutes and 10 months to be finished and some are sold for amounts above thousands of euros.
If Leandro Granato is not the best-known Argentine artist, he is certainly the most atypical.
PAOLA VERGOTTINI, THE CHILD OF BUENOS AIRES
During the first ten years of her career, she devoted herself to drawing and engraving in all its forms:
zincography, lithography, collage and mixed media.
At the birth of her sons, Paola began to teach art to children and completely changed the way she worked.
She begins to play with paintings and colors through simple human forms and pure and vibrant tones.
She draws her inspiration from the observation of her students' drawings.
The artist's approach is to live from art and for art.
She considers that the artworks she paints are dedicated to her audience.
Once finished, they no longer belong to her.
Her pleasure is to create them on a daily basis.
The paintings of Paola are an invitation to travel in the world of childhood.
THE NEO-COLLECTOR'S GUIDE
Everything you always wanted to know about the art market but were afraid to ask!
The art market often appears to be a domain reserved for a privileged few...
This is not true: accessible to all, the art market is only waiting for its new collectors.
For those who still have a doubt :
Here are the answers to the questions commonly asked!
What is a work of art?
What is the purpose of art?
What is the purpose of a certificate of authenticity?
What should you look out for when buying a work of art?
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