Reactionary Politics and Artistic Reactions
The 1950s and 60s were once again times of turmoil in Argentina; Peronism was replaced by democratic governments and military dictatorships that shared only one ruthless aim: eliminating Peronism. Peron himself returned to power briefly in the 1970s, before dying in office and transferring power to his third wife "Isabelita"; her disastrous period in charge resulted in another military backlash and the nightmarish Proceso. Since 1983, following the debacle of the South Atlantic conflict, Argentina has been unshakeably if imperfectly democratic. All of these ups and downs have been reflected in the country's postwar art as much as, if not more than in its literature, cinema and music. The reactionary politics of virtually everyone who held power in Argentina from 1944 to 1983 were either rebelled against by mainly leftist, engage artists, or dictated by a more conservative approach, often based on mainstream artistic schools in Europe. Raquel Forner (1902-87) came to the fore in the 1950s - even though she had begun to paint in the 1920s as a student of Spilimbergo - mainly because she was so unmistakeably influenced by Picasso. This comes through in her style - in which human figures are amalgamated with symbolic images - and subject matter. She painted two series of haunting oils about the Spanish Civil War and World War II: Espana (1937-39) and El drama (1939-46); the spine-chilling Retablo de dolor (1944), at the MNBA, which belongs to the second group, also reveals her interest in the religious paintings of El Greco. Sometimes likened to Karel Appel, a member of the CoBrA group - further proof that European comparisons remain legion in Argentina - she set herself apart in the 1960s by concentrating on the theme of the human conquest of space, as expemplified by her colourful 1968 masterpiece Conquest of Moon Rock . Unusual sculptor Libero Badii (born 1916), some of whose work, including later paintings, is displayed at the Fundacion Banco Frances, Belgrano, Buenos Aires, won a national prize in 1953 with a sensually organic marble figure, Torrente , which can be seen at the MNBA. Arp and Brancusi are easily detectable influences on his earlier works. From 1955 to 1963, Jorge Romero Brest was director of the MNBA; politics had its dictators and so did the art world, for this staunchly anti-Peronist guru of Argentine art then went on to direct the highly influential and virtually monopolistic Centro de Artes Visuales at the capital's wealthy Instituto Torcuato di Tella until 1970, and he had the power to make or break artists. Essentially a democrat, however, he staged increasingly subversive exhibitions by avant-garde artists after General Juan Ongania's mob seized totalitarian power in 1966, purportedly to combat Marxism and Peronism. President Ongania sent the police in to close an exhibition by minor artist Roberto Plate, which comprised a mock public lavatory in which visitors were encouraged to draw graffiti. In a famous interview Ongania said that he had taken such drastic steps because someone had outrageously drawn a penis and Argentina was not ready for that kind of thing; what really riled him, no doubt, was the fact that most of the graffiti consisted of political slogans and insults personally directed at him. Romero Brest's most famous achievement while in charge of the MNBA was the discovery of four artists who went under the label of Otra figuracion, after a ground-breaking joint exhibition of that name held in Buenos Aires in 1961. Part German-style Expressionism, part Dubuffet, part de Kooning and quite a lot of Rauschenberg, the young artists who had met in Paris dominated Argentine painting throughout the rest of the decade. Ernesto Deira (1928-86), Jorge de la Vega (1930-71), Romulo Maccio (born 1931) and Luis Felipe Noe (born 1933) all produced highly acclaimed work, though Vega is usually regarded as the most original. Deira's Homenaje a Fernand Leger (1963) at the MNBA speaks for itself; heavy neofigurative shades of Francis Bacon are easily detectable in Maccio's Vivir un poco cada dia (1963) also at the MNBA; while Noe's Ensoresque masterpiece Introduccion a la esperanza (1963), at the same museum, illustrates his theory of " cuadro dividido ", in which several paintings are chaotically assembled to make one work. Vega's Intimidades de un timido (1960s) at the Museo Nacional is typical of his vast canvases, brimming with vitality but largely mysterious in their imagery. Of all four group members, his work is hardest to pigeonhole. Similarly, while Alberto Heredia (born 1924), admirer of Marcel Duchamp and living up to his description as a "ramshackle artist", was closely related to the Otra figuracion, he also has a lot in common with both Surrealism and Pop Art. His now famous Camembert Boxes (1961-63), filled with day-to-day flotsam and jetsam, are seen as a breakthrough in Argentine sculpture, while the gruesome later work Los amordazamientos (1972-74), displayed at the MNBA, is apocalyptic in its depiction of human despair. Worldwide, the 1960s was marked by the new artistic phenomenon of Happenings, and what Argentine artists called Ambientaciones; despite their often massive scale and laborious preparations, they were by nature ephemeral events, and all we have left now are photographic documents. Marta Minujin (born 1941), whose colourful Colchon (1964) can be seen at the MNBA, has been a leading exponent. Her two key works in 1965, La menesunda and El batacazo , both staged at the Centro de Artes Visuales, were labyrinths meant to excite, delight, disturb and attack the visitor's five senses, and they caused both scandal and wonderment in Buenos Aires. She continued to perform into the 1970s, poking fun at national icons like Carlos Gardel and the ovenbird, Argentina's national bird; after creating Obelisco acostado in 1978, the following year she went to construct a 30-metre-high Obelisco de pan dulce , a half-scale model of Buenos Aires' famous phallic symbol clad with thousands of plastic-wrapped raisin breads, erected at the cattle-raisers' temple, the Sociedad Rural in Palermo. To celebrate the return to democracy in 1983, her Partenon de libros was a massive monument covered in books - many publications had been banned or even burned under the junta - also raised in the open air in the capital.
your food is yummyisabella says "i think yalls food is super dooper yummy keep up the good work
" whatsamanth says "nothing. you can survive on your own. dont go there its a horrible place." what you needkatie says "bring lots of food and water. try to bring non perishable food. and bring warm and cold clothes. you will need it." Buenos Aires City of DesignBob Frassinetti says "In August 2005 Buenos Aires was appointed City of Design by the UNESCO. This is recognition the city of “good airs” shares with other top notch design areas of the world such as Berlin, Montreal.
This appointment evidences recognition towards what Buenos Aires is doing in this particular area, and it cannot be understood if not put in perspective to the recent boom that took place in this area recently. BA features a constant flow of movement in terms of design, from mind-blowing creations to average regular, items the broadness of the design movement in the Argentine capital provides a wide rainbow of options featuring something for every taste.
Buenos Aires has been among the firsts of the American Continent to take upon the challenge of design together with Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Mendoza in Argentina –as well-. The turning point in contemporary design in South America can be dated at the end of the 1950s and all throughout the 60s. The decade of 1960 was a strong decade for innovation, creation and design in the deepest sense of the words. The Arts in general had a strong input back then, and design was not an exception, from aesthetics to usefulness, Argentina has been taking upon the challenge of designing new and innovative objects ever since. After a couple of decades of ups and downs, ins and outs, always in tune with the general panorama of what was going on in our country, today, Buenos Aires is breeding and furthering some interesting aesthetic and conceptual approaches to objects.
In terms of industrial design today in Argentina, there are at several different disciplines working in an avant-garde creations and innovating in theory and practice in this sense. The range goes from industrial products to vehicles, furniture and lighting, making of Buenos Aires a design spot pretty much hyper-comprehensive in terms of design for the visitors.
An interesting insight on design in Buenos Aires is provided by worldly known Argentine architect and designer Ricardo Blanco in his book entitled Crónicas del diseño industrial en la Argentina – Chronicles of the Industrial Design in Argentina-, where he reconstructs the path of evolution thru means of a particular historical perspective and journey. Not aiming to cover the entire historical process, but more in the sense of providing an organized insight into the world of useful aesthetics, Blanco attest to evidence the intention and cultural bases of the Argentine design path.
Thru means of the current literature and the ever growing production of industrial design objects Buenos Aires takes upon new airs of discovery, as it mutates from the traditional city of beef and tango to a much more interesting and amusing spot of arts, design and aesthetics… And all in all, in the meantime we explore the new inputs of design we can always stop to enjoy the delightful Argentine cuisine and culture, but now in a broader and richer way.
Bob Frassinetti, Buenos Aires, Argentina" GanjaFaith says "look for ganja at all times"
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