Art in Argentina

I just got back from a trip to Argentina. I'm glad I was had opportunity to experience another culture and witness my sister's life as a college graduate seriously employed and living abroad. I also saw some great art. We went to a few art museums, the best of which was the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. The museum was showing works from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Castile and Leon in Spain. The first thing I saw upon entrance was a glowing LED animation by Julian Opie entitled "Keira Walking."

source: musac.es


Here is a video of some of his similar works:

In person the animation was dazzling. I love when the beauty of beautiful art is part of the meaning of the work. In this case the mesmerizing effect of the glimmering lights mirrors the experience of watching a certain kind of woman. The simple figures represent the signs, symbols, and language of fashion and movement. More works here and here.


I also enjoyed the work of Fernando Renes. My favorite:

More here.

I had heard of the artist Marcel Dzama but had never seen his work. The museum displayed a few of his absurd and hilarious drawings. My favorite:

(Click to view large)

The guard wouldn't let me take any more pictures and I can't find the others online but they were kind of like this:

More here.

There was a large room of the museum dedicated to classic and contemporary nudes. I saw a Gregory Crewdson print in person for the first time. It was the only photograph among the paintings. It was a little too painterly for me but it was certainly impressive.

Untitled (Mother Complex 2) (2001) Colour photograph. 121.92 x 152.4 cm

FYI Gregory Crewdson is a professor at Yale's art school and curated the Another Girl, Another Planet show I wrote about before. Also he was the judge for my school's freshman photography exhibition and I'm taking a digital photography course with the woman who does his printing and post-production. I LOVE SVA. More Crewdson here.

We visited a few galleries and the highlight for me were the paintings of Delia Ana Iglesias at Pabellon 4 Arte Contemporaneo. From the series "Creadores del universo":

Is that a Dragon Ball Z reference in the first painting? I enjoy the colors and negative space. Also the idea of two dandy-ish creators is interesting. Gay gods pondering polar bears. Shocking! These are also kind of absurd. Then again depictions of Christianity's story of creation are equally ridiculous. Maybe that's what Iglesias is implying. Her website. She has a blog here, translated here.

And I finally saw Blow-Up.

There was much less sex and much more photography and voyeurism than the trailer would have you believe.

It was a good trip for art. I was able to see some great things in person and discover a few new artists. In less than a week I will be returning to New York. School's starting and there will be an overwhelming amount of great shows opening this month. I am SO ready.