Some Argentine Art

You can learn a lot about a place by looking at their art. You can see not just what they consider beautiful, but also what they value.
Argentina is a very culture conscious country. There are a surprisingly large number of museums all over the country, many of which are free, as well frequent free concert in parks and even in the streets. At New Years we were in a rural area of Mendoza Province and went to free outdoor concerts several days in a row in local parks. In Buenos Aires we saw a free opera on a huge screen outside of the Teatro Colon.

Teatro Colon is on the left. They offered free opera and balet videos every night for several weeks over the summer. 

Once a year the bigger cities host Noche de Los Museos, where they open their museum for free till the middle of the night (like three in the morning!),  It is usually held in November and such an exotic experience- thousands of people floating around the city in the middle of the night looking at art. Actually, this is not as strange as it sounds, considering restaurants are full at midnight all over the country.

But I digress. 

Here are photos of art from around Buenos Aires, from museums, as well as art in public places.

 I want to begin with what I consider the quintessential representation of art in Argentina, roadside shrines. 

In the US we are familiar with roadside shrines dedicated to people who died in road accidents.  But while these look similar, this is not the same thing. These are roadside shrines dedicated to folk saints. Some people believe these "saints" can work miracles so they go to them for help and leave offerings, either items connected to the saint or ones they think the saint might enjoy.  There was a shine near the home of my friends in rural Vista Flores. And here is one in a museum to the same 'saint', Difunta Correa. If you google Argentine Shrines you can see photos of hundreds of shrines all over the country, many of them dedicated to her.

This particular shrine, to Difunta Correa is not a roadside shrine. It is a museum installation in a modern art museum. 

I am going to post photos in no particular order, mixing graffiti, public art, and museum pieces. Enjoy. 

This is a closed newspaper stand. 

Some of you may recognize this painting from the wall of Salon Canning, the most fashionable milonga venue in Buenos Aires

A tile painting in a subway station

Chalk painting on a busy street

A little museum art

Diego Rivera portrait

1930s

Portrait of George Gershwin, An American in Paris by Miguel Covarrubias, Mexican artist and writer of the 1930s

Frida Kahlo self portrait with monkey and parrot

Botero -The Widowers 1968

As I posted this I think I found a second figure in the picture. I wish I'd noticed it- or the name of the painting, when I was there. 

Psychedelic drugs were apparently popular in Argentina in the 60s too. 

This is a 3D painting a steak resisting being thrown into a frying pan. 

A great deal of the art in Argentina is political in nature and has been for decades. Argentina has had a bloody past and they don't want to forget about it. A lot of their art is political. And/or violent.

1934 Antonio Berni-  Manifestation

In the 1960s, with the rise of dictatorships art became a way to protest. 

This piece is not located in a museum. It is located in the center of Galeries Pacifico, a very chic shopping mall. 

Ok. How about some street art.

 A piece of sidewalk located on Corrientes, one of the main streets. 

Back to some museum pieces from MALBA which is a pretty terrific museum of Latin American Art. .

Signs for sale in a street market

There are images of Carlos Gardel, an early tango singer of the last century, all over the city

Ok, a little more violent art. 

There was some kind of violent protest - police against university professors and students on a particularly charming cobblestone street full of outdoor cafes. Now some of the buildings have a permanent art installation as a reminder of the event. 

This is a detail from another tile painting in a subway. It shows dead bodies floating on a river of blood.

Most stores have metal garage doors which close at night. They are covered with either graffiti or graffiti art

Me and Franklin on a sidewalk 

I forget who the artist or subject is but remember the date of this painting was 1910. 

This  Chagall came from a modern art museum started recently by a rich woman (photo below).

This is an Andy Warhol of the founded of a modern art museum that bears her name. Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat 

On the left- folk dancing, On the right, a peasant family, watching. By the way, that kind of folk dancing is still popular.

A Breugel Dutch masters painting 

A detail from that Dutch master winter scene. I have a real fondness for these Dutch genre paintings and can spend a lot of time checking out all the figures and see what they are doing. 

Last but not least we could not end without a picture or two of Evita. She is all over the place.

Evita sculpture on the side of a skyscraper

This advertisement shows a man in drag dressed as Evita, with tattoos, brandishing a gun. 

Searching for Jungle in the Concrete Jungle of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is a huge concrete jungle, more than three times the size of Manhattan. But not that long ago it was a natural jungle. Today there are a few tame parks, even a Botanical Garden, but there are only a few places in and around the city where you can get a glimpse of the original, natural jungle. One place to see the jungle is the Ecological Reserve at  Puerto Madero.

Puerto Madero was the original port area of Buenos Aires and was probably quite ugly until recently when it has been redeveloped into the newest, and fastest growing sector of the city, very modern with a riverwalk and skyscrapers.

Viewing Puerto Madero skyscrapers through the rigging of an old sailing vessel that used to make voyages to Antarctica more than a hundred years ago. 

From this angle, it looks a bit like Portland

The far edge of Puerto Madero is, of course, the port and water. There is also a very nice narrow strip of jungly parkland with lots of trees, birds, and loud insects called the Ecological Reserve.

To reach the reserve there is a nice wide promenade with some stands (like the one on the right in the photo below) selling steak sandwiches, but it was rather quiet on this hot summer weekday morning. Just us and lots of birds. 

One thing that remains elusive (except from the new high rise condos in the Puerto Madero area), is views of the Rio de la Plata, the vast ocean-like river that separates Argentina from Uruguay. Two rivers drain into it making it the widest river in the world, 220 miles at its widest point. Indeed there is some question whether it is a river at all, or maybe an estuary, a gulf, or even a marginal sea.
I  made several attempts to see it but have not been successful. This little peek from Puerto Madero was as close as I could get.I'll keep trying and post a photo if I ever have a chance to see it clearly. 

Another place to see Argentine jungle is Tigre, a unique suburb built around swampy land and meandering waterways, located just a short train ride from the city center. It is a popular day trip destination with many small boats offering rides through the maze of canals and narrow waterways. This is where the river Plata empties out into the Rio Plata. t I still never saw the River Plata.

I like Tigre. This was my second visit and second boat ride there. I lived in South Florida for many years and these jungly waterways all looks very familiar to me.

This is a floating grocery store, carrying supplies for residents along the canals. I never saw one of these before. 

If it weren't for my tango addiction, I would consider staying here instead of Buenos Aires.