Friday, May 25, 2012

1o Differences


Emersion into a foreign environment is both jarring and exciting.  This project focuses on the differences I have observed between home and Buenos Aires.

French, Spanish and Italian design have inspired much of the architecture in this city.  From the ornate stone-work on the building to the intricacy of the sidewalk, there is an elegance that can be found int the most common of places.


 The view from a café window shows the color and various layers of space.                Unused space in the city often becomes overgrown and the cement and stone are slowly engulfed by trees and vines.  An old weathered charm is juxtaposed by modern advertisements.









Green plants permeate buildings and become part of the structure.  For one of the largest cities in America, a very urban environment, there is an abundance of horticulture.


 


 Charming and slick leaves layer the sidewalk in the late afternoon during this season, which is just one more testament of nature growing through the city.  Motorcycles and Mopeds are parked on the sidewalk and are ridden by a majority of inhabitants.
                                                                   The graffiti plasters the barrio of Polermo, a hip atmosphere where this park and monument are located.  The color saturates the city and emphasizes the diverse layers of Buenos Aires.  The contrast of the tag and this monument mimic the contrasting styles of buildings in the background.  The modern grey building right next to the decorative stone building with the arched windows right next to it.  This city's architectural design is just as eclectic as its inhabitants and history.

Exotic trees with external roots protruding pepper this town just as friendly stray dogs do.  Sitting in the park, a dog without a collar came and sat down with us.  It's easy to make friends here.   Things are more relaxed in La Boca where colorful buildings line the streets and dogs peak out from underneath restaurant tables.


 Special stopping lanes for motorcycles? Something I think the states could definitely use more of.  Due to the massive amount of two wheel traffic, this city invites motorcycles and mopeds to get in front of traffic at lights and accelerate quickly to avoid traffic.



Thursday, May 24, 2012

búsqueda de una religión




Due to historical colonization and Spanish, Italian and Latin American influence, Buenos Aires is home to many ornate Churches.  Although this is a diverse city, with an assortment of countries and religions represented, Christianity is predominant.  To Seek Religion explores the religions iconography and imagery found here.

Sin Titulo

I intended to write this to you in the form of a chronicle - an account of particular events as they occur over time; however, I am going a little out of order.

The title of this blog, "Sin Titulo" means untitled.  This is one of the first written phrases I recognized while being here.  My Spanish is weak and my understanding of Lunfardo (a dialect spoken in Argentina) makes my Spanish comprehension seem almost passible - that's not saying much.  However, having spent the past four years of my Visual Arts degree looking at wall text in museums and galleries I became familiar with the format.  "Untitled" is a very popular title for visual art so when I began to see Sin Titulo in the title line of the wall text, it clicked.  A simple phrase, not very difficult to decipher; however, my decryption of this small phrase helped me feel a bit more comfortable here.  It seems fitting that I would begin to feel more comfortable in a gallery space.

ArteBA is a congregation of galleries, an art fair that brings together an eclectic assortment of some of the most vibrant art I've seen in a single place.  Collectors flock to ArteBA when it comes through Buenos Aires to peruse galleries that they would normally travel all around to go to.  Understandably, it is a desirably place to show your work if you are an artist.  Galleries will present their artists and the result is a blast of culture.    

It was inspiring to see such a diverse collection of work.  Christina Fresca's red tinted photographs were very different from Jaques Bedel's 30x30" transparent prints of ocean-side cityscapes.   Although both series are completely different from one another they both appeal to me.  The experience of ArteBA is unlike any gallery or museum because gallery owners and directors have different tastes and those different tastes come together in this one, large, space - essentially combining them all into one exhibition space.  

I enjoyed many pieces in this art fair, particularly the work of Esteban Pastorino: an artist that I had the opportunity to meet and speak with.  Predominantly interested in photography, Pastorino's piece in ArteBA was a positive print on Acetate from the negative roll of film that he shot using his slit exposure technique.  This technique allows for the film to be exposed as it is being rolled through his home-made camera and the result is an outstanding, long, continuous image.  Esteban Pastorino attached his camera to his car and drove around Argentina while his camera was taking his long picture.  What I find most interesting is his attention to his process and the presentation of his work.  The linear and sequential presentation of the work alludes to the continuous nature of his process.  Just as the film rolled from one spool to the other so it was presented, spooling across the wall.  The film was backlit and the surrounding space was empty and dark, which drew the viewer's attention to the small details in the film.  From afar, the piece is an illuminated band of light stretching across a wall.  The work touches upon themes of subjective and objectivity in Photography as well as the concept of truth in photographic portrayal.  The element of time is also a major contributing factor.  

http://www.arteba.org/
http://www.estebanpastorinodiaz.com/