Through the Fabric of Discontent:

On the Work of a Few Argentinean Artists

Elizabeth A. Richards

 

A group of Argentinean artists involved in a collective exhibition titled The Tao of Art at the Ricardo Rojas Cultural Center were termed “light” artists by the critic Jorge Lopez Anaya in his column in the newspaper La Nacion. The term “light” signified these artists’ move away from conceptual art with its dematerialization of the art-object. Instead, these artists in the nineties showed an interest in using fanciful and decorative aesthetics to create a discourse around social issues. Two artists of particular interest in The Tao of Art exhibition were Feliciano Centurion and Marcelo Pombo, both of whom worked with fabrics as a way of creating a link to the past and present conditions of life in Argentina. Centurion used manufactured blankets and hand-embroidered tablecloths to express the loss of sentimentality in popular culture and the growing appropriation of Western aesthetics. Pombo also worked with manufactured fabrics but as a more overt symbol of capitalist oppression and its connection to popular culture. Through the incorporation and imitation of luxury items such as popular culture materials, these two artists critique the oppression imposed on Argentina by capitalism and the West.

 

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