Juan Carlos
Distefano
is one of the leading figures in the sculpture in Latin America. He emerged in the Latin American art scene between
the Cuban Revolution and the events in France in May of 1968. Between 1976 and
1983, one of the most violent periods in Argentine history, and since 1984,
after the success of democracy, the work of Juan Carlos Distefano has addressed
questions of history and memory.
"The present is notorious for
not being graspable. Whenever it is present, it is already gone. We do need new
tools to negotiate the relationship between past and future..." Andreas
Huyssen. As he has pointed out the
question of trauma marks the place where people recognize one another and
activate, through their work, their own experiences in which they add to the
original reference their own traumatic stories and memory.
Juan Carlos Distefano comments on the
present condition and his view of the future of Argentina. Starting from modeling clay, switching to
lime and gypsum, then finishing with reinforced polyester and epoxy enamel or
cast polyester, gives a unique transparency in the works. This effect
emphasizes the expressiveness of the figures.
The fusion of the sculpted body
and the enveloping matter creates figures immobilized, unable to react and
metaphorically trapped in their own bodies.
Blank looks inhabit bodies
without identity, scratched, injured, dismembered, anonymous messengers of
violence, horror, degradation, cruelty, contempt, oppression. They are men who have suffered massacres,
race riots, murders, genocides. Symbol
of the physical and moral violence that has gripped Argentina during the
dictatorship between 1976 and 1983, act as a spokesman for the inequality that
still dominates the town. This is the
history of Argentina, the story that he presents so emphatically so that
something can change in the future. The
exhibition appropriately titled "The rebellion of the form"
fits well into the context of "All the World's Futures".
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