WHAT HAPPENS TO THE LEGACY OF GREAT CREATORS?

In dialogue with Arte al Día, exhibition curator Eugenia Garay Basualdo reflects: "Called Legado, the exhibition makes explicit a problem of worldwide transcendence, almost unaddressed in Argentina, and faced by the heirs and legatees of many creators: the collections of works left by artists at the time of their death. These sets of pieces, sometimes prolific and, at the same time, unavoidable for the history of art, require appropriate conditions for their safekeeping, conservation and restoration. In addition, the works are often borrowed by museums, art centers and galleries for exhibitions in Argentina and abroad. Those who take care of the legacies are in charge of these tasks, which require countless resources and hours of management. In this sense, Legado opens the debate on cultural policies and the implementation of artists who are left invisible by the art system and the dynamics of institutions. This circumstance also results in the postponement of the study and the frequency of exhibition of artists. On the other hand, Argentina still does not have the regulation of the right of participation of artists, heirs and legatees for the resale of works. Since 2015, article no. 54 bis of Law 11.723, about the subject, has been waiting for the half sanction of the Argentine Congress Chamber of Deputies to become effective. 

"With the objective of including the theme in agenda, our curatorial work proposes a new and possible interpretation of the history of Argentine art through three thematic nuclei deployed in three halls. Argentine bronze mania features sculptures by Buigues, Fioravanti, Gavito and Locaso. The simultaneity of avant-garde audacity is integrated by pieces by Curatella Manes, Del Prete, Yente, Arden Quin, Frank, Mac Entyre and Vidal. And Attitudes Become Forms presents works by Derbecq, Brizzi, Vidal again, Blaszko, Demirjian and Knop. The guiding axis of the exhibition suggests the parallel reading of "trajectories that have the unique characteristic of redirecting to periods in which trends emerged, or epochal styles were developed, or avant-garde movements were conceived". Thus, it is possible to see how artists who were at the forefront of their time influenced others who, in turn, also became avant-garde".

Legados. Group exhibition.

Curated by Eugenia Garay Basualdo.

Through December 15, 2023. By appointment at info@naum-knop.org 

Naum Knop Foundation. Catamarca 1747, Buenos Aires, Argentina.