Exhibition

Memories of the land. Leónidas Gambartes is the exhibition from which the (i)realidades project arose, which provides the main themes for the research project. The exhibition is dedicated to Leónidas Gambartes (1909-1963, Argentina), an artist-magician, who embodies spiritual essence and indigenous rituality in his themes and pictorial processes, making visible what cannot be seen by the naked eye, but that is latent in the reality that surrounds them. He uses telluric aspects, relating to the land and the past of its inhabitants, as a starting point. After beginning by creating the series Cartones de humorismo (“Humorous Cartoons”, 1937 and 1941) and Dibujos oníricos (“Dream Drawings”, 1942 and 1945), in which all these original and identifying elements of the land and its beliefs were already present, Gambartes spent years alternating his creations between these two worlds: the visible and the invisible; between washerwomen, yuyeras (medicine women), mothers and conspirators, peasants, mythoforms and gualicheras (artesans).

Know more

(i)realidades leaflet

Exhibition leaflet

Activities program

His production during this last stage can be divided by themes into two series: Mito, magia y misterio (“Myth, magic and mystery”) and Figuras y paisajes (“Figures and landscapes”), with the works exhibited here belonging to the latter series. They depict scenes from the daily lives of people living in the periphery, mainly indigenous women working the land, as well as motherhood. His figures are shown hieratically,  either standing, sitting or squatting, with a use of colour that ranges between sombre and warm. Despite the mundane nature of these scenes, Gambartes always subtly included the magical world that was typical of the communities represented. From his last stage, we could highlight his experimentation with plasticity, material and language, inventing the pictorial technique cromo al yeso (“plaster chrome”). His direct influences include Antonio Berni, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Joaquín Torres García himself and Paul Klee.

His vision problems affected him for life and would also be a major influence in his work. Unable to see a surface larger than 30x40cm without deformation, for works that were larger than his field of vision, the artist painted fragments that were joined together in a final composition, with him never being able to see the whole work at any time.

The exhibition is accompanied by a series of educational proposals based on participation and collaborative artistic creation, in which we invite you to reflect on the central themes raised by his work: memory, identity, territory and ritual.

Memory

Identity

Territory

Rituality

Works in the exhibition

Obras de la exposición

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