Carlos Gallardo
Malba-Fundación Costantini. Buenos Aires
Time, memory and words are part of the recurring concerns in the work of Carlos Gallardo (Buenos Aires, 1944-2008), a multifaceted artist who burst into the Buenos Aires art scene in 1993, with the memorable show La memoría (yes, with an accent on the “í”) in the Museum of Modern Art; making reference to the “desaparecidos” (missing persons) and the attack on culture carried out by the last military government (1976- 1983), when few artists did this and the subject was not used with propagandistic purposes.
Now, Malba Fundación Costantini presents his latest, never before exhibited photographic production, curated by Mercedes Casanegra, as a posthumous homage to this dear artist. Metaphysical issues, public scenes and pri- vate reconstructions in “Theatrum mundi”, series which were produced between the years 2007 and 2008. They are clues, instants in a life history that flows along poetic, subtle lines, with deep political undertones.
Also, Gallardo devoted himself to the creation of stage designs and wardrobes, developing his work in theaters all over the world together with the choreographer and ballet director Mauricio Wainrot, his partner in art and in life. Away from the spectacularity of stages, his visual art works are a space of silence and reflection, embodied in images that also trigger sensations and emotions.
