After crossing the Mitre railroad tracks on calle Jorge Newbery, the Colegiales barrio of Buenos Aires begins to reveal its distinct architectural characteristics. Wide and peaceful streets lined with individual houses and a scarcity of high rise apartment buildings make the neighborhood feel cozy and unique from its bustling neighbor, Palermo. Colegiales is bordered by several small plazas, most notably Plazas Mafalda and Matienzo. These green spaces are a notorious hub for street art and graffiti, as they contain several medianeras and open walls for canvasing.
Plaza Matienzo runs on calle Teniente Benjamín Matienzo from calles Cramer to Captián General Ramón Freire. One side of Matienzo contains a small park and concrete court, presumably for basketball or fútbol. Bordering the space are walls covered with murals and graffiti that rise above the quiet and tranquil plaza, screaming with color and emotion. On the other side of the street lie several warehouses and derelict spaces, similarly inscribed with graffiti tags. On the corner of Cramer and Matienzo, the medianera of an apartment building hosts a large mural by the UK street artist Jim Vision.
Vision was commissioned by the city of Buenos Aires to create a painted mural in Colegiales in 2011, following his attendance at a street art festival in the city titled Meeting of Styles. The result is an ambitious and striking work that incorporates strong nationalist identity and a familiar universal iconography. The image features a traditional Argentine gaucho riding a horse that stands erect a top a rock, with its front legs in the air and a backward thrust in its body. The gaucho wears his typical costume: a woolen poncho, bombuchas (pleated trousers), and high leather riding boots. His left hand grasps the horse’s silvery mane; his right hand wields a spray can high above his head.
The gaucho is a classic symbol of Argentine national identity and culture. From roughly 1770 to 1870, the traditional gaucho was found in the Argentine pampas, Uruguay, and the south of Brazil. An equestrian people, gauchos are most distinguished by their freedom. In short, the gaucho represents the absolute liberty to answer to no authority. Although it is concluded that the demise of true gauchos occurred at the end of the 19th century, their status as symbols of freedom continue to this day.
Jim Vision’s decision to depict an Argentine gaucho for this mural reflects an attempt to connect with a national identity of the country. His choice of dramatic action for the gaucho riding atop a horse, however, is an employment of a more universal motif. An image of similar aesthetic form is Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps. This authoritative portrait of the French ruler features Napoleon, in traditional royal dress, riding an Arabian stallion and leading his troops across the Alps mountain range. The commissioned painting invokes power and dramatic action, as well as French national pride. The nearly identical depiction of the horses and the stance of Napoleon and Vision’s gaucho are undeniable. It is obvious that aesthetic parallels were made and similar emotional connections can be drawn between the two images.
In Napoleon Crossing the Alps, the subject’s right hand thrusts sky ward and forms a gesture of encouragement, of progress and advancement. In his mural, Jim Vision adds a spray paint can to the outstretched hand of the gaucho, effectively shifting this iconography to represent the contemporary role of the street artist as revolutionary figure. For the graffiti or street artist, the spray can is the weapon of choice. They use paint to express their hopes, concerns, and commentary. Art, especially such a democratic and public medium like street art, has the ability to revolutionize and shape opinions. When it is placed on the street, it becomes an appropriation of itself. It is exposed to such a large audience that it transcends its function as art and eventually becomes memory, and maybe later, action.
With this mural, Jim Vision is proposing the role of the street artist as revolutionary. He poses the possibility of liberty and action through public art. The gaucho, the ultimate symbol of freedom, holds a spray can, another sign of sovereignty and independence. Vision promotes personal and national liberation as attainable on a grass-roots level through the work of graffiti artists and those working in the public art field.
Works Cited:
- O’Higgins, Sorcha. “The Bubble’s Guide to the Barrio: Colegiales.” The Bubble. N.p., 28 May 2015. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
- Radicella, Lucas. “The Gaucho: Yesterday and Today”. Argentina Independent. N.p. 12 November 2012. Web. 4 March 2016.
- “David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps.” Khan Academy. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2016.
