Amadeo azar

b. Mar de la Plata, Argentina, 1972.

Amadeo is interested in the visual languages of modernism as they incarnated utopian sets of beliefs and views of the world and its future, especially in the lack of hope of a future in the contemporary life. He has focused on architectural and avant-garde movements of the first half of the XX Century exploring how they related to and had influence on political and social movements in Latin America, and the way that utopian moment was disarticulated as it encountered local circumstances and fell into dystopia. He often uses history, sociology, architecture as frameworks for his body of work.

Some specific references which have entered his work include the plans for the city of Buenos Aires presented by Le Corbusier to the government of Peron in the 1940’s; the urban developments and architectural trends during mid-Century in Argentina (such as the buildings by Ingeniero Salamone); the MADÍ and ConcretoInvención —avant-garde movement native to Argentina— that focused on abstraction as well as on progressive politics (Lozza, Maldonado, Iommi, and others); never-built projects by Russian Constructivists architects such as Konstantin Melnikov or Iacov Chernikov; the style of architecture used for pavilions at world fairs and monuments which represent a certain collective view a nation has of itself.

In Azar’s work there is a longing for those idealistic historical moments but at the same time a playful view of their successes and failures. At the very core of his explorations on the past there are reflexions about what future is being constructed.

The choice of the materials and techniques Azar employs is deliberately specific to his production circumstances. He has mastered traditional techniques such as watercolor or gold-leafing and has put them to work at the service of contemporary concerns. Azar works in other formats as well, he is a member of the two-person electronic music band called The Black Future, developing pieces which integrate music, performance and visual elements.

Azar studied fine arts in Escuela de artes Visuales M Malharro. In 2001, he founded MOTP, an alternative contemporary art space that played a crucial role in the artistic scene on his hometown. His work hs been

Amadeo studied fine arts in Escuela de Artes Visuales M. Malharro. In 2001, he founded MOTP, an alternative contemporary art space that played a crucial role in the artistic scene of his hometown. His work has been showcased in numerous galleries and institutional spaces worldwide including MAMBA (Buenos Aires), MAAC (Ecuador) and Queens Museum (New York).