El Matador 1964

Curator: Antonio Berni created "El Matador" in 1964. The mixed media collage, a print embellished with coloured pencil, immediately seizes your attention, doesn't it? Editor: Absolutely, the somber yet richly adorned figure strikes a bold pose, even though his face appears to be made of junk, scraps, and offcuts, it makes me a little bit uncomfortable. What am I looking at here? Curator: Berni crafted this unsettling persona, the bullfighter, in the context of escalating social tensions in Argentina during the mid-20th century. He sought to capture the cultural psyche during that time, where there was an interest to show figures that represent national characters with qualities and attributes attached to specific types or jobs. Editor: It looks a bit monstrous. Can you speak to the symbolic weight of this work and the techniques used in more detail? The materials alone feel…loaded. Curator: By appropriating what one could term 'arte povera', or "poor art," Berni cleverly comments on the spectacle of bullfighting—a symbol, perhaps, for the exploitation and marginalization of the working classes and other laborors. The choice of humble materials elevates those stories that usually go unseen. Editor: And there’s a potent duality at play here. The elaborate costume implies celebration and spectacle. However, Berni's deconstructed form feels critical and even antagonistic towards the subject itself. The details make it grotesque. The artist used metal parts for a mask that represents a face. But who is the artwork making commentary on? Curator: Precisely. Berni frequently engaged with sociopolitical themes of industrialization, urbanization and its social consequences through his art, so that "El Matador" also invites critical questions regarding power dynamics within Latin American societies and systems of injustice and their potential effects. Editor: Viewing it from that perspective, this becomes more than just a portrait. It's a brutal critique of societal structures that permit such displays to occur. To wear a costume with a fabricated identity or character while masking an expression using waste says a lot about someone. Thank you, I really took away something important about this piece! Curator: You're most welcome. Hopefully, "El Matador" offers an avenue for dialogue, asking uncomfortable, but important, questions about society’s norms and their meaning.