I had a fruitful six weeks in Argentina and Chile on my RSA Blackadder Houston Mid-career Travel Award. My plan was to see how Magic Realism affected contemporary Latin American art and my own.
I didn’t want to rush about seeing everything in these two enormous countries but nor did I want to concentrate on only just a few areas, knowing it was unlikely I would be back. In the end, I planned an itinerary that took in five areas, spending time in each. This seemed like a good balance. Although I had a rough plan, I kind of made things up as I went along, often changing my mind and booking things at the last moment. I felt I only just scratched the surface. There were some disappointments, of course, but many wonderful surprises.
I spent eleven days in Buenos Aires and the nearby delta and that is where I met most artists and saw the most interesting exhibitions. I joined a local sketching group twice, visited the studios of two painters, including Gabriella Genovès, attended an opening and saw a range of historical and contemporary art. I didn’t see a particular influence of Magic Realism but found that much of the art was quite similar to European Art and that a lot of it was also quite political. Any sense of magical realism was more in the street life, impromptu tango dancing, street markets and murals.
Then I headed up to the north of Argentina in search of something less European. I was very moved by the Museum of High Altitude Archaelogy in Salta where I drew the grave goods buried with three sacrificed Inca children. The provinces of Salta and Jujuy are largely indigenous and there I went on some walks and tours to multi-coloured mountains, salt flats and local markets. I continued sketching in my concertina sketchbooks, adding landscape elements to compliment the urban drawings done in the capital.
After that, I crossed the border into Chile on a long bus journey and spent some time in the desert. I had never been to a desert before and was keen to witness some different colours and shapes.
Then I took an internal flight down to Santiago, the capital of Chile. I spent all day in the fantastic Pre-Columbian museum where I sketched many artefacts from all over South America that were strange to me. I found that delving into the history of both Argentina and Chile gave me more insight into the blurring between fact and fiction. I also visited the three Pablo Neruda houses in Santiago, Valparaiso and Isla Negra and enjoyed sketching his strange collections of objects. I found it interesting reading his poetry and a novel by Isabel Allende in Spanish whilst I was there. Santiago and, especially, Valparaiso are full of colourful street art. I met one English artist there but other contacts with Chilean artists fell through and several of the museums and galleries were closed. I would have needed several weeks there to find out more about the contemporary art scene. I can, however, do further research online.
After the city, I headed down to the Lake District region in search of some greenery! I visited three national parks where I saw lakes and forests of monkey puzzle trees. I even climbed an active volcano. It is also an indigenous area and I visited a museum of Mapuche history and artefacts which was fascinating.
I filled eight concertina sketchbooks in all, using water-based coloured pencils and ink pens. I like the format of these books because it is easy to fold them in different ways and see how different images juxtapose.
Throughout, I met many interesting people, both local and other travellers. Everyone was interested in me being an artist and keen to see what I do. I am very grateful that I learned Spanish when I was young as it was a great pleasure being able to converse and it gave me a sense of belonging.
Travelling in Argentina and Chile was quite different to the kind of travelling I have done before. I found them both quite chaotic and at times very frustrating. There was a lot of difficulty getting money out, connecting to the internet and getting a phone signal. Things were often closed when they were supposed to be open and twice my accommodation was double boked! I did, however, always feel safe and found the locals extremely helpful. The whole experience of travelling is a bit like painting –having a rough plan, changing it, making it up, overcoming difficulties, being open to surprises. There was definitely a kind of magic and realism to each day. It is this, more than anything, that will influence whatever paintings I do next. I am grateful to the RSA for giving me the Blackadder Houston Mid-career Travel Award.
