Biography
Born October 10th, 1954 under the sign of Libra with Cancer rising, moon in Leo. His parents are painters like other members of its family. Since an early age he participates in meetings with poets, composers, writers and painters. During his childhood he takes piano and oboe lessons, studies harmony and musical compositition. In 1971 he enters the Escuela de Bellas Artes Manuel Belgrano. In 1980 he settles in New York. His son Guido is born. In 1981, he exhibits colectivelly in NY for the first time. He meets Keith Haring, Francesco Clemente, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Carl André and others. In 1982 he does his first individual exhibition in the US. He is invited by Rómulo Macciò to exhibit his work in the frame of an exhibition called "Pintura Fresca" (Fresh Paint). In 1984, her daughter Tiziana is born. He exhibits in the Galería del Buen Ayre, Buenos Aires. He starts living between Buenos Aires and New York until 1988. In 1985 he is commissioned by Alejandro Furlong to paint the "Narciso" (Narcissus) mural series. He participates in the XVIII Sao Paulo Art Biennial with USA. In 1986 he finishes Furlong's murals. Exhibits his work with Prior's in Ruth Benzacar. In 1987 he presents his works "El matadero" (The Slaughterhouse) and "Narciso" (Narcissus) in the Centro Cultural Recoleta. In 1988 he wins the 1st prize given by the Fundación Fortabat. He is invited by Alfredo Prior to take part in the Grupo Periferia next to Osvaldo Monzo and Pablo Suárez. In 1989 he is selected as the Argentine representative at the XX Sao Paulo Art Biennial, together with Kuitca and Hlito. Exhibits in Costa Rica's Museo Nacional de Arte, and individually in Ruth Benzacar (Buenos Aires). Her mother Minerva dies. In 1990 he meets Maggie de Koenigsberg. He exhibits in the Galería OMG (Mexico City). In 1991 dies his father, Osvaldo Pierri. In 1992 he marries Maggie de Koenigsberg. He is invited by Marcia Schvartz to take part in the an exhibition called "La Conquista" (The Conquest). He exhibits next to Juan Pablo Renzi and Eugenio Cuttica in the "Gran Formato" (Large Format) exhibition at the MAM. In 1993 he organizes, next to Marcia Schvartz and Felipe Pino the meetings at the CC Rojas. He is surprised by the amount of people that finally attends, and the repercussion such encounters have. He organizes, together with Fontanet, Coco Bedoya and Garófalo the soccer matches with painters. The team includes Jorge Macchi, Pablo Siquier, Fabio Kacero, Eduardo Iglesias Brickles, Sebastián Gordón and many others. The Titanium Club is founded, with Noé, Wells, León Ferrari and others. He wins the Manuel Belgrano award. In 1994 he does, with Eduardo Stupía, Víctor Grippo, León Ferrari, Marcia Schvartz, Jorge Pirozzi and others "Juncal Arte Contemporáneo". He starts developing his landscape paintings. In 1996 he exhibits in the "Sangre italiana" (Italian blood) exhibition (MAMBA, Buenos Aires). After this exhibition, he decides to dedicate exclusively to paint landscapes. In 1997 he does his first landscape painting exhibition, invited by Alejandro Furlong. It is not well received by the critics. Squirru writes a favourable review. During the opening vernissage, Teresa Anchorena invites him to do an individual exhibition at the Centro Cultural Recoleta's “C” hall, curated by Raúl Santana. In 1998 he continues with his landscape series. In 2003 he is invited by the Fundación Banco Ciudad to organize three exhibitions. He suggests and does the exhibitions called "Manos en la masa" (Hands in the cookie jar); "Homenaje a Luis Centurión" (Hommage to Luis Centurión); and "Homenaje a Luis Frangella (Hommage to Luis Frangella). In 2004 he exhibits at the Elía-Robirosa Foundation. In 2005 he visits Cerro Colorado.
Vision of art
1. Choose a work that represents you, describe it in relation to its format and materiality, its relation with time and space, its style and theme; detail its production process.
Matrix, 2003. Oil on canvas, 120 x 90cm. While seating in a bar I see a poster that I don't quite make out, though I'm attracted by its colours and composition. I see a green forest. I come closer, it's a poster from the Matrix movie. What I thought as trunks were actually waterfalls of numbers. I decided to paint my own Matrix. This time it is a forest.
2. In general terms, how would you suggest to approach your work?
I suggest not to read it at all, but introducing the viewer using the cognitive methods of the old witchcraft.
3. In reference to your work and your position in the national and international art fields, what tradition do you recognize yourself in? Who are your contemporary referents? What artists of previous generations are of interest to you?
My contemporaries references are Australian natives. The idea of contemporaneousness doesn't sound very scientific to me. I feel propelled by the ancestral forces of tradition. But within the history of Art as we know it, I recognize myself as a part of the romantic-expressionist tradition. I'm interested in what's timeless. That tradition goes back to chamanism in art. Art as a way of recognizing what's essential. It's a totalizing, cosmogonic and political tradition. I feel myself very connected to non-western traditions. Occident would be Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. In Argentina, that would be the line that goes through Quinquela Martín, Berni, Luis Centurión and De La Vega.
4. Choose works or exhibitions from the last ten or fifteen years which in your opinion were very significant and explain why
The 'comechingones' paintings on the mountainsides of the Cerro Colorado. Leopoldo Presas' exhibition in Rubbers (2005). The last exhibition by Macciò in the CC Recoleta. Grippo's exhibition in Benzacar. A painting by Prior, during his 2004 exhibition done at Principium, and another one that I saw in Van Riel. The visits and discussions we kept with Lozza in his studio. A painting by Berni depicting a butcher's shop that I saw in Galería Sur, ArteBA. Xul Solar's good paintins. Some paintings by Norah Borges (MALBA). Marcia Schvartz's "Taliban" and her exhibition done in Galería Agalma. All the works I had to select for "Hands in the cookie jar", Pre Columbian Andean art at the MNBA, Norberto Gómez in Maman, Eduardo Iglesias in the Museo Sívori. Anyway, there are exhibitions that have marked me for ever and do not involve Argentine artists neither they've happened less that 15 years ago. An exhibition by De Chirico and another one by Max Ernst in Paris, 1975. An exhibition by Macciò in the Instituto Di Tella and another one by Leopoldo Presas. I remember contemplating a Rembrandt painting in Sao Paulo. A dried up sunflower by Van Gogh in the Met: it was a small painting, but it suddenly turned into a nuclear reactor, and the painting started coming alive in front of me. Ravenna's mosaics. Picasso's retrospectiva at the MOMA (1980): this retrospective exhibition had a profound effect within NY's art back then. Other works are Macchu Picchu's eagle and Van Eyck's Mystic Lamb, in Ghent.
5. What tendencies or groupings from common elements do you see in argentine art of the last ten or fifteen years?
I intuitively perceive that there are common elements within Argentine art (when talking about easel and muralist painting), but that these have not been decoded yet. These elements go beyond style. I see a continuity in the work of Cándido López, Vitullo, Guttero, Xul Solar, Lozza, Presas, Macciò, Heredia, Mena, Luis Centurión, etc. And this continuity that I sense has not yet been unravelled by any conceptual theory that defines it. I still think that Argentine art has to be looked through from its beginning, dating around the year 9500 b.C. Grouping that together with the colonial period, the immigrations, etc., we might be able to unravel what it is now intuitively perceived. The timeline of Argentine art goes through the language of essentialness, atavism, expressionism, romanticism, connected to the strongest traditions of human spirit. It's a place where a forceful vision of humanity is being shaped, but this has not yet reverberated in the international scene.
