Detail of Jorge Rafael Videla, 2018. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm

10/Operación Cóndor

12 works | oil on canvas | 2017–2020

Twelve portraits of the protagonists of Operation Condor, the plan of coordinated repression among the dictatorships of the Southern Cone in the 1970s: six Latin American dictators and six presidents of the United States.

Cubism provides the structure, Expressionism the drawing and pop the colour: tones that draw the eye in and, once inside, give way to mouths, teeth and forms that are impossible to look at without a shudder.

Jorge Rafael Videla, 2018. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Jorge Rafael Videla*2018 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Juan M. Bordaberry, 2018. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Juan M. Bordaberry*2018 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Augusto Pinochet, 2018. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Augusto Pinochet*2018 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Alfredo Stroessner, 2018. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Alfredo Stroessner*2018 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Humberto Castelo Branco, 2018. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Humberto Castelo Branco*2018 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Hugo Banzer Suárez, 2018. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Hugo Banzer Suárez*2018 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

John F. Kennedy, 2020. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *John F. Kennedy*2020 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Nixon, 2020. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Nixon*2020 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Carter, 2020. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Carter*2020 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Ronald Reagan, 2020. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Ronald Reagan*2020 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Eisenhower, 2020. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Eisenhower*2020 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Gerald Ford, 2020. Oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm — *Gerald Ford*2020 · Oil on canvas · 97 × 130 cm

Artist's text

About the series

My Argentine origins, my Latin American roots and my commitment to human rights and against social injustice are what led me to portray this dark period of Latin American history, so that it is not forgotten.

We need to give future generations the tools to become aware, so that history does not repeat itself.

To convey so many events, emotions, victims, feelings and so much suffering, I decided to mix three schools: Cubism for the structure, Expressionism for the drawing and the line, and pop art for the use of colour. With this mix of schools, what I want is to catch the viewer through colours that are quite unusual for expressing this kind of emotion.

And once they are caught, once they are inside the work, it is the forms that make them shudder and feel all the horror of that period.

The best way to honour its victims and to condemn the dictators for their war crimes is to keep memory alive.

Works

Artist's text

About the series