2024-05-07 03:01:00
Is there any doubt left? For Marina Olmi, none. Neither the situation that Argentina is going through nor the historical figures of the country who should be references to redirect the course. Nor does he doubt the spiritual and artistic path that society has ahead of it. That is why he proposes again a exhibition of his paintings around the figure of Eva Perón. This time the appointment is in Evita Workers Museum (Av. 51 No. 417, between streets 3 and 4, La Plata) this Tuesday the 7th at 6 p.m.. There you can see, among others, his works “Malvinas Argentinas”, “Eva y el Mundo”, “Eva en su aerolíneas Argentinas ship”, “Evita el Mar del Plata”, “Socorro”, “La Secretaria”, “El Origin” and “The Renaissance”.
Olmi went to Europe when he was very young and returned a few years ago to his homeland, with the intention of contributing from his visual artist’s perspective to a collective and Peronist idea of Argentina. Since then, his paintings dedicated to Evita – also to Juan Domingo Perón and Néstor Kirchner, to a lesser extent – have traveled through different spaces, while relocating their figures-characters to different environments. Three years ago his name circulated in the media due to a twist of fate: the then vice president Cristina Fernández gave Lula da Silva – then re-elected president of Brazil – a painting by Olmi.
-What was the curatorial criteria for Is there any doubt left??
-The criterion was to feel and think about the moment we are going through now and which are the best Evas that can give spaces for us to talk about everything that each painting tells. Paintings that have to do with things that would be useful and beautiful to talk to people about, or capable of awakening in people something to think about. And if it is not thought or spoken, it does not matter: it is felt in the body.
-Why were you interested in presenting these particular paintings?
-Because they represent me too. It is my contribution, it is what I know how to do and I believe it helps others. That makes me happy, it gives me meaning.
-You point out the moment that the country is going through. What is your personal view on the political situation?
-I think that we are for the first time in our lives facing a difficulty that breaks our schemas and beliefs. It is desperate, it paralyzes us, it scares us because with the tools we know we cannot find a way to solve and that disperses us instead of uniting us. I don’t think it’s (Javier) Milei, he’s just the face of the darkness behind! This reality forces us to rethink ourselves and see ourselves as humanity, the only species on the planet that destroys, that lives without respect for others or for the earth with the desire to take over and destroy, far from the deep sense of who we are. Humanity should unite in a single fight. They have us separated and the worst thing is that we feel separated, believe that movie. The time has come to understand that we are all equal and thus we can confront all the dark structures that run the world. The true economic power that is in charge.
-The proposal of the figures in your paintings is at the antipodes of this government, right?
-This government is unpresentable! I have no words! I feel shame and pain. It’s what the people voted for! That’s the craziest thing! We have to go back to the past to reach the future. The native peoples knew it and they killed them all. These people destroy everything that is good without any respect for life and without any vocation to do good.
-How do you see the situation of art, given these circumstances?
-Art is fundamental in the history of each people, it is memory, it educates, it builds identity. As an artist and person, the sadness is enormous due to the abandonment we suffer. Of course it is a weapon to dominate us and prevent us from evolving, but personally I feel that it is a challenge and opportunity to grow, to access a higher place with my intuition, to continue creating a truth with pain and love, in the artistic form. let it come out