I giusti

I giusti

Watercolor on paper.

21x17 cm.

2024.

"I giusti", translated from Italian as "the righteous", is a small-format work found in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, and which belongs to the painter Augusto Ferrari, father of the renowned artist León. It is a very small but interesting work, which impacted me from the first day I saw it. I was very young when I saw it for the first time, and had not even begun my formal painting studies. The detail of that work is captivating, as is the mastery of the technical execution. But that work does not remain just a pictorial resource but rather suggests several things, and perhaps for those reasons I think it is so captivating. First of all, because it addresses the issue of poverty, of the poor's food, sparse, frugal, with the minimum; Second because it deals with the issue of old age. Poverty and old age together give shape to the atmosphere of desperation that surrounds the work. That desperation of those who, without resources, also lack the means. I believe that the work, although old, is not anachronistic: today poverty and old age are clear signs of exclusion. But there is one more thing, and it is what is indicated in its title: "the righteous." At that point I understand that destiny is being referred to as the destiny of many people who follow the righteousness of their hearts. I think that is the central point, why I decided to make some versions of the song. The world today (and it seems in the author's time as well) is one of people with biased hearts. The liar, the ruffian, the one who does not keep his promises or perhaps dedicates himself to evil, are the people who have the greatest chances of success in a world that favors the exploitation of man by man. Poverty, old age and justice: three pillars on which the work of which I will generate a series, since I believe that a single approach to the topic is not enough to cover such a density of concepts.