Santiago and the arts or how I see my adoptive city

It's kind of easy to talk about Santiago related to the arts. Not precisily 'cause chilean culture attributes the importance I wish it has but because this city is the capital of the country and it concentrates the mayority of important national art centers. Regardless of all the museums and art galleries that exists in the city, a beautiful way to give a lecture to this big city streets is through all the muralism and street art that contains, mainly because I specialize in painting techniques.

I'll start talking about the Barrio Lastarria area, that is for excelence a typical and very popular district of downtown. Well-designed streets, good gastronomy and a classical architecture mixed with more contemporary buildings. Historically, this neighborhood was established as an intellectual center, home of artists like Nemesio Antúnez, Camilo Mori and even Salvador Allende lived there for a period.

 

The 'making of' of the mural designed
by Mono González located at the outside 
of the metro station
with a contemporary BRP style.

Walking through the streets, you can find murals and graffitis of very different types and sizes, from recognized people and from anonymous authors . I have to talk about my favorite that was recently made: the Mono González's mural out of the Bellas Artes metro station. I will mention a lot to this artist, so I will talk briefly about him. Alejandro González is a chilean artist, painter and muralist who was a part of the BRP (Brigada Ramona Parra) and worked with this group for many years, at the Salvador Allende's presidential campaing and during his government. This is crucial to understand his artwork that is mostly influenced by socialist thematic and the BRP esthetic.

Now, it's turn to the riverside of the Mapocho, that has become in an informal gallery to many graffiti artists and muralists. The river crosses an important number of communes, as Providencia, Santiago and Recoleta, that is the area that I will talk about. In 2016 at the south side of the river an urban art festival was made, called ''Festival La Puerta del Sur'', with artists from different countries invited to participate, even Mono González. My favorite of all is made by Aner and Tikay, two muralists that work with latin american native culture and their resistance. It represents a mestizo woman in a dress made of oriental banana leaves.

Sammy Benmayor
© Andrea Manuschevich for
Plataforma Urbana

Something that has always caught my attention is how people who live in Santiago and move all day from one place to another, never stop to look and appreciate the artwork they have just around the corner. Many of metro stations are full of art of recognized artists as the mural called 'Declaración de amor' of the artist Sammy Benmayor made in 1999, located at the  Baquedano metro station. 

''Vida y trabajo'' of Mono González.
© Andrea Manuschevich for Plataforma Urbana.

Another of my favorites of all times is the mural made by Mono González inside the Parque Bustamante metro station, a big proportions artwork (more than 233 meters), titled 'Vida y trabajo'. The mural took 9 months to be done and represents the history of social movements. The very complex techniques that González used to build this artwork makes me observe with detention every time I am in this station. It is constructed with 92 panels!    

Details of the mural

Roberto Matta traveled to Chile in 1971 to give their support to the first year of the government of Salvador Allende and the UP (popular unit). In this trip, he painted a mural at the public pool of La Granja, together with the Brigada Ramona Parra, with Mono González among its members. The mural is called ''El primer gol del pueblo chileno'' and it has 24 meters long. But it only lasted 3 years in exhibition. After the military coup of 1973, the mural was erased under many layers of paint to hide all traces of its existence. It was rediscovered in 2005 and finally restored in 2007. Now it's located under the walls of the cultural center 'Espacio Matta', built in 2009.

                                      

                                      

                                   

''Integración'' by Mono González and Seth.
Departamental Avenue.

Finally, I'm going to talk about the 'Museo a cielo abierto' of San Miguel, an open-air museum of street art and muralism that use the walls of the buildings and houses from San Miguel. There are about fifty murals made by national and international artists, that are displayed in different streets of the commune, the main theme is the rescue of local memory. Alejandro González participated and was the art direction manager of this project. Some of my favorites are the mural of Inti called ''resignación'' and located in the Tristán Matta street. And, obviously, the one that made Mono González. Actually, two, one of them in collaboration with Seth, titled ''Integración''. The other is just of González and it' called ''Los habitantes'' in Departamental avenue. A big and powerful iniciative that brings art near from everyday environments of people, open to anyone, and that I strongly think that this should be replicated in all cities of the country.

''Los habitantes'' by Alejandro ''Mono'' González

Knowing Santiago from this perspective allowed me to love the city, that is an explosive chaos from someone who lives outside of it, in a place a lot smaller than the country's capital.

''Resignación'' by Inti.
Tristán Matta St.