The sample “Federico Klemm. Illuminator of myths” at the Recoleta Cultural Center recovers the figure of one of the most unique, provocative and unclassifiable characters in Argentine culture. Plastic artist, collector, performer, television host, opera fan, gallery owner and patronturned his own image into a work in permanent construction and left a mark that far exceeds the field of visual arts.
The exhibition allows us to get closer to the complex artistic construction of the multifaceted creator and revisit the legacy of a figure who, between fascination and controversy, anticipated contemporary debates on identity, performance and visual culture. More than a nostalgic evocation, the proposal seeks to put his creative universe in dialogue with the sensibilities of the present.
Itinerary of an artist
The ninety works are divided into three cores that cover the relationship with Rosa, his mother, the passion for opera and the stage. A second series is dedicated to digital photomontages of the biblical figures of Samson and Delilah. Finally, it is the turn of the telecrystal universe where homoerotic scenes are explored camouflaged between images of stars or planets about to collide.
The tour includes own photos with personalities such as Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, Mirtha Legrand and Susana Giménez. Among the items on display is a gold corduroy armchair that belonged to the Parisian apartment of the legendary opera singer María Callas, the striking three-piece suit made of python skin that was part of the wardrobe of the famous Rudolf Nuréyeva piece of furniture designed by the artist Edgardo Giménez and even an exchange of letters with the African-American dancer Sylvester Campbell of the Dutch National Ballet, whose dance shoes can also be seen.
Curated by the art historian Federica Baeza, the artist and architect Guadalupe Chirotarrab and the artist Santiago Villanueva, The exhibition, a co-production with the KLEMM Foundation, proposes a journey through the multiple facets of an exponent of the visual arts who challenged aesthetic and social conventions.
Origins
Klemm was born on March 25, 1942 in the city of Liberec, in the former Czechoslovakia, during the German occupation. His mother was Rosa Marechek and his father was the German industrialist Federico José Klemm. Years ago, the artist attributed to Rosa, someone with deep sensitivity who told him the stories of “The Thousand and One Nights” every day, the legacy of a passion that would not be extinguished until the end of his life, on November 27, 2002.
“Klemm lived a complex relationship with an authoritarian father who reviled him as an artist. When his father died, he finally managed to take over the family fortune and the last ten years of his life began in which he deployed all his initiatives. It is very important to note that in Klemm’s case a typical topic of the queer community is present, which is the bond with mothers. It is interesting to explore these relationships, even in the series in which he reproduced Rosa’s funeral. And to see those personal, but also public stories in a contemporary light. and artistic. In that sense, his work is also a historical testimony, a heritage of Buenos Aires culture,” says Federica Baeza.
Upon completing his secondary studies, attracted by the various expressive forms, made contact with the Torcuato Di Tella Institute where he interacted with figures such as Edgardo Giménez, Marta Minujín, Jorge and Marta Romero Brest, Nicolás García Uriburu, Mildred Burton, Dalila Puzzovio and Luisa Mercedes Levinson, among others. When Di Tella closed in 1970, he moved those interventions to art galleries and alternative spaces.
Recent years
Starting in 1990, he began to exhibit his works in the same area where this exhibition is held today, in the Centoira Gallery, the Palais de Glace and the Borges Cultural Center. In the international sphere, his work was exhibited at the Flak Gallery, in Paris; at the Palazzo Bandera, in Milan and at Monti Associazione Culturale, in Rome.
In 1992, he opened the Klemm Contemporary Art Gallery with the aim of disseminating national and international art. There he presented works by Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Pat Andrea, Fernando Botero, Roberto Matta, Christo and Carlo Maria Mariani. Also the work of prominent local representatives such as Rómulo Macció, Yuyo Noé, Roberto Aizenberg, Antonio Berni, Oscar Bony, Ernesto Deira and Humberto Rivas, among others.
Two years later, in collaboration with the art critic Carlos Espartaco, he began broadcasting a series of videos on art topics titled “The Telematic Banquet,” several of which can be seen on his foundation’s website. The programs covered special cycles of art history, among which those dedicated to conceptual art, installations, high art, kitsch, women in art history, the ’60s, postmodernism, pop art, etc. stand out.
In 1995, the foundation that bears his name was created, a space for his collection to have public visibility, open to the community, with a program of temporary exhibitions, dedicated to the dissemination of heritage and the promotion of young artists.
The legacy
“Almost 25 years after his death, there are important issues to be addressed. He is a figure that can be seen from many different lenses. He participated in what was called the Menemist culture, the implementation of neoliberalism and was an active part of the media in that cultural scenario. What he showed in art was the possibility of another way of life, different from that of the nuclear family. In that sense, his figure (I am sure) greatly influenced generations like mine. I believe that in this exhibition there is the possibility of linking it with new generations that will continue to make this heritage always something different and something new connected to the contingency of the present,” concludes Federica.
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