BUENOS AIRES — Tourists browse a street market in Buenos Aires, where artist Gustavo Ferrari is hard at work painting signs.
He’s working in the traditional style known as “fileteado porteno” – an eye catching local craft.
Its bright colours, distinctive lettering and flowery drawings make unique presents for locals and foreigners alike.
Ferrari says his work is growing in popularity as a romantic gift for a partner.
“I have made many paintings as presents for couples or engaged people with the wedding date. I once made wedding cards for a couple from Northern Ireland. The guy proposed to his girlfriend when they were travelling here (in Buenos Aires). Six months later, they wrote to me from Ireland asking me to design the wedding invitations. I then emailed them everything.”
Gustavo’s paintings cost between 250 pesos (?17 US dollars) for a small sign, to 1,500 pesos (?105 US dollars) for more elaborate pieces with three-dimensional perspectives.
UNESCO declared fileteado part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2015.
Art critics started paying attention to this style of art in the 1970s, when Spanish painter Nicolas Rubio and Argentine artist Esther Barugel exhibited a collection of fileteado works for the first time.
Ricardo Pinal Villanueva, the Director of the City Museum, says the style is special because it was originally created by people who did not have any classical artistic training.
“(Fileteado Porteno) is an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity specifically because it has enabled us to learn about artists and above all the first ones who didn’t have any academic training. It’s amazing to see how important the role of (the Catalan Nicolas) Rubio was, a painter who analysed theory. In the 1970s, he analysed (fileteado) artworks in an exhibition, like the composition scheme and colour metrics. How strange is it that a cultural practice (like fileteado) is so technically sophisticated. UNESCO preserves the way of doing things so that it doesn’t get lost.”
The style of painting has attracted students from all walks of life to the studio of Aquiles Ducet, a professor at the National University of Arts in Buenos Aires.
His apprentices are eager to learn the painting technique to make tender gifts for their loved ones.
“If you have a lover or just someone you like very much and to whom you want to make a gift for Valentine’s Day, is great. You can paint a sign with his or her name, or with a dedicated love sentence. I am sure that the other person will like it a lot,” says Georgina Clur, a student.
Italian immigrants brought this style of painting to South American soil in the 20th century.
It was originally used to adorn buses, trucks and cars.
“What stirs my foreign students’ attention is the technique and above all, the way of managing volumes. This is linked to what is called ‘trompe-l’œil’, which is a trick. It is a painting technique historically taught in Beaux-Arts schools. This is what fileteado painting is about: lights, shadows and volumes. People are very interested in this (form of painting) as it adds up to the classical elements of fileteado painting, namely dragons, dolphins, fantasy animals, horses, birds, flowers and acanthus leaves,” Ducet says.
Despite it’s growing popularity, major art schools in Argentina such as the Beaux-Arts still don’t teach the style of fileteado.
Aficionados need to attend classes in cultural centres.
But back at the San Telmo fair, plenty of American, European and Asian tourists are falling for filete porteno artworks at first sight.
This video was produced exclusively for The Associated Press on February 22, 2016. Click here to watch it.
