Ng, Suat Tong :: Europe and South America

El Aire Page 6

Artists: Alberto Breccia (All) , Guillermo Saccomanno (Writer)

4 Comments - 197 Views - 3 Likes

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Artwork Details

Title:	El Aire Page 6
Artist:	Alberto Breccia (All)
Artist:	Guillermo Saccomanno (Writer)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	197
Likes on CAF:	3 4
Comments:	4
Added to Site:	12/24/2023
Comic Art Archive:

Description

First published in Italy in 1977 and reprinted in Spain in 1979.
Thanks to Domingos for the details. [https://www.comicsbox.it/albo/ALTERLINUS_041]

From a paper by James Scorer in the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies.

"The short-story �El aire�, written by Guillermo Saccomanno, who also grew up in Mataderos, was first published in 1976 in the Italian magazine Linus, before being published in Spanish the following year. The story shows how the protagonist Marturano, released from prison after two decades following an armed robbery, returns to Mataderos to visit Delia, his former partner who was seemingly responsible for his capture. Mistakenly believing he is returning to take his revenge, the police shoot him dead at Delia�s house. These comics are set in cities rife with violence. That is unsurprising given that they were written within one of the most tumultuous periods in recent Argentine history, from just after the death of President Juan Domingo Per�n in July 1974, until the early years of the brutal military dictatorship that came to power in 1976 and which was responsible for the slaughter of some 30,000 Argentine citizens, not to mention the torture of innumerable others."

"At the time these comics were being created, Mataderos was continuing to be sliced up, not just by the political landscape of 1970s Argentina, but also by the socio-economic transformations of industrialisation and privatisation. In �El aire�, which is heavily reliant on a style of collage and the use of paper variously sliced or ripped by hand, blocks of black or white are set alongside photographs, such that the work moves between the documentary trace and layers of abstract fictionality. The precision of the scissor contrasts with the brute unpredictability of the rip, which adds depth and texture and which serves as a reminder of the way that the city itself is here increasingly comprised of ripped forms."

"In the final panel of the story, entirely comprised of ripped and cut paper, the chimneys and their smoke dominate this fragmented cityscape [Fig. 5]. �El aire�, therefore, captures very clearly the manner in which, by the time of the dictatorship, industrial expansion went hand-in-hand with state violence. Breccia�s artwork, which, through its paper cuts and tears, retains a sense of physical labour, is perhaps an attempt to retain a trace of the manual labour practices and the working bodies that shaped Mataderos. Just as they were being fragmented and erased, Breccia crafts an imaginary out of those fragments and acts of violence."

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About the Owner

	Suat Tong Ng
Joined:	March 2009
Last Login:	September 2025
Website:	http://hoodedutilitarian.com
Country:	SINGAPORE
On CAF:	Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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Comments on this Artwork

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Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 12/24/2023

Very moving sequence. Cries for death of a man, but also for the country he once knew. Maybe a cathartic experience for Breccia when creating this story.

Chris K.
Member Since 2008

Posted on 12/24/2023

I appreciate the notes on this one - it's a striking piece of art on a stand-alone basis, but the context you provide helps us understand the atmosphere that drove its creation and makes it such a unique, important, and powerful piece of art!

artless artmore
Member Since 2013

Posted on 12/24/2023

Awesome page! I'd love to see more use of collage in continuity art

Jeff Singh
Member Since 2004

Posted on 12/25/2023

Stunning Breccia. Even today, he would still be ahead of his time in terms of technique and agility in using the media. You Breccia collection is incredible.

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