Stumbling across Picasso in Resistencia

It appeared we would have to spend the night (and day) in Resisentica. Where is Resisentica exactly? Good question, it is the capital of the Chaco province, about 6 hours from Asuncion, Paraguay, heading south and west. As bus travel was significantly limited on Sunday in Paraguay, this was as far as we could get today, the veritable end of the line. Arriving at 22:15, while the last bus to our next destination, Salta, left at 19:00.

Oh well, looks like we get to explore an off the beaten track city for the day. One upside of these logistics, I get to watch most of the 2nd half of the Spurs/Heat Finals game. Nice to see a true team pull away from a collection of individuals.

As it turns out, we had a pretty mellow day in Resistencia. We slept in a bit and then went for a run around the town. Interestingly, the city is chock full of sculptures, there are more than 300 in total. We saw a healthy percentage of those, gathered around colonial squares, along pedestrian malls and in the mediums separating some not so grand boulevards. Having art immersed in the built environment lends an air of sophistication, and as a visitor is is enjoyable to have little gems reveal themselves. Several times throughout the day, I would notice a piece that I had missed when walking by the first, or second, or third time, revelatory not just in space, but in time as well.

Also during our run, there were protests around the main square of the city, with taxis blocking the roads into the square and in some cases causing nasty traffic jams. Traffic jams are annoying enough when they are solely caused by overcrowding on the road, I can only imagine the frustration I would feel at being gridlocked due to a protest. Through it all, the cabbies stood placidly around and smoked cigarettes, as if they were waiting for a fare. I was half tempted to go up to one and see if they would take me to a nearby city, which would have won: the protest or a juicy fare?

After showering up, we went to a local institution for a leisurely lunch. Hamberguesa completo (with eggs, ham, veg) and a pizza. It was cool to be in a spot that had zero tourist infrastructure and the food was quite good. Then, we wandered towards the cultural center, where we were shocked to stumble across a Picasso exhibition. The exhibition was very well done, and had over a hundred pieces, primarily lithographs. I was mentally transported to the Picasso museum in Barca, which was one of the best I have been to on this trip.

It was so surprising that this exhibit would be going on in this sleepy little town. On this very square a few hours ago where there was the rinky dink protest, while inside this museum are works by one of the most famous artist of the 20th century, if not the most. The exhibit is called 'Picasso en Chaco' and was an obvious point of pride for the people we met in the Cultural Center. As it should be.

It got me thinking about how many of these types of cultural gems must be taking place around the world? Surely many more than I, or anyone, can know. How many times have I driven by a museum that is hosting some engaging collection? How many times have I walked by a cultural center that is showing works by masters, or Calder sculptures or transcendent art that I have never heard of? It is also a reminder to not underestimate the quality of a cultural presentation due to its location. Great, amazing, wondrous art can and do happen in places small and seemingly far from the centers of the global art world.

Finally, we went up to the exhibition of the permanent collection, where i had the pleasure of an unexpected tour guide. A lovely older woman who works at the Cultural center took a liking to me and proceed to go through the collection piece by piece. It was fantastic practice for my spanish, made all the better because she did not dumb down the conversation so much that I felt stupid. We had a great time, for over an hour talking of Braque, the role of the Chaco region in the national art scene and evolutions and revolutions within the Argentina art world over the last 30 or so years. Great stuff and an interaction I will not soon forget.

Then it was time for a coffee and some wifi at the museum cafe before we headed back to the terminal and caught our bus onwards. A very nice day in a place we knew not of 3 days ago came to a close as we kept moving westward.

 

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