Argentinian artist Martin Gordopelota, who we featured in our Fall 2018 issue, is currently running the last week of his solo show at Beta Sur Gallery in La Boca, Buenos Aires. Todo Roto (All Broken) once again shows the less glamorous, less reported about but more real side of football/soccer through a series of new paintings, flags, and both original and intervened pennants curated by Macarena Zimmermann.
Born and raised in Argentina, Gordopelota grew up with the popular game being pretty much the center of the world for most people around him. But unlike TV broadcasts of major games and magazine reports about the glamorous lifestyles of the likes of Messi or Ronaldo, the Buenos Aires-based artist is portraying the real side of "the most important of the least important things in life." Starring mostly overweight men and women in jerseys (also known as "gordopelotas," or fat balls), regularly adorned with beer bottles or cigarettes and marked with bad tattoos or bruises and cuts earned during matches, Gordopelota is putting his focus on amateur football culture. Stripped of any wealth, glamour or prestige, these images are filled with stories of failed success, frustration and wasted talent, a relatable story following the mainstream sport. Somewhat inspired by the artist's personal narrative and an injury that kept him away from playing, the paintings are the artist's excuse to talk about the body and its limits, fears, anxiety, passion, nostalgia and also his own contradictions. The rich compositions are built from often literal piles of Botero-like figure, dressed up in colorful jerseys showing with a more salacious and dark portion of street and sport culture. 
While most known for his paintings and murals, the installation of custom made flags and pendants is arguably the centerpiece of the exhibition. Gordopelota explained to Juxtapoz why these are so important: "Its one of those things I had thought for a long time about but I was too busy doing canvas paintings and never tried this. Im happy that I did now. There are a lot of classic Buenos Aires bars and restaurants that use as decoration all futbol related memorabilia. There is one in particular called El Banderin (The Pennant) that is full of this stuff, but all of it is related to all established Futbol Clubs and Institutions from around the world. That always reminds me of the most established part of futbol industry, instead of futbol fans heritage, even though this is what they are there for. So I thought about doing an install where I create some of my own pennants, related to what I really feel about the sport and my impossibility to play being a source of frustration a bit. I did the medium and big ones with the help of my friend Rosario Diaz), and also I drew and painted some stuff on top of existing vintage club pennants, as a way to say amateur culture is more important here than the club culture. That is not necessarily true but is what I like to think. I had some fun, it was like drawing mustaches on magazine ads, but a little bit more elaborated."
Martin Gordopelotta currently has works in a group shows at Richard Heller Gallery in LA as well as La Causa Galeria in Madrid, and has recently released a limited edition of 50 trophies in 3D cast and resin with Unique Board.
Photo credit by Catalina Romero
