La última cena argentina. Asado eN Mediolaza (2001)
Marcos López
ARG
Photography

La última cena argentina (The Argentinean Last Supper) is, as Marcos López calls it, an “Argentinean version” of the iconic image of Christian religious culture – the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Twelve Apostles. Mingling the Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper with Velásquez The Drunkers, López re:creates the founding scene of Christianity, into what could be called the founding moment of “Argentinity”. Hence, the austere Last Supper represented by Da Vinci is replaced by a sumptuous table, loaded of meat – beef, piglet, and sausages, barbecued – with red wine, beer and bread in abundance. This is a meal of community gathering, of hospitality and friendship – the “last Argentinean asado”, as some critics called it. About his artistic work, and this piece, López states: “I am always interested that my work speaks about the texture of underdevelopment. [...] I try that my works bears the suffering and poorness of America mestiza.” (Marcos López apud “Marcos López – El pop latino: El hombre y la sirenita”
[http://revistanuestramirada.org/galerias/marcoslopez])

Marcos Lopez was born in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina, in 1958. Toward the end of the 70s he studied engineering for several years and began selftaught, to learn photography. In 1982 he moved to Buenos Aires, where he continued his training. He became actively involved in group activities with colleagues and artists from other disciplines. In 1986 he was a member of the first group of foreign grantees at the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba, where he studied for a year and a half. In 1993 he won the First Prize of the Andy Goldstein Foundation, with a grant to finish his portraits in black and white and the publication of a book. Marcos Lopez-fotografias (Buenos Aires, La Azotea, 1993) At that point he began this series in color.

At present he lives in Buenos Aires, working as a photographer and director of independent videos. He has been involved in painting and photo-journalism as well as art and photographic direction for television commercials. In the various stages of its development, the series POP LATINO was exhibited at the I.C.I. (Spain’s Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, 1993); at the show "Romper las Margenes" (Breaking the Boundaries) at the Alejandro Otero Museum (Caracas, 1994); at the Rojas Cultural Center’s Photogallery in the University of Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, 1996); at the International Encounters in Arles (France, 1996) as an audiovisual presentation; at the Banco Patricios Foundation (Buenos Aires, 1997); at the Museum of Modern Art, Caracas where he won the"Josune Donrronsoro Photographic Acquisition First Prize" (1997); at the show "Romper los Margenes" in the Santa Monica Art Center (Barcelona, 1997); at the Museum of Modern Art Bahia Blanca (Province of Buenos Aires, 1998), in the Fine Arts Circle (Madrid, 1999) as part of the exhibition "In Praise of Passion" within Photoespana 99; at the exhibition "Myths, Dreams and Realities, Contemporary Argentine Photography" in the International Center of Photography (New York, 1999); and at the Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires to accompany the publication of this book