De la vanguardia artística a la música popular

Abstract

El artista visual argentino Jorge de la Vega (1930-1971) pensaba que las formas, las sonoridades y los lenguajes de la canción popular moderna constituían un medio expresivo muy potente. Con sus propias canciones, irreverentes y divertidas, el artista buscó rebasar el ámbito del Instituto Di Tella, las galerías de arte y los cenáculos de la crítica. Si el <i>zeitgeist</i> de la década del 60 fue el ánimo rebelde y transgresor, la manera que Jorge de la Vega eligió para cuestionar el establishment cultural de su tiempo consistió en situar en un pie de igualdad la vanguardia plástica y la canción popular. En definitiva, al preguntarnos por Jorge De la Vega en su doble vertiente de artista plástico y cantautor pop nos proponemos abordar un aspecto fundamental de la vida cultural de la década de los años 60 en la Argentina.

Argentine graphic artist Jorge de la Vega (1930-1971) had frequently thought about contemporary popular music, its style, language and the artistic resonance of this form of expression. Albeit a painter, his fascination with this new and powerful art form led him to compose his own music. The outcome was successful, and his songs –with lyrics that showed an original and humorous spiritmanaged to avoid constrains from the cultural patronage embodied by the Institute TorcuatoDi Tella. The Zeitgeist of the 1960s was shifting from rebellions and transgressions to nastier forms. It was necesary to create new strategies against the cultural establishment. After studying the relation between artistic avant-garde and popular culture, Jorge De la Vega began to develop both fields in terms of equality, treating them under the same conceptual status. De la Vega as a singer-songwriter and at the same time as an avant-garde performer presents us the ideal panorama for the study of the arts and the cultural scene of the Sixties in Argentina).