NOTA | ARTICLE
León Ferrari was a controversial artist since the beginning of his production. A lot was said about his work, for instance, one of the most polemic actions was to present a work at the Di Tella institute in1965, Occidental and Christian Civilization, which finally wasn’t exhibited for being considered offensive. Nowadays that work still has a strong impact and gains meaning according to history mutation. Hated and admired artist, he took up exile in Brazil during the dictatorship, to return to his country in the 1980s. His production was always oriented towards revealing social injustice and intolerance. Over 10 years ago Ferrari achieved national and international fame, through the participation in many Biennials and by winning the Golden Lion at Venice Biennial in 2007. But our intention is not to transform this article into another biographical note about the Great León Ferrari, that’s why we leave you with the words of his friend and collaborator, Fernando Brizuela. — At the end of July, a few days ago, León Ferrari died, a great and admirable artist in many senses. I write these lines grateful of having the opportunity of being his friend, one of the many people that visited him during the last 10 years. I met him while I was collaborating with him in the realization of some specific works and exhibitions, working at his studio and organizing independent exhibition projects in which he always participated in a generous and altruistic way. My relationship with León was born in 2003 when, together with the artists Mariano Dal Verme and Beto De Volder we were coordinating a space for exhibitions at the hairdresser Vol-3 and also had a parallel collecting project in our staging office at the MALBA Museum. At both initiatives León disinterestedly participated, this way an indissoluble bond started. I worked with him the following year, at the huge retrospective exhibition of the Centro Cultural Recoleta, at that opportunity I had the opportunity of rebuilding an aquarium from the beginning of the ninetieths where two Mexican aquatic salamanders known as axolotls lived, amphibians that during the exhibition were fed with meat, small fishes and shrimps. 29