StoreALEJANDRO KUROPATWA
(Buenos Aires, 1956-2003)
Alejandro Kuropatwa captured with his camera the spirit of an era, the Argentina of the post-dictatorship in the 80s and the Menemist excess of the 90s. Restless, charismatic and irreverent, he cultivated a personality that has been considered inseparable from his work.
After a brief stint at the Manuel Belgrano School of Fine Arts, he studied drawing and painting in the workshops of Jorge Dermijian and Oscar Smoje. In 1979 he settled in New York to study photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology followed by a Master's at the Parsons School of Design. In 1985 he returned to Buenos Aires where
he established his studio and portrayed countless personalities from the worlds of art, culture and rock.
Diagnosed with HIV / AIDS and faced with the certainty of an approaching death, in his early works he experimented with the possibilities of the photographic medium, crossed with a dramatic and self-referential weight. In 1996 with the advent of antiretroviral medication, he embarked on his series Cóctel (Cocktail), one of the first works to tackle the issue of AIDS head-on in Argentina. Since then, his images turned to color in large format, and acquired a more ironic tone.
Kuropatwa’s work has been exhibited both in Argentina and internationally, and is in the collection of the Museo de Arte Moderno, MALBA, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires; Museum of Modern Art in NY; Perez Art Museum in Miami, among others. In 2002 the National Museum of Fine Arts presented Manifesto, an extensive retrospective dedicated to his work. The following year he died in Buenos Aires.
Solo Exhibitions
1978 Kuropatwa, Galería Lirolay, Buenos Aires
1982 Alejandro Kuropatwa expone fotografías en el Estudio Giesso, Buenos Aires
1983 Come Celebrate the Human Beings Issue of Island Magazine. Photography Installation by
Alejandro Kuropatwa, and Live Entertainmwent Lucky Strike, New York
Kuropatwa. Centro de Arte y Comunicación (CAYC), Buenos Aires.
1984 Studio 54, New York
Alejandro Kuropatwa. Fotografías. Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires.
1986 Naturalezas Muertas, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires.
1988 Sólo Sonrisas, Fotogalería del Centro Cultural General San Martin, Buenos Aires.
Objetos Presidenciales. Presidencia de la Nación, Museo de la Casa Rosada, Buenos Aires.
1990 Treinta días en la vida de A., Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires. Tex.: Martha Nanni.
1991 Obra fotográfica, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires.
1992 Alejandro Kuropatwa Photographer. Exhibition: Appartement 402-404, 17 janvier. Hôtel
meurice, Paris.
Marcha Kuro Marcha, Galería del Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, Buenos Aires. . Tex.:
Laura Batkis.
1993 Alejandro Kuropatwa. Fotografías. Hugo Mujica. Poemas. Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos
Aires. Cur., tex.: Fernando Bustillo.
1994 ¿Dónde está Joan Collins? Galería del Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, Buenos Aires.
1995 Mi Amor. Galería del Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, Buenos Aires. Tex: María Moreno
1996 Cóctel. Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires. Tex.: Roberto Jacoby.
1997 Familia. Fotogalería del Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas. Tex.: Alberto Goldenstein
1998 Marie Antoinette. Alliance Française, Buenos Aires. Cur.: Sonia Becce
2001 Mujer. Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires. Tex.: Sofía Müller.
2002 Manifiesto. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. Cur: Jorge Glusberg
2005 Kuropatwa en Technicolor, MALBA-Fundación Constantini, Buenos Aires. Cur.: Andrés
Duprat
Awards and distinctions
1977 Salón Sociedad Hebraica Argentina. Nuevos Valores en Grabado. Mención Honorífica.
1977 Galería Altamira. Exposición del Museo Nacional del Grabado. Segundo premio de
Serigrafía.
1992 Fundación Konex. Diploma al Mérito en Artes Visuales-Fotografía.
V Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels, Cannes. Seleccionado.
1997 Premio Universidad de Palermo. Seleccionado.
1998 Premio Universidad de Palermo “Cultura Argentina para el Tercer Milenio”.
Seleccionado.
1999 Premio Leonardo en Fotografía, otorgado por el MNBA
2000 Premio Fundación Costantini. IV Edición. Seleccionado.
I Bienal Internacional de Arte de Buenos Aires. Seleccionado.
2001 Premio Fundación Banco Ciudad. Seleccionado.
2002 Premio Konex de Platino.
II Bienal Internacional de Arte de Buenos Aires. Seleccionado
Public collections
Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, Buenos Aires
MALBA - Fundación Costantini, Buenos Aires.
Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires.
Museo Casa Rosada, Buenos Aires
Museo Castagnino+Macro, Rosario.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Neuquén.
Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Franklin Rawson, San Juan.
Perez Art Museum, Miami
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Nueva York