A myth, a legend, a time? The social construction of exceptionality in the case of the artist, clown-travesti-literary, Batato Barea

Abstract

In Buenos Aires in the 1980s, a countercultural movement made its way at the ends of the military dictatorship and the years of democratic spring, when a certain repressive inertia still persisted. From the dark basements emerged a so-called underground that involved artistic disciplines such as dance, performance, live painting, theater, poetry and even video art and other forms of expression. Batato Barea, who defined himself as a clown-travesti and literary, was a ubiquitous and catalys figure of the 80's underground. Born in 1961 in a town in the province of Buenos Aires, Barea moved to the capital and since the late 70s began to train in different disciplines. Since then, he met artists with whom he formed creative groups and casts, fostered collaborative projects and even transformed his own body into a work of art. His disruptive figure and his unique stagings - anchored in amateurism and the vindication of humor and the popular culture- captured the attention of audiences and the sympathy of his peers. Early, in 1991, and at the peak of his career, he died of AIDS. After his death, his revered figure became "the myth of the underworld", a legend that time only enhanced. In this paper we ask ourselves: How does an exceptional figure like Batato Barea emerge in the field of art? Who exalted him and what memories did they privilege of him?