Edgardo Antonio Vigo Biography

Edgardo Antonio Vigo was born in the small city of La Plata, a few kilometers away from Buenos Aires. The son of a carpenter, Vigo enrolled in the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes of La Plata in 1950, graduating with a degree in drawing. Upon graduation, Vigo travelled to Europe where he came in contact with the international avant-garde for the first time thanks to Venezuelan artist Jesùs-Rafael Soto. Following Vigo's return to Argentina, neither his early sculptures nor his 'useless machines' fell into favour with the public or local critics. As an employee of La Plata's Ministry of Justice, Vigo developed his practice outside the established circuits of artistic production and presentation. Despite recognition within his own country, he soon became regarded internationally as the founder of Mail art in Argentina. Often with an explicitly political approach, and no lack of humour or irony, Vigo quietly revolutionised the way in which artists spread their work and message in Latin America. It was only in 1991, when collector Jeorge Helft organised Vigo's first exhibition in a public institution at Fundaciòn San Telmo, Buenos Aires, that his work began to receive attention. His inclusion in Argentina's Pavilion for the 1994 São Paulo Biennial finally cemented his position in the whirling topographies of Latin American conceptual art.