When I traveled to Buenos Aires last November for a soccer tournament with my LA team, I knew I had to check out the local sign painters. I’m incapable of going anywhere without researching the sign painting scene. While most plan ahead for a trip by looking up restaurants, museums, and other tourist attractions, I prepare by looking up the sign painters in the city.
Ahead of my trip to Buenos Aires, I learned about the mesmerizing work of Gustavo Ferrari.
Ferrari is a Buenos Aires-based Fileteado artist, otherwise known as a Maestro Fileteador. “Fileteado porteño” is a traditional Argentinian art form and ornate painting style that is particularly prominent in the capital, Buenos Aires. Walls, windows, awnings, cars, plaques, and more are festooned with Fileteado signage throughout the city, which is characterized by delicate flourishes, dynamic shading, scroll motifs, and vibrant color combinations. Fileteado was established as the signature art form of Buenos Aires in the early 20th century, appearing on trade carts. It’s now the core visual identity of the city, going strong after all these years and kept current by masters like Ferrari.
Ferrari is the founder of Ferrari Fileteados and has been painting Fileteados and other signs since 2001. Within Ferrari Fileatado, he collaborates with his wife, Nina, to make hand-painted commissioned works on all types of surfaces, including vehicles, glass, objects, murals, blackboards and signs. Each work is unique and personalized, with a customized development from a sketch to a final design. Nina is a fine artist and painter in her own right, who specializes in the portraiture details featured in many of Ferrari’s pieces.
Ferrari now showcases his work around the world while continuing to paint locally in Argentina and hosting in-person and online workshops to teach the style globally. When I reached out to Ferrari ahead of my trip, he generously invited me to his studio in Buenos Aires, and I eagerly accepted his invitation. Below is a documentation of my visit.
At the heart of Ferrari’s craft as a Maestro Fileteador himself is a pure love, passion, and appreciation for the art form. He’s been collecting the work of other Fileteador craftsmen for years, which he proudly displays throughout his studio alongside his own contemporary pieces. Of the Fileteado visionaries whose work Ferrari collects, there’s no one he covets more than Leon Untroib. To Ferrari’s delight, Untroib’s daughter donated a significant amount of her father’s sketches and patterns to Ferrari in 2020, which he was able to match up to some of the signs in his collection.
Exploring Ferrari’s studio is a feast for the eyes, with every detail of every piece more delicious than the last. As a sign painter myself, his skill level truly bowled me over. Seeing his brush work up close and in person, as well as taking in so many of his pieces alongside one another, illustrated just how talented he is in ways photos and videos simply can’t truly capture.
From start to finish, Ferrari’s process is done 100% by hand. He doesn’t use a computer or any other digital tools at all, not even for the initial design or to create his patterns. He sketches out his designs and then creates his patterns with pencil, pen, and paper as well.
As part of the studio tour he gave me, Ferrari showed me the commission he is currently working on below.
Here are a few more shots I snapped from details at Ferrari’s studio:
There’s no better way to learn about an artist than by going to their studio. I knew Ferrari’s work would be impressive from what I’d seen online, but receiving a personal tour of his workspace in Buenos Aires was an intimate experience I’ll carry with me as an artist forever. Hearing him talk about the history and cultural significance of Fileteado with such enthusiasm, seeing his face light up as he presented Untroib’s patterns next to their corresponding signs, and seeing his own finished pieces and works-in-progress was an experience that defined my trip to Buenos Aires.
From the bottom of my sign-painting heart, thank you, Gustavo!
The post A Tour of Maestro Fileteador Gustavo Ferrari’s Studio in Buenos Aires appeared first on PRINT Magazine.