Marino Santa Maria transforms Calle Lanín

Marino grew up in the barrio of Barracas and the neighbourhood near his workshop has been turned into a true cultural centre. Marino and his team, that includes bricklayers and painters, has renovated the facades of more than 30 properties stretching three blocks along Lanin Street, using azulejos (small fragments of ceramic tiles) and mosaic venetiano (Venetian mosaic) to form brilliant and elaborate patterns in a style not dissimilar to Antonio Gaudi.

An agreement between companies and businesses has helped finance the project, and the local residents participate in choosing the colours for the decoration of their houses. “The neighbours have always given us permission to paint and everything is done because they ask for it,” says Marino. “There are a few buildings that haven’t been painted yet but it’s all a question of the budget as it’s free for all the neighbours.”

As well as creating an artwork for the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and an intervention near La Bombonera to celebrate the centenary of Boca Juniors, Marino is perhaps best known for the brightly coloured murals of Gardel he has painted all around the city, including six in Abasto. He told us what inspired him to paint one of Argentina’s biggest icons. “What impresses me about Gardel is the artist himself – as an artist, singer, actor and self-publicist. He was a guy in the 1930s who travelled to the United States at a time that nobody did this from South America.”

He added: “It is a mystery how the man learnt to sing so well and was so highly-talented. And to make records without any technical resources, get on aeroplanes and have the tremendous success that he had is incredible. He was a superstar in an era when only the North Americans were.”