Marino Santa Maria transforms Calle Lanín in Barracas

marino santa maria artista calle lanin barracas buenos aires street art buenosairesstreetart.com taller

His iconic murals of Carlos Gardel have lit up Abasto and Marino Santa Maria is now transforming Calle Lanin in Barracas into one of the most colourful streets in Buenos Aires. Exclusive interview by Buenos Aires Street Art.

marino santa maria calle lanin barracas buenos aires street art buenosairesstreetart.com murales

Calle Lanin in Barracas (photo © BA Street Art)

marino santa maria artista calle lanin barracas buenos aires street art buenosairesstreetart.com taller

Marino in front of one of the colourful facades in Lanin St (photo © BA Street Art/2011)

We visited Marino’s workshop and studio at Lanin 33 and he told us about his latest projects. “Lanin Street is celebrating its 10th birthday this year,” he said. “We started working on this project in 2000 after I gave up being rector (at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes) and the country was then undergoing an economic crisis. I decided to make an installation on the wall of Pueyrredon Railway Bridge and at the same time I began painting the houses with my artworks.”

Marino outside his studio in Pasaje Lanin (photo © BA Street Art/2026)

Marino grew up in the barrio of Barracas and the street where he used to live has been turned into a true cultural centre. Marino and his team, that includes bricklayers and painters, has renovated the facades of more than 35 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.

marino santa maria calle lanin barracas buenos aires street art buenosairesstreetart.com

Marino’s studio in Calle Lanin (photo © BA Street Art)

Marino started to intervene on the facades of the facades of Pasaje Lanin where he used to play when he was a child. What was once the family house, is now his studio where he lays out many of the designs that are then turned into mosaic and ceramic artworks.
marino santa maria artista calle lanin barracas buenosairesstreetart.com buenos aires street art

Marino Santa Maria’s team working on a new artwork (photo © BA Street Art/2011)

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.”
marino santa maria artista calle lanin barracas buenosairesstreetart.com buenos aires street art

Coloured mosaic tiles in Pasaje Lanin (photo © BA Street Art/2011)

Marino has a team of assistants who have helped him decorate more than 35 properties along Pasaje Lanin with coloured ceramic and mosaic tiles. Each of the property owners are consulted on the choice of colours, designs and patterns adorning their houses.

View of Pasaje Lanin (photo © BA Street Art)

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,” revealed Marino. “He was a guy in the 1930s who travelled to the United States at a time that nobody did this from South America.”

carlos gardel mural abasto marino santa maria artista buenos aires street art buenosairesstreetart.com

Carlos Gardel mural in Abasto by Marino Santa Maria (photo © BA Street Art)

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.”
marino santa maria artista carlos gardel calle lanin barracas buenos aires street art buenosairesstreetart.com taller

Marino with a painting of Gardel in his studio (photo © BA Street Art/2011)

Marino is also taking part in this year’s Feria International de Libro de Buenos Aires (The Buenos Aires International Book Fair) that starts on 20th April and is putting on an exhibition of his digital works at the Centro Cultural Recoleta in June.
All photos © Buenos Aires Street Art
Buenos Aires Street Art and Graffiti – BA Street Art