Martín Blaszko (1920) was born in Berlin, Germany, and settled in Argentina in1939. In about 1945 he met Carmelo Arden Quin, and they both joined the Grupo Madí in 1946. During the 1940s he produced a series of three-dimensional paintings with trimmed frames which he later began to expand vertically and gradually developed into monoliths, towers, and columns. In 1952, he created an installation for the Monumento al Prisionero Político Desconocido [Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner] that was exhibited at the Tate Gallery in London. Blaszko currently lives and works in Buenos Aires. Aldo Pellegrini (1903-1973) was a poet, playwright, essayist, art critic, and a moving force in Argentine cultural circles. He was an early promoter of Surrealism, and directed several publishing projects. He was also an active supporter and promoter of the various expressions of Abstract act, and provided encouragement to groups such as Artistas Modernos de la Argentina [Modern Artists of Argentina] and the Asociación Arte Nuevo [New Art Association]. This essay appears in Artistas Abstractos de la Argentina [Abstract Artists of Argentina], a book by Aldo Pellegrini, who introduced the concept of Abstraction to Argentina; he explained that it was a way of expressing the change experienced by a cosmic way of seeing. He also pointed out that the artists represented in this book work in different styles — some are Concrete artists, others are exponents of Madí, and still others are independent artists who work in the field of Abstraction — but they all seek a similar goal of purity in their media and discipline in the execution of their work. A variety of opinions on the subject, written by other artists, can be found in: "El orden y equilibrio constructivos inducen a un equilibrio” [Constructive order and balance are conducive to a state of equilibrium] (# 742769), "La conquista de la invención concreta” [The conquest of concrete invention] (# 742729), and “En la escultura madí, además del valor plástico derivado” [In Madi sculpture, in addition to its value in terms of visual art] (# 742564). This particular document was chosen because it documents Blaszko’s ideas concerning the artist’s function and the elements that are involved in his poetic art.
