Modern Tango World N° 10 (Athens, Greece) | Page 20

Maestro Fileteador
Jorge Muscia
Jorge Muscia was born in Buenos Aires, in 1958. He is a master of fileteado with more than 30
years of experience with the style. Fileteado is an artistic style of painting and drawing typical of
Buenos Aires’s porteño district. It is characterized by spirals, strong colors, recurrent use of sym-
metry, Trompe-l’Oeil 3D effects with shadows and perspectives. Its decorative repertoire includes
leaves, animals, cornucopias, flowers, pennants, and precious stones. In December 2015 it was de-
clared protected by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cul-
tural Heritage of UNESCO.
Jorge Muscia is known for being a renovator and innova-
tor of the style and is an important teacher-diffuser of this
artform foth in Argentina and around the world. Both tango
historians and art critics point him as one of the most no-
table heirs to this popular Argentine tradition.
Muscia’s study of painting began in 1976 when he studied
painting and sculpture in the Argentine National School of
Fine Arts. His studies focused on filleado porteño under the
guidance of master fileteador, León Untroib. Since 1989, he
has travelled the world, studying various styles of popular
and ornamental arts, including Italy, Spain, France, England,
the United States, Mexico, Russia and China.
The close relationship between the fileteado and tango has
led to various collaborative projects in which decorative
arts have been combined with dance. He has pioneered
integrating fileteado in different ways beyond the bounds of
historical tradition. Because of this notable contribution to
the arts of Buenos Aires, he was appointed Titular Academi-
cian of the National Tango Academy of the Argentine Re-
public, a post that he has held from 1990 to the present. He
is a professor of the Liceo Superior del Tango, and chair-
man of the Tango and Plastic Arts Department. In addition,
Muscia has held seminars, lectures, demonstrations, and tele-
vision programs spreading the knowledge of fileteado both
in Argentina and abroad.
Under the auspices of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, he has exhibited his work in art galleries and cultural
centers in Europe, Mexico and the United States.
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