Masas siniestras (Sinister Masses)

Born in 1916 in Italy and later naturalized Argentinean, Badíi’s "sinistrism" meant a radical change in the way of approaching sculpture in Latin America, which was stagnant in its representation of heroes and military figures. Badíi’s "sinister" sculptures—in polychrome wood painted in vibrant tones—refer to the search for a vital and enigmatic energy, for the primitive, "what escapes human possibilities", as he phrased it.
This etching—probably a sketch for one of his three-dimensional works—is representative of his most characteristic style, developed from the 1960s onwards: figures or fragments superimposed, cubist faces with round, radiating eyes, and the presence of large masses and converging linear extensions.