08.2023 - Metropolitan Arts Fund, Buenos Aires

Creation Grant for the editorial project "Toxi-Pop"

The project involves the production, editing, and printing of the book *Toxi Pop*, developed and illustrated by Facundo Saint-Piere, also known as Juan Vegetal. The author, who has over 15 years of experience working with mixed formats of comics, cardboard, collage, and paper, has created a vast body of visual work, using technology as a narrative tool to reflect the contemporary issues facing him and his generation. *Toxi Pop* is a book that, through its themes, seeks to reflect a more mature phase of Juan Vegetal’s work, addressing topics like the search for inspiration, the pathways to ideas, and the evolution of the things around him. During the pandemic, the author began developing a new narrative, similar to silent comic formats, in which the characters and scenes conveyed the message. This work combines elements of fantasy and dystopia to explore these issues in the same way he has always approached them in his art.

Co-edited by Josefina Blattmann + Belén Machado

— Artist | Juan Vegetal 

Visual artist, comic creator, and alternative cultural manager. He lives in the world of drawing, collage, and installation. He has published the books: *FELICES LOS ÑOÑOS* (2013, Galería editorial), *CIBER-CITY INTERNET PSEUDO SISTEM* (2017, Wai comics), *TERRESTRE* (2021, Editorial Paradojas), and *IMAGINACIÓN EXTRAÑA* (2021, Guardabosques). He is also featured in the Latin American comic anthology *EL VOLCÁN* (2017, Editorial Municipal de Rosario) and the magazine *STRAPAZIN* (Switzerland, 2019).

He has exhibited his works both individually and in groups: *Estación Espacial Hawaii* (Centro Cultural Recoleta, 2018), Trimarchi (2017), *Los Accidentes* (Centro Cultural Recoleta, 2016), Youth Art Biennial (2015), and the National Fund for the Arts (2015).

He has taught workshops at the Museum of Modern Art, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Centro Cultural de la Ciencia, Universidad de Palermo, and Tecnópolis. He created the web series *Todo Mal con Juan Vegetal* for UN3tv (the channel of the Universidad de Tres de Febrero). Currently, he works in set design for audiovisual productions and organizes the *Super Jam de Dibujo* at the QI Cultural Center.

IG

— Fondo Metropolitano de la Cultura, las Artes y las Ciencias 

It is a program from the Impulso Cultural platform that fully or partially funds projects/activities related to the arts, sciences, and cultural infrastructure. It is one of the cultural support programs that brings together the widest range of disciplines and types of artists: visual artists, fine artists, filmmakers, as well as architects, neighborhood organizations, cultural managers, workshop leaders, educators, and more.

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