Juan Gatti: “Challenges excite me”

As soon as he received the diploma, he rolled it up to make a kind of telescope and, amused, peered at the audience through the hole, abandoning all formality. With that gesture, Juan Oreste Gatti received an honorary doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires, as a way of honoring his parents who had always wanted a son with a doctorate.

A rebel by nature, Gatti was born right in the middle of the 20th century in Quilmes, Buenos Aires province. In the late 1970s, after studying Fine Arts, he became part of the artistic vanguard at the Di Tella Institute, initially as an illustrator and fashion designer, though he soon joined the Argentine rock scene. You may not recognize his face, but you certainly know his work. As the art director for the record labels Mandioca and Talent, with Jorge Alvarez in charge of music production, Juan Gatti created the iconic, out-of-the-ordinary cover for Artaud (Pescado Rabioso), the dreamlike cover art for the albums Humano (Pastoral) and Confesiones de invierno (Sui Generis), and the childlike illustration for Pappo's Blues 2 (Pappo).

In New York, during the transition between disco and punk, he developed projects for the exceptional Klaus Nomi and the salsa and Caribbean music group Fania All-Stars. He arrived in Madrid as Spain was shedding almost 40 years of Franco's dictatorship, landing at CBS International, the most powerful record label in the 80s. With the Movida Madrileña at its peak, Gatti worked with Miguel Bosé, Tequila, and Mecano during their most kitsch period; and at the same time, he returned to his passion for fashion with Jesús del Pozo and Sybilla.

From there he moved on to the art direction of Vogue (Italy), Karl Lagerfeld, and of course Pedro Almodóvar, giving his films their visual identity; he also worked with Álex de la Iglesia, Alfredo Arias, Lucrecia Martel, and Luis Ortega. His work is art, regardless of the medium: fashion, film, music, advertising, set design, illustration, theater, furniture, photography—nothing is exempt. His work is characterized by its boldness, vitality, and playfulness, or as he himself expressed in the main auditorium of the FADU (Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism): “Challenges excite me; I’m excited by knowing I have the power to transform myself and change styles.”

During the third edition of the UBA International Film Festival (FIC.UBA), in the Central Courtyard of the FADU, the exhibition Juan Gatti: Cartelera 1986-2023 was displayed, a tribute with a selection of his iconic film posters and graphic design works.

Before a packed auditorium, Gatti affirmed that he enjoys that his 50-year career still serves as a point of connection with young people . “Design,” he defined, “is an applied art, and to develop within this field, it is necessary to have the greatest possible visual culture in order to choose, depending on the project, which tools to draw from your intellectual toolkit.”

There were many questions during the exchange with the students. With great enthusiasm, she explained that "it's always better to start a project with pencil and paper" and also suggested, "Don't just look at your surroundings, scan them."

Throughout the conversation, he provoked laughter and a few awkward moments, and offered this advice: “Try to have fun, don’t take it too seriously or be overly stifling, design with coherence in mind, and listen to the project requirements before you start working.”