Diego Maradona turns 62 today. It was October 30, 1960 when his mother, Doña Tota, gave birth to him. From that moment, in a precarious house in Villa Fiorito, the legend began.
The Fluff, for many the best player in football history, he dominated the ball and people’s hearts like no other. And he has become a popular idol for which there are a lot of tributes now that he’s gone.
It is the second anniversary of his birth since Dieguito died, at the age of 60, on that fateful November 25, 2020 in Dique Luján, due to acute heart failure. The news was a bombshell for the whole world. And the memories began.
From declaring the house where he lived his first years of life a “national historic place”, to the murals, shrines and tattoos that today people wear with pride so as not to forget it. A few days after his death, Gustavo Rovirawell-known plastic artist, he started his own.
a special challenge
His work “A gambeta to life“tries to capture Diego’s life in a mural that is 28.75 meters wide by 4.40 meters high. There are 23 wooden slabs that need to be mounted for display. A work that has gold and silver embedded in it. various parts of it According to the 62-year-old painter, his work begins with “the arrival of an angel in Fiorito“.
Gustavo was a contemporary of Maradona and feels he has grown alongside the popular idol. He was born the same year as Diego and attended the school located in front of the Argentinos Juniors field, in La Paternal, where the Fluff she shone with her hair in the wind. The successes and falls of El Diez have been experienced like him, from his debut to his retirement.
To make this mural, he visited those places where the Ten left their magic. Rovira stepped on the same ground where Maradona once played and was full of that energy. From Estrella Roja de Fiorito, Diego’s first team, passing through Argentinos Juniors, La Bombonera and Coloso Marcelo Bielsa, from Rosario. The land of all these stages is embodied in the mural.
“I am a spontaneous guy and I think that passion always wins”, confesses Gustavo Rovira in his interview with Clarione. The artist believes that “Diego Maradona’s life is the journey of the life of each of the Argentines“And faithful to this thought he has interpreted his sports career, from start to finish.
“I start with Maradona in Argentinos Juniors, then I go to Boca in ’81 and go to Barcelona”, he explains. Of course, he also portrays the disappearance of the popular idol with the Argentine national team at the World Cup in Spain ’82 and Mexico ’86, where he was crowned world champion. Then, he continues with the stage of Naples from Italy, Seville from Spain and Newell’s.
“I continue with the Boca of ’95, the ball does not get stained, his retirement and his time as coach of Gimnasia de La Plata”, adds the artist.
“The mural ends with the same angel bringing the ball to him on October 30 at 7:05 am, taking it from behind and they go to heaven together,” Rovira says excitedly.
where it will be exhibited
Rovira’s idea has always been to exhibit the mural, once mounted, in the Obelisk of Buenos Aires so everyone can see it. No distinction. Because for him “Diego is not from any team, Diego is from the city, he is from the world“.
“I also plan to show it as I continue to work in different places in my homeland,” he says. The work is 65 percent and there is still work to be done. But Gustavo is in no hurry because he likes to work every day accompanied by Diego’s life.
“I want to pay a spiritual tribute. The idea was to finish it before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but the times were longer than expected. Luckily I am accompanied by the Bacgalupo Foundationthat Diego has helped a lot in life “.
The organization that supports the artist on a daily basis is dedicated to promoting sport for people with intellectual disabilities. Part of the proceeds will go to them.
Once exhibited in the countryside, Gustavo wants his work to fly to “Qatar or Naples” through a company that will buy the pictorial exhibition and bring it closer to audiences from other parts of the world.
-What does Diego mean in your life?
-Diego means an emotion, a caress for the soul. First humanly, then as a football lover. Diego is an artistic emotion, I paint it and cry. I like to cry when I get excited, and I do it in silence and when I’m alone. When he goes to heaven, in the mural, and when he lifts the World Cup, I see him and my throat closes.
-How do you think it will be remembered over time?
-In our times things were different, today the technology has changed and there is a lot of archive of current players. But I’m sure that every grandfather, every father, will be in charge of telling who Diego Maradona is, because the carnal part of him is gone, but the spirit will always be there. He left a mark impossible to match. Not just as a footballer, but as a person and character.
-Who was Diego Maradona?
-Diego has to do with charisma, with elegance, with leadership, with putting a team on his shoulders, with solidarity, with humility, with gold and with mud. That’s why the mural summary, in the end, is the loot full of mud and the loot full of gold. With the booty of mud I reached the top of the world. There is no one who can do it again.
Source: Clarin
