Beatnik Buenos Aires

This atmospheric graphic novel captures the rollicking arts scene of ’60s Buenos Aires.

When night falls in Buenos Aires, the city comes alive. Artists flock to cafes and dives to exchange ideas, listen to music, watch outré performance art, pen poetry, fall in love. In these raucous, smoke filled rooms, the bohemian heart and soul of this vibrant city, a conflagration of creative energy burns. With the improvisational pacing of a jazz performance, Beatnik Buenos Aires follows the lives of writers, painters, musicians, sculptors, and performers as they wend their way through these hubs of creative life, seeking out inspiration and grappling with their craft. Set in 1963, this graphic novel celebrates a time in Argentine history when its art scene blossomed.

Argentine creators Diego Arandojo (writer) and Facundo Percio (illustrator) come together to weave the rich tapestry of this mecca of artistic expression. Arandojo’s staccato dialogue lends a poetic quality to these lively, often mysterious characters, while Percio’s raw and expressive charcoal drawings perfectly capture the rough charm of this eclectic community of artists and the seedy, smoky locales they inhabit. Romantic, dangerous, and brimming with life ― Buenos Aires in the time of the beatnik.