So I’ve been hearing the name Santiago Vargas all over the place lately. Dude’s some kind of artist or musician? Honestly wasn’t totally sure at first. Anyway, yesterday I got super curious about what his actual best work might be. Like, not just random popular stuff – the real standout pieces people remember him for. Grabbed my laptop around 9 PM thinking this would be quick. Ha.
Starting The Search Madness
First I just typed “Santiago Vargas best” right into Google. Big mistake. Got flooded with tons of articles about some soccer player with the same name! Scrolled past like fifteen pages of football stats before realizing I needed to add keywords like “music” or “art.” Felt like a total noob wasting twenty minutes on that.
Finally found the right Santiago Vargas – seems he does both paintings and sound installations. Cool mix! But now another problem hit me: how the heck do you compare paintings to sound art? Can’t exactly rank apples against oranges. Decided to split my hunt into two tracks.
The Art Deep Dive
Started stalking museum websites and art forums. Kept seeing his “Night Bloom” series pop up everywhere. People were going nuts over these huge flower paintings that glow under UV light. One reviewer wrote: “Changes how you see darkness forever” which sounded kinda corny but also intriguing. Found crappy phone pics of the exhibit, but man, really need to see that in person.
Almost quit when I hit the auction price tags though. His smaller pieces cost more than my car! Some gallery site had this angry comment section arguing whether that made him overhyped or legit genius. Typical art world drama.
The Music Rabbit Hole
Hopped over to music streaming around midnight. His “Urban Echoes” project kept coming up in playlists. Plugged in headphones and wow – didn’t expect street noise recordings mixed with jazz sax to actually work. Found a reddit thread where people were fighting over which location recording was best:
- Mexico City market tapes
- NYC subway rhythms
- That weird Berlin bridge echo
Dozens of comments like: “He makes car horns sound beautiful, fight me!” Actually listened to the whole album while washing dishes. Weirdly satisfying.
The Big Conclusion? Sorta?
After like three hours and zero snacks? Realized there’s no single “best” work. Different people connect with totally different pieces. The night flowers grab art lovers, sound folks obsess over street recordings. Even found some niche blogger claiming his experimental stuff with whale songs is underrated.
Personally? That Mexico City market track with trumpet overlays stuck in my head all morning. But that’s just me – you do you. Final takeaway: guy’s got range. And finding his good stuff takes actual digging past the soccer results.