An Argentine affair - and art

That the South Carolina Progressive Network, a social and economic justice organization, decided to make hay, and maybe some money, from Gov. Mark Sanford's dalliance to the South shouldn’t be surprising. The group plans a fun-sounding fund-raising “Argentine Affair” named in commemoration of Sanford South American love affair.

Now it has a painting about the Gov which will be sold at the October event.

Brett Bursey, head of the progressive network, asked Columbia artist and Columbia, South American native Alejandro Garcia to do a tango at the event.

“I told him, no way, I hardly know any steps,” Garcia said. “But I said I’d love to create an artwork that reflects the deeply conflicted feelings of our honorable governor.”

Garcia discovered a story about Sanford and his affair with a woman in Argentina in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel which used lyrics from a tango song from the ‘30s. The song and the artwork aren’t particularly harsh on the governor. They're more of a comment on love and loss. The lyrics may remind one of Sanford’s “soulmate”-bearing remarks.

‘I want to drown my heart with wine
to extinguish a crazy love
that more than love, is pain…
And that's what I'm here for,
to erase those old kisses
with other lips' kisses. “