Pablo Atchugarry, an Artist who Conquers the World
Pablo Atchugarry an Uruguayan Artist is succeeding Internationally. Eternal marbles inspired Pablo Atchugarry, whose images emerge from essential lines, a small fragment, and a fold bringing to mind a Greek or a Roman toga robe.
His work is recognized worldwide, sculptures of all kinds, large and small, with values that can range from a few thousand dollars to one million. Art pieces are versatile in their location, from the stop 1 of la Mansa Beach in Punta Del Este to the Avenue Princess Grace in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
His passion for art started at a young age, exploring different forms of art, he found in the marble his true fascination. The type of marble used as raw material in most of his works is the marble of Carrara, the same that Michelangelo considered a “precious stone”.
Pablo Atchugarry`s life interacts between earthly paradises: Lecco, a city in northern Italy, on the shores of Lake Como, and Manantiales, among the bustle of Punta del Este and the quiet of the countryside and the sea.
Manantiales
When Pablo is in Uruguay he occupies most of his time in the development of the Monumental Sculpture Park of Fundación Manantiales teaching and promoting art which he considers part of his artistic project.
Located on the beautiful highway104, seven kilometers from the sea near Manantiales, the Fundacion Manantiales receives thousands of visitors per year, most of them school children, who sometimes have a first time experience looking at these monumental statues.
Pablo Atchugarry Fundacion de Manantiales was inaugurated in 2007 as a place for artists and the general public to exchange and promoting artistic activities. Admission is free and the site there is a sculpture park with works of the author’s own and other artists.
The site includes the artist’s studio, a main building with three rooms where temporary exhibitions are held, an outdoor amphitheater another room with the permanent exhibition of his work and teaching Michelangelo Bategazzore lounge. Outdoors is a huge park where the sculptures are integrated with nature as if they were part of it. All activities are free and the place is open all year, although more visitors come during the summer.
Physical Art
It is likely that when one sees a 60 year old sculptor we are not fully aware of the psychological and physical work that requires sculpting marble. The raw material blocks are lifted by cranes reaching support up to 3,000 kilos, then, with masks and hearing pads they get shaped using grinder and hammer.
This artist, probably one of the most important of Uruguay, is working sometimes 12 hours a day with huge white blocks and molding with peak, sand and drills. Behind the cloud of marble dust and after a long process a new piece unveils.
Art Every Where
In Montevideo his work can be seen in public spaces, like at the Sculpture Park in the courtyard of the World Trade Center in the Pocitos neighborhood.
But his art has transcended the borders of Uruguay and created a bridge between Europe and America with exhibitions and works in several museums around the world.
Using this noble material, Atchugarry has done great things such as La lumière and La Pieta, which was carved between 1982 and 1983 to pay homage to the great sculptor Michelangelo.
For Europe
A retrospective “Città Eterna, eterni marmi” is being presented until February 7, 2016, at the Museum of the Imperial Forums and Trajan’s Market in Rome. It consists of a selection of 40 works, 10 are monumental and will be exhibited outdoors and almost all sculpted in Carrara marble.
The architectural complex has four floors in perfect harmony. The rooms on each level contain small compositions in Carrara marble, as well as the latest technique of the artist, which is painted bronze.
Also, the sculptor created a special piece for the flag of Uruguay at the Milan Expo 2015, which takes place between May and October.
It is “life after life”, a 5 meter piece supported by a circular base diameter of 2 meters of steel, which indicates this name in five languages. The work was carved in olive wood 800 years old that Atchugarry found in an Italian nursery and, after many years, he shaped it in his studio in Lecco.
On the website of the Uruguayan pavilion at Expo Milan, Atchugarry speaks about the process of creating this work: “One day after a long time, I heard its voice even sharper and then I began to sculpt it, thinking that this wonder of nature was live art and needed to move on.”
Sculpture Park opens in Garzón
Pablo Atchugarry is proud of a recent project that blends the artistic activity with the real estate business together with excellent architectural designs in Tierra Garzón only 30 minutes from Punta Del Este, this project was launched to inspire artists and create a niche of creativity in Uruguay.
Mary Ann Thompson
