Pablo Atchugarry Uruguay, b. 1954

Pablo Atchugarry was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on August 23, 1954. At an early age, his parents, María Cristina Bonomi and Pedro Atchugarry, art enthusiasts, discovered their son’s aptitude for drawing and they encouraged him to follow this path. He initially expressed himself through drawings and painting, and in 1965 at the age of 11, two of his works were displayed in a collective exhibition in Montevideo. Pablo discovered other materials such as clay, concrete, iron and wood and in 1971 he created his first sculpture in concrete, entitled Caballo (Horse). Other sculptures in concrete and iron would follow dated 1974:

Escritura simbólica (Symbolic Writing), Estructuracósmica (Cosmic Structure), Metamorfosis prehistórica (Prehistoric Metamorphosis), Maternidad (Maternity) or Metamorfosis femenina (Feminine Metamorphosis).

In 1972, he realized his first solo exhibition of drawings and paintings in the SUBTE Exhibition Center in Montevideo, followed by various exhibitions held in 1974 (Lirolay Gallery in Buenos Aires and the Paris-Sud International Salon) and in 1976 (Porto Alegre, San Pablo, Brasilia and Río de Janeiro where he met the artist Iberê Camargo). In 1977 Atchugarry began his European travels with visits to different countries – Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Switzerland and Italy.

In 1978 he held his first solo exhibition of paintings in Italy (Visconti Gallery in Lecco); in that same year he held another solo exhibition of paintings at the Nuova Sfera Gallery in Milan and at La Colonna Gallery in Como where for the first time he showed his drawings in ink and watercolor. For the occasion, Mario Radice wrote an article in the daily newspaper, La Provincia, entitled “Alla Colonna, ottime chine del pittore scultore uruguaiano Atchugarry” (At the Colonna, Excellent Inks by the Uruguayan Painter/Sculptor Atchugarry). In 1979, he celebrated his first solo exhibition in Paris, at the Maison de l’Amérique Latine and later he exhibited in Chur and Stockholm.

During his stay in Paris, he realized a preparatory drawing for La Lumière (The Light), his first sculpture created in marble and for which he relocated to Carrara and Brescia. In 1987 his works were exhibited in the Bramantino Crypt in the Basilica of San Nazaro (Milan) with a critical presentation by Raffaelle De Grada. In 1989, Atchugarry began to express a tendency towards working with pieces of monumental dimensions, works that still today can be found in public and private collections worldwide. In 1996 he sculpted the work Semilla de la esperanza (Seed of Hope), realized for the Government Palace Sculpture Park in Montevideo. In 1997, he exhibited in Caracas, where he would meet Jesús Soto along with other artists. In 1998 the Veranneman Foundation in Belgium organized a solo exhibition of his sculptures with a critical essay by Professor Willem Elias. In September of 1999, in Lecco, he inaugurated the Pablo Atchugarry Museum, where diverse artworks on permanent display represent his artistic pathway, from the earliest paintings to the sculptures of today as well as conserving the archives of his works.

In 2001 the City of Milan organized a retrospective exhibition at the Isimbardi Palace, entitled Le infinite evoluzioni del marmo (The Infinite Evolutions of Marble). In that same year he held his first solo exhibition in London at the Albemarle Gallery and he sculpted the Obelisco del terzo millennio (Obelisk of the Third Millenium), a monumental work – six meters high in Carrara marble – for the city of Manzano in Italy. He also won the national competition with his realization of the sculpture, Monumento alla Civiltà e Cultura del Lavoro Lecchese (A Monument to the Civilization and Work Culture of Lecco), which was also a six meters high work made from a unique 33-ton block of marble from Carrara and was inaugurated in Lecco in May of 2002. In 2002, he received the Michelangelo Award in Carrara for special recognition of his artistic career. During this period, he continued to work on different projects amongst which the sculpture Ideales (Ideals), realized as a tribute for the 50th Anniversary of the Reign of Prince Ranieri of Monaco, now located in Avenue Princess Grace of Montecarlo. In 2003 he participated in the 50th Venice Biennale with the composition Soñando la paz (Dreaming of Peace) a sculptural work of 8 monumental pieces realized in Carrara marble and Bardiglio marble from Garfagnana. He exhibited at the Veranneman Foundation in Belgium for the second time. That same year he would create a work entitled Ascensión for the Fran Daurel Foundation in Barcelona. In 2004, after 25 years of not having

exhibited in Uruguay, the Tejería Loppacher Gallery organized its first solo show of sculpture in Punta del Este (a continuation of the same would be held in 2005) and the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires realized an important solo exhibition of his works. In 2006, the Groeninge Museum of Bruges dedicated a retrospective exhibition, with works from private international collections. Four years later, the same museum acquired a sculpture for its own collection which is on permanent display in the gardens. That same year the João Berardo Collection from Portugal  acquired the work Camino Vital (Vital Pathway) - executed in 1999 - precisely for the Cultural Center of Belém in Lisbon. In Uruguay, the Sur Gallery organized an exhibition of his most recent works. During the year 2007, the Pablo Atchugarry Foundation was established in Manantiales (Uruguay), with the intention of creating a meeting place for artists from all fields, an ideal space to unite nature and art. That same year the artist finalized his first eight meters high work, entitled Nel cammino della Luce (In the Way of Light), sculpted from one 48-ton block of Carrara marble, designated for the Fontana Collection in Italy. Between the years 2007 and 2008 the artist realized an important retrospective exhibition in Brazil entitled El espacio plástico de la luz (The Plastic Space of Light), an itinerant exhibition, with a critical essay presented by Luca Massimo Barbero. Exhibitions were held at the Cultural Center of Brazil in Brasilia, the MUBE (Brazilian Museum of Sculpture) in Sao Paulo and in the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba. In 2008, the National Museum of Visual Arts in Montevideo, dedicated a one-man exhibition to the artist which covered the last fifteen years of his artistic career. In 2009, the work entitled Luz y energía de Punta del Este (Light and Energy of Punta del Este), was inaugurated in Punta del Este, Uruguay, five meters in height and realized in Carrara marble it was a tribute to the centennial celebration of the city. In 2011, after seven years of work, the artist finalized the sculpture Abrazo cósmico (Cosmic Embrace), realized from one 56-ton block of marble and 8.5 meters high. In November 2011 he realized his first solo show in New York at the Hollis Taggart Galleries, with a critical essay presented by Jonathan Goodman. The Sur Gallery in Uruguay presented his works at Art Basel Miami and later at TEFAF in Maastricht (Netherlands). In March of 2012, the Times Square Alliance selected his work Dreaming New York to be displayed in Times Square during the New York Armory Show. In July, within the framework of the program City of Sculpture (London), the Westminster City Council displayed two sculptures in stainless steel at the St. James Square Gardens. These works entitled Espíritu Olímpico I and Espíritu Olímpico II (Olympic Spirit I and II), specifically created for the occasion, are 5.9 and 5.85 metres respectively in height. Towards the end of 2013, the Mondadori Electa publishing house in Milan, printed two volumes of a comprehensive catalogue of the artist’s sculptures, with the curatorship of Professor Carlo Pirovano. The third volume is expected to be finalized by the year 2019. In 2015-2016 the Museum of the Imperial Fora – the Traiano Markets of Rome, hosted the exhibition by Pablo Atchugarry. Città Eterna, eterni marmi (Pablo Atchugarry, Eternal City, Eternal Marble), an important retrospective which presented the production of the artist through a review of 40 works of art. The Museu Brasileiro da Escultura in Sao Pualo organizes, during the year 2017, the largest retrospective of his works entitled A journey through the Matter. 

In 2018 the Atchugarry Art Center in Miami (USA) was inaugurated. In 2019 he was honored by the President of the Italian Republic with the title Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy.

In May of that same year, the Contini Art Gallery located on Calle Larga XXII Marzo, San Marco 2288, inaugurates the exhibition The Movement of Light, a solo exhibition dedicated to the artist. In the following month of June, the Municipality of Pietrasanta in collaboration with the Contini Art Gallery in Venice, the Versiliana Foundation and START, organizes “The Evolution of a Dream” which presents a selection of Atchugarry’s monumental sculptures in marble and bronze placed along Piazza Duomo and in the St. Augustine Church and Cloister.

His works have been exhibited in various cities worldwide, such as London, New York, Miami,

Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Paris, Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Brasilia, Panama, New Orleans, San Francisco, Madrid, Cologne, Frankfurt, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Zurich, Basilea, Abu Dhabi, Milan, Venice, Turin, Stockholm, Seoul, Singapore and Hong Kong, amongst others. His works are present in various museums world-wide, such as the Perez Art Museum in Miami, Phillip & Patricia Frost Art Museum in Miami, the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia,the Groeninge Museum in Bruges, Lercaro Museum in Bologna, and the Park Museum in Portofino. Atchugarry lives and works in Lecco (Italy) and in Manantiales (Uruguay), where he is committed to the development of the Pablo Atchugarry Foundation and its international sculpture park as well as areas of formation, teaching and diffusion of art; thousands of students visit each year. Today it represents the most dynamic and interesting fruition of art and international sculpture bearing in mind the internationality of its activities, which generate a large quantity of inter-exchanges with other artists and a readiness to build a bridge of communication between European and American art.