closely hewn together, rise upward in an attempt to escape their earthly bounds. The remarkable grace of the forms, much like the ascending spires of a church or, more secularly, like the skyscraping heights of a modern building, also indicates the artist’s love of marble as a pure material, which he exquisitely changes to imagery that strikes his audience as both entirely idealized and deeply erotic. A further dimension is found in the artist’s careful choice of colored stone, which adds a greater complexity and formal acuity to the genre. Atchugarry comes from an artistic family; his father was a student of the great Uruguayan constructivist Joaquin TorresGarcia, and according to the artist, “He [my father] allowed me to enter the world of art almost without realizing it.” Even as a young child, Pablo was interested in art—once, confined to bed by illness, he began to model forms with Plasticine: “And I thus discovered volume.” But it was in the early years of his adulthood, between the ages of 18 and 20, that Atchugarry began to experiment with sand and cement; it was at that point, he said, “I realized that I was entering the world of the third dimension.” His interest in carving led him to Italy after traveling through Europe; he made his first sculpture in marble in Carrara in 1979, and set up three years later in Lecco. This was a big decision: as Atchugarry comments, “Living in Italy is a privilege, and I believe it was fundamental to my activity as a sculptor.” Of course, moving to Italy to sculpt was a step that affirmed the artist’s ambition to follow the masters; Atchugarry writes: “By frequenting the marble quarries of Carrara, I learned to love marble, to listen to its voice (it told me its secrets). I felt the presence of the giants who have loved marble, men such as Michelangelo and Brancusi.” Carving’s ancient history has made its contemporary presence seem to some as antiquated. Atchugarry of course cannot help but state otherwise: “I disagree with those who say that carving is an antiquated art. Carving has almost surely been present in man’s expression since its origins, from the prehistoric Venuses in stone to the sculptures of the Cyclades. Sculpture that is born ‘by taking away,’ that is, direct carving, has been the main form of expression of the great artists of all times, from Michelangelo to Antonio Canova, Constantin Brancusi and Jean Arp to Isamu Noguchi.” While Atchugarry admires Greek, Roman, and Renaissance sculpture “for their perfection, for their relationship to light, and their expressive strength,” he does not necessarily see himself as a scholar quoting the past. Nor does he worry about participating in contemporary trends. Indeed, he writes, “I consider there is no need to worry about whether sculpture in direct carving is or is not
14