On Thursday, October 23 at 6:00 pm, the Pinacoteca di Brera’s Sala Bassetti will host a pivotal event for lovers of contemporary sculpture. Nomos Edizioni, the independent publisher active since 1997 and renowned for its art-focused illustrated books, presents “ATCHUGARRY. Catalogo generale della scultura”, curated by Marco Meneguzzo. This volume marks the fourth installment in the comprehensive Catalogo generale delle opere di Pablo Atchugarry.
Building on the momentum of Nomos’s earlier publication, the 2024 Catalogo generale dei dipinti, disegni, ceramiche, incisioni—also curated by Meneguzzo—the 2019–2024 sculpture catalog expands the artist’s documented output with more than 800 illustrated works created over the last five years. The new book continues the publisher’s mission to document Atchugarry’s prolific oeuvre and to situate his monumental practice within a broader historical and humanistic frame.
The event opens with Meneguzzo’s critical text, followed by an intimate dialogue between the artist and the curator. Meneguzzo describes a long arc of production in which Atchugarry’s recent decade of work appears as a grand struggle against time—not time as the present, but time to come. It is a narrative of virtuous resistance to oblivion, translating into a universal aspiration: to carve a place for humanity grounded in ascetic striving, the search for light, and the harmony that radiates through Atchugarry’s sculpture. This mission, the author contends, is safeguarded by concentric bulwarks, among which the Museo—a living model of possible life and a conduit to the future—plays a central role.
The catalog organizes the works by year, each prefaced by critical texts from distinguished scholars who have previously engaged with Atchugarry’s art. Names include Ettore Mocchetti, Luca Bochicchio, Luciano Caprile, Philippe Clerc, David Anfam, Arianna Baldoni, and Kosme de Barañano.
Pablo Atchugarry—an eminent figure in contemporary sculpture—was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, on August 23, 1954, to María Cristina Bonomi and Pedro Atchugarry, both art enthusiasts who supported his early explorations in drawing and painting. He produced his first sculpture in cement in 1971 and held his inaugural solo show of drawings and paintings the following year at the Centro de Exposiciones SUBTE in Montevideo.
A pivotal turning point came with his encounter with marble and the Carrara quarries. He has described this moment as finding “true love.” Since then, marble has remained the privileged material of his inquiry, and Atchugarry regularly returns to Carrara to select the large blocks that will become his monumental works.
His exhibitions have reached major cities worldwide, from London and New York to Paris, Buenos Aires, Miami, and Venice. Today his works are held in international museums and collections such as the Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales in Montevideo, the Groeningemuseum in Bruges, the Chrysler Museum of Art in Virginia, the Museu de Arte Contemporânea in Lisbon, the Fondazione Lercaro in Bologna, and the Pérez Art Museum and Frost Art Museum in Miami.
Atchugarry currently lives and works between Lecco, Italy, and Manantiales, Uruguay. He is founder of the Fundación Pablo Atchugarry, which includes the International Sculpture Park and the MACA – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Atchugarry.
The Brera event promises a comprehensive, richly illustrated portrait of the artist’s sculpture from 2019 through 2024, underscoring Atchugarry’s continued commitment to form, light, and humanistic values—an oeuvre that translates time into a lasting, tactile memory.
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