Atchugarry. Scolpire la luce | Sculpting Light
English translation of the exhibition catalogue published by Allemandi.
Rome, GNAMC, 19 May – 21 June 2026
Edited by Gabriele Simongini, this volume is a tribute to the remarkable career of Pablo Atchugarry, the Uruguayan-born artist who has made Italy his adopted home and who has profoundly reshaped the language of contemporary sculpture through a synthesis of classical heritage and modern spirituality. Published alongside the exhibition at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, the catalogue highlights Atchugarry’s ability to transmute matter into a form of luminous vibration, while tracing the origins of his work and the stages of his creative process, from the initial drawings on stone blocks and the selection of marble in the Carrara quarries to the physical act of carving in the studio and the casting of bronze works. At the core of the volume are the striking dialogues established between Atchugarry’s sculptures and masterpieces from the museum’s permanent collection, where his ascending forms enter into a dynamic exchange with the spatial and sculptural investigations of twentieth-century masters such as Lucio Fontana, Alberto Giacometti, Hans Arp and Henry Moore. Moving from monumental installations to his iconic statuary marble works, the catalogue offers the portrait of an artist who, faithful to the tradition of “levare”, frees stone from its weight and transforms it into architectures of light and gestures toward the infinite.