Waffle quimera (Waffle pipe-dream)

LUIS A. SOLARI (1918-1993). Draftsman, engraver and painter. He trained at the Industrial School, with Guillermo Laborde, and later at the Circle of Fine Arts. He studied engraving at L’École Superieure des Beux Arts in Paris and at the Pratt Graphic Art Center and the Graphic Workshop of New York. He was a member of the Carlos F. Sáez Group (1949), together with Manuel Espínola Gómez, Washington Barcala and Juan Ventayol. He was a teacher and created stage designs and costumes for amateur theater. He received distinctions such as the Frist Prize for Painting (1966) and the Acquisition Prize (1968) at the Fine Arts Salon. He participated in the biennials of Sao Paulo (1951, 1965) and Venice (1972). Although he went through different stages, his most widespread production is characterized by the figuration of vernacular origin, with folkloric roots and peasant myth, which —using plastic solutions— delves into religious, gaucho and popular themes, through masked characters and zoomorphic beings who move through everyday scenes. In this manner, in a country with moderate imagination and myths, he creates a possible world that recovers the collective memory to project new vital coordinates, linked to a cosmovision and an ethical conception that “channels the criticism, warnings, condemnations, and denunciations of a creator concerned about the destiny of mankind”. Waffle quimera (Waffle pipe-dream IADB#2007.9), possibly a portrait of Mr. John Waffle, evidences his mastery of engraving, the medium in which he achieves his most significant, transcendent and valuable works, at the same time that it invites us into his permanent magical environment.