URUGUAY POP - GALERÍA DE LAS MISIONES EXHIBITS WORKS BY ERNESTO CRISTIANI AND RUISDAEL SUÁREZ

This project presents a selection of works that, with the exception of Suárez's extensive graphic production, presents all the creative periods of these unique artists.

Cristiani and Suárez were two extremely different artists who shared a common and creative life for two decades. Although both channeled their creativity and sensitivity in multiple media such as acting, teaching or writing, they found in the visual arts space the pertinent medium to convey both a need for expression, as well as their feelings about the social reality where they lived.

Ernesto Cristiani (Montevideo, 1928-1989) exhibited in numerous individual and group exhibitions in Uruguay, Argentina, the United States and Brazil. Trained as a teacher and headmaster, and passing through poetry, Cristiani, like Suárez, presented a strong enthusiasm and acute sensitivity that were manifested in various artistic media.

Ruisdael Suárez (Montevideo, 1929-2004) began to paint in a self-taught way, but dissatisfied with the results, he shifted to poetry. Advised by Luis Mazzey he resumed his artistic activity, oriented towards engraving at the Montevideo Engraving Club founded in those years, specializing in the xylographic technique. Influenced by social realism he made the series "Los pescadores". Between 1959 and 1968 he obtained numerous national and international awards; He exhibited his work in international shows and competitions in the Soviet Union, the United States, Romania, Poland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Chile, and Argentina. Suárez became one of the protagonists of Uruguayan art in the sixties, tackling multiple artistic activities such as acting, singing, poetry and the visual arts. He investigated and stood out expressively in engraving, painting, collage and the construction of objects with a formal discourse of great originality and personality, crossing several aesthetic currents and also maintaining a decided formal link with Pop Art.