CREOLE SURREALISM

Bird idyll. Córdoba. Third quarter of the 20th century.

Monocopy. Measurements: Print: 45.4 x 35.5 cm. Sheet: 50.2 x 40.6 cm. Signed inside the work and in graphite pencil, "Monocopia - M. Pablo Borgarello".

A complex world is represented in this engraving, a cross between a kind of Creole mythology and surreal oneirism. A woman, in profile on the scene, raises her hand and gives the girl severe advice. The young woman, who looks at us with an ironic smile, drinks mate. The wisdom of the woman - suppose her mother - is represented by the owl on her head, while the girl's purity by the white dove. The advice revolves around love, we identify it in the heart that the girl holds in her hand, duplicated in the calabash of her mate. The birds continue on the mother's warning. Next to the women and in the foreground we see a rooster strumming a guitar, the same girl with long braids dancing, handkerchief in hand, and finally, a rooster abusing the young woman, its claws digging into her body. Behind this scene follows the erotic and animal allegory. A row of mules, dogs, cats, and more anthropomorphic roosters surround a naked woman, lying on the ground, on her back, and with another bird on her head.

Painter, sculptor, engraver and teacher, Miguel Pablo Borgarello (Santa Fe, 1906-Córdoba, 1995) moved at an early age with his family to Córdoba, where in 1927 he entered the Provincial Academy of Fine Arts. He also studied art with Emiliano Gómez Clara and Carlos Camilloni. His first individual exhibition with paintings and sculptures was in Córdoba in 1929. He later exhibited etchings, monocopies, woodcuts and gouaches, further demonstrating his mastery of all plastic procedures. He participated in the National Hall from 1931. Settled in San Francisco, Córdoba, he carries out an important didactic work. Numerous monuments located in public spaces are known to have been authored by him, such as the statue of the founder of San Francisco, and in collaboration with his wife Elisa Damar, Al Gaucho and Al Gringo, Al Labrador and El Indio Bamba; among others. He exhibited in Argentina, Italy, Morocco and Spain. Among the numerous prizes that he obtained, we highlight: in 1945; Stimulus Sculpture Award. National Hall of Buenos Aires; in 1961, Gold Medal in Painting, Provincial Hall of Córdoba, and in 1964, 2nd Prize in Engraving. National Hall of Buenos Aires.