Uruguayos / Uruguayans (XXXV-2) - William Moreira Cruz [Escultura, Entrevista / Sculpture, Interview]

En este segundo post (el primero aquí) dedicado a la obra de William Moreira, una nueva selección de sus "Bichos locos", esculturas realizadas con material recuperado, objetos antiguos, maderas varias, etc. Acompañamos las imágenes con la traducción al inglés de la entrevista al artista realizada por Shirley Rebuffo, publicada en español en el post anterior.

In this second post (the first one here) dedicated to the work of William Moreira, a new selection of his "Crazy Bugs", sculptures made with recovered material, antique objects, various woods, etc... The images are accompanied by the English translation of Shirley Rebuffo's interview with the artist, posted in Spanish in the previous post.

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William Moreira Cruz

(El Sauce, Canelones, Uruguay, 1962-)

Interview by Shirley Rebuffo

William con algunas de sus obras / with some of his works

William Moreira Cruz is a plastic artist born October 19, 1962 in El Sauce, Canelones, Uruguay. 

Since 1983 to date he has participated in more than 70 collective exhibitions and has held solo shows in Uruguay, Paraguay (Asunción), Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Spain (Madrid) and the United States (New York). He has received several awards and distinctions, and his works can be seen in museums and public and private institutions.

"El compadrito / The Troublemaker"

Viga de pino, trozos de patas de silla, castañuelas, bota de cuero, mango de paraguas, latas y maderas varias /

pine beam, pieces of chair legs, castanets, leather boot, umbrella handle, cans and various woods, 33 x 36 x 16 cm.

"Polista / Polo Player"

Yugo de bueyes, patas de silla y sillón Luis XV, madera, latas oxidadas /

ox yoke, Louis XV chair and armchair legs, wood, rusty tin cans, 50 x 62 x 15 cm.

Shirley Rebuffo: I would like to understand the artist creator, but also go a little further, look at the root that is the origin of the human side; tell me about your childhood, how did the environment influence your interest in art?

William Moreira Cruz: I was born in El Sauce and grew up in "El Cangrejal", a neighborhood full of children, where people played all day long. Later, when I could walk alone, with the tranquility of the place, I would walk without company through the gorges and cutwaters in search of eels, catfish and wolf fishes. I would take that fish home and eat it with the fun of having caught it myself. Those days have been very important for my life, because without wanting it, I was learning to connect with the inner silence. It was like a reason for connection, a conductive link towards the contemplation of a work of art: the magical contact with oneself.

"Polista / Polo Player"

"Pájaros / Birds"

«I remember El Sauce of that time as a quiet town about 35 km from Montevideo, which seemed more than today, with about 7,000 inhabitants. Surrounded by farms, small farmers, planting for self-consumption and suppliers of vegetables from Montevideo. Many vineyards, wineries, and several handcrafted straw brooms for sale in the larger cities.

As a child I always painted, but the passion became even stronger when, with my family, I was already living in Montevideo, between the ages of thirteen and fourteen. I was walking home to save my money from the bus ticket and buy me oil tubes.

Later on I felt the need to study and I took a very complete course in advertising drawing, humour, caricatures, artistic drawing at the Continental Schools Academy, with Esteban Garino, a very charismatic being with whom we established a close friendship, despite the 50 years of age difference.»

"Ratón de paseo / Strolling Mouse", altura / height: 20 cm.

"El segador implacable / The Implacable Mower"

Sombrerito de bronce, trompo, gancho, trozo de palote para ravioles, cascanueces, trozo de collar, rascador para espalda, puntas de percha, maderitas varias /

bronze hat, spinning top, hook, piece of ravioli stick, nutcracker, piece of necklace, back scraper, hanger tips, various woods, altura / height: 42 cm.

"Trompetista con pompón blanco / Trumpeter With White Pompom"

«At 18, also with Garino, I took oil painting classes. I learned a lot, he taught me a lot of important things. From how to take photographs to pointing out to me the twenty novels I'd have to read to have a "mini" general culture. Garino was capable of transmitting great doses of enthusiasm with his cheerful and "torrential" temperament, the one I absorbed like a sponge.

But his teaching was rather academic, necessary to begin with, but not to stay in it because there was no inventiveness beyond the staging of the composition. I limited myself to learning how to copy a model or a photograph, with more or less ease, according to the skills I was developing and I reached the most "correct" frontiers of impressionism without valuing everything we know from there.

I felt the need to deepen my interior and built my artistic altar: Sorolla, Sargent, Brangwyn, Zorn, among others. So I walked, happy for life, until in 2002 I traveled to New York to present a solo show at the Jadite Galleries.

On a visit to the Metropolitan, I saw Van Gogh's painting "Two Cut Sunflowers", with its symbolism, and I understood that my anecdotal painting "based on subject" (as Joaquín Torres-García said) had nothing to do with that major art.»

"Bólido de carreras / Racing Car", cepillo, maderas / plane, wood

"Bólido de carreras / Racing Car"

«Back in Uruguay I had already decided to change. But I was in front of the problem of change itself, as I worked with the most famous commercial painting galleries in Uruguay. Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Porto Alegre. I would stop producing gauchos by smoking tobacco and herding cows, there would be no more tanned and muscular fishermen. towing their boats.

Those ancient gods of my personal altar were descended to the category of "saints" and were replaced by Picasso, Tapies, Miró, Torres-García, Rafael Barradas, etc. 

After several lonely, aimless and sometimes unfounded searches, I found myself with whom I consider my teacher: Guillermo Fernández. He showed me a way to the liberation of my oppressed artist, after thirty years of painter, of having received an academic formation, useful as for the trade but loaded with the own vices of narrative painting, and after years of several attempts following the most varied paths, I found my way.»

"Don Quijote y Sancho Panza / Don Quixote & Sancho Panza", madera / wood

"Don Quijote y Sancho Panza / Don Quixote & Sancho Panza", madera / wood

SR: When did this fascination with the "Crazy Bugs" begin? Is there any specific influence? The way I see it, the bugs are really crazy.

WMC: The Bugs were quite a "discovery". I started with these objects in 2013 because of my "love" for what abounds in the sheds, what others abandon, what others leave in disuse. Tools with wooden handles, unpainted wood, broken tweezers, pieces of chairs, antique hangers, rusty tinplate, and so many loose pieces that they no longer fulfilled the purpose for which they were created. I went around (and I go around) sweep-handles, especially the part called flea market. There are also people who thinks of me and makes generous donations of what they no longer want, but they think it can be useful to me.

William con su "Piel de Judas" / with his "Little Devil"

"Piel de Judas" / "Little Devil", taza para vahos, maderas, etc. / cup for vapours, woods, etc.

«My first piece of this style was a red bicycle with two hangers and wheels made by a turner. I still have it in my possession. Then I made several I sold them to an art gallery in Punta del Este called "Juan Cosas Viejas (John Old Things)". I was encouraged and excited to continue inventing.

That's how I continued with some cocks and opened up the infinite possibilities of working with elements that are assembled to form a different object.

I researched with people who worked with plastics and recycled materials, and of course, I studied Picasso's assemblages and Torres-García's wood artworks, including his toys.

Everything is intuitive now that I have inserted the knowledge of rhythms, accompaniments, equidistance, signs, planes, etc., transmitted by my teacher Guillermo Fernandez.

I think "Crazy Bugs" are more original because there aren't many people who work like that, which doesn't happen with painting.»

"Ratón volador / Flying Mouse", altura / height: 37 cm.

SR: What revelation can we discover in your work?

WMC: Surprise - I say this without presumptions -, and happiness, since I am the first surprised by my creations. It is very difficult for many people to detach themselves from the function of the object and, for example, to see a scissor as an element beyond its function. I have the capacity to see these objects as independent plastic forms and use these forms in such a way that they go unnoticed, giving at the end a piece that seems to have a life of its own.

"Perro lambeta"

Trozo de yugo, perchas, castañuelas, lata oxidada, trozo de pata torneada, mango de martillo, lata de talco oxidada, etc./

piece of yoke, hangers, castanets, oxidized tin, piece of turned leg, hammer handle, rusty talc tin, etc., 42 x 30 x 30 cm.

"El guardián del taller / The Guardian of the Repair Shop"

De la serie "Perros con mariposas" / From Dogs With Butterflies Series

Yugo, patas Luis XV, latas, mango de maceta, capellada de All Star y maderas varias.

yoke, Louis XV legs, cans, pot handle, All Star shoe patch and various woods, 38 x 43 x 22 cm.

«I believe that art, if I ever reach it, or rather, creation, happens through the artist who has to be nurtured by formal elements for conception and construction of their works. Torres-García advised his disciples to take care about forming a structure and ended by saying: "The rest comes alone and belongs to the spirit". That is to say that the more or less formed artist would be a channel of the mystery of creation. 

But I repeat, I believe that for an idea to emerge, a discovery, first you have to have a solid base of knowledge.

If we take this idea to the plane of music, to exemplify clearly: a beginner with a violin does not get anything good at the beginning, no matter how enlightened or enthusiastic he feels, first he has to spend years of exercises, scales, and practices to play the harmonics correctly and thus express what he feels and wants.

At this moment I remember a phrase I heard from my teacher Guillermo Fernández when, with great shyness, he showed Joaquín Torres-García his drawings of beginner. Torres said, "We're all romantics, but to be romantic, you have to be classics first".»

"Caballero medieval / Medieval Knight", altura / height: 32 cm.

"Caballero medieval / Medieval Knight"

SR: How long does it take to create a Crazy Bug or a portrait? Tell us about your creative process.

WMC: Depends on the piece and its complexity. Many times is just associating two or three pieces and the work is finished in a short period of time. But there are more complicated ones, they require a longer process of elaboration. For example, in the case of a rider and his horse you have to see and measure each piece and present it to find out what its function is as a segment and as part of the whole.

In general, when I put the pieces together, I don't have a clear idea of what they are going to be used for, since I don't want to fall into repetitions. I can insist on the same theme, but the piece doesn't can be redundant. I have to be the first one to be surprised, that's why I allow the pieces to express themselves, and say what they want to be, or what they want to be part of. Hence the surprise and the function, which I believe I have, of being a "channel" between the elements and their final manifestation.

Picasso said: "If I already know what's going to come out, it's not fun anymore".

"Soldado artiguista (perro cimarrón) / Soldier of Artigas", madera / wood

"Perro en primavera / Dog in Spring"

De la serie "Perros con mariposas" / From Dogs With Butterflies Series

Yugo, maderas varias / yoke, various woods, 60 x 33 x 17 cm.

«Once Edmundo Rivero - a great tangos singer -, was asked about how he could sing the tango "Sur (South)" every night for 40 years, with the same feeling as the first time. He replied: "I simply close my eyes, and in my imagination, I go for a walk in the neighborhood".

That, I think, is the key to not repeating yourself. Stay fresh and innocent.

As for my last paintings, I confront the white canvas and make a plan of colored planes, and then I add graphic signs on top of the planes, I look for the balance between these and those, in order to form a set that "works" visually.

When this is well distributed, in my opinion, and many times after a pause, I leave my workshop, drink some mates, clear my head of influences, and come back with the freshest possible gaze. Only there, letting myself be carried away by what those spots suggest to me, the subject that will be more or less happy according to my abilities arise.»

Los eléctricos / The Electric Ones, "El enchufe / The Plug"

"Vaca / Cow", madera / wood

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Sobre los artistas mencionados / About mentioned artists
Esteban Garino: [Uruguayos (XVIII)]

Joaquín Sorolla: [Todos los enlaces / All Links]
John Singer Sargent: [Todos los enlaces / All Links]
Frank Brangwyn: Wikipedia
Anders Zorn: [Todos los enlaces / All Links]
Vincent Van Gogh: [Todos los enlaces / All Links]
Joaquín Torres-García:
[Uruguayos (XII)], [Aniversarios (XXVII)], [Arte perdido (X)], [Hermenegildo Sábat (Caricatura, Pintura)]
Pablo Picasso: [Todos los enlaces / All Links]
Antoni Tápies: [Recolección (XXIII)]
Joan Miró: [Todos los enlaces / All Links]
Rafael Barradas: [Uruguayos (III)]
Guillermo Fernández: Wikipedia
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William Moreira en "El Hurgador" / in this blog: [Uruguayos (XXXV-1)], [Uruguayos (XXXV-3)], [Rinocerontes (CI)]

Más sobre / More about William Moreira:

facebook, Instagram, Website, Artnet, Galería Portón de San Pedro

Imágenes publicadas con autorización del artista (¡Muchas gracias, William!)

Images published here with artist's permission (Thanks a lot, William!)
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Shirley Rebuffo es Licenciada en Bibliotecología y Archivología por la Escuela Universitaria de Bibliotecología y Ciencias Afines (Montevideo, Uruguay), Técnica en Museologia por la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias (opción de Antropología), Objeto, símbolo y espacio en Curaduría, y estudiante de arte y pintura con el maestro Eduardo Espino.

Shirley Rebuffo has a Degree in Library Science and a Degree in Archivology by the Universitary School of Library and Related Sciences, Technician in Museology by the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (Anthropology option) (Republic University Montevideo, Uruguay), Object, Symbol and Space in Curatorship, and art and painting student under Master Eduardo Espino.

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Si te gustó la obra de William, quizá te gusten /
If you liked William's work, maybe you'll like

Gilbert Legrand:
[Gilbert http://elhurgador.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/gilbert-legrand-escultura.html (Escultura)], [Te Recomiendo (III)], [Rinocerontes (LXXXI)]
Gwen Murphy: [Gwen Murphy (Escultura, Zapatos)]
Jessica Joslin: [Jessica Joslin (Escultura)]
Joe Brubaker: [Joe Brubaker (Escultura)], [Joe Brubaker (II) (Escultura)]
Mark Oliver: [Mark Oliver (Escultura, Ilustración)]

Michihiro Matsuoka: [Michihiro Matsuoka (Escultura)]

Mikel Aparici: [Miquel Aparici (Escultura, pintura)], [Rinocerontes (LXXXI)]

Nancy Fouts: [Nancy Fouts (Escultura)], [Asonancias (XX)]
Tony Fredricksson: [Rinocerontes (LIV)], [Tony Fredriksson (Escultura)]