euskalkultura.eus

Montevideo, Uruguay.   “Painting murals is what I like doing the most, since the scale allows much more than canvas,” said Damian Ibarguren, artist born in Fray Bentos, Uruguay.  “The idea of a ‘Postcard from a Happy World’ is to gift the observer a happy moment in his/her daily life.  People continue to find things with time, in my murals as in my paintings that they didn’t notice at first and some find completely different meaning.”

Motivated by the possibility to share his experience in other scenarios and by a desire to get closer to the land and culture of his ancestors, Ibarguren extends the offer to paint murals both in the Basque Country as well as in other corners of the Diaspora.  “My intention is to get to know Euskal Herria as well as leave my contribution behind, murals on Basques who migrated to Urugauy, for example.  In order to do this, I need to get in touch with communities in the Basque Country and inform them of what I’m about, in case they may be interested.”  The offer includes Basque clubs who may have clubhouses or areas where a painter could work nearby.  In this case, the conditions would be that the interested club would pay travel, room and board.

Experience in Murals

Damian Ibarguren has vast experience in doing this type of work.  Among the 30 murals that he has painted in Uruguay, Lebanon, and Costa Rica, one of the largest is, without a doubt, his work done in Algorta in 2008, in the Department of Rio Negro, Uruguay.  With this work, he won the mural contest organized by ONU-Uruguay as part of the 60^th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.  This theme is very close to the painter, son of Tupamaros, exiled in Sweden since 1980 until democracy returned to Uruguay.

“I would like to establish a link with Basque culture through my painting,” he said even though he isn’t sure about the origin of his ancestor.  “The family myth says that a branch of the Ibargurens are from the same family as Evita (Eva Ibarguren Duarte), who was one of two cousins who came on the same boat with one settling in Montevideo and the other in Buenos Aires,” but that is all part of the family stories, that I can’t confirm,” he concludes.

Anyone interested in getting in touch with Damian Ibarguren can do so via email: damian.ibarguren@gmail.com or on Facebook (Damian Ibarguren Gauthier).  More details on his work here.