Oswaldo Sagástegui: ink in action

The 1968 Olympics, the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall and more. Octavio Paz, Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and others.

The Peruvian cartoonist Oswaldo Sagástegui (Huánco 1936) filtered into history and developed friendships of all caliber to trace his universe, which is now exhibited in the Kuelap Room of the Ministry of Culture, from Tuesday to Sunday until 6 p.m. .

The curator of the exhibition, Igor Bernaola, takes the floor.

–What does it mean for the collective to present a work of almost 30 years by a caricaturist like Sagástegui?

It is a great impulse, the idea of ​​the collective is to show and disseminate Peruvian art that has been forgotten or was not recognized throughout history. We do not think only of visual artists, but of all types of artists.

–Is there any interesting anecdote or challenge you have faced during the process?

Various anecdotes, but not all of them can be told (laughs), but I think the most fun was when all of us involved in the project had a fierce discussion to decide which would be the main cartoon for the poster and invitation. We ended up opting for Pope John Paul II because he seemed the most universal to us and that he best reflected a very important characteristic in Sagástegui’s work: the exact degree of humor, which does not reach the ridiculous, nor is it so opaque that it cannot be felt.

–How do you place this work in the Peruvian artistic and cultural panorama?

There are not many caricature exhibitions today, being one of the most accepted artistic expressions of all. It’s very difficult for someone not to like good cartoons.

–How do you think the works have influenced you over the years?

Well, Oswaldo Sagástegui worked much of his career abroad, even when he was doing it in Peru he went quite unnoticed.

As happens to many Peruvian artists, they do better outside than inside. Many do not know it, but in one of the programs where Humberto Martínez Morosini interviewed various people from the national media, Sagástegui was in charge of making a caricature in real time during the interview and this was given to the guest at the end. On the other hand, if we talk outside of Peru, I think that the teacher managed to show the news of his time that did generate great influence, it is more so in the book collection Karicaturen & Cartoons He is considered one of the most influential caricaturists of the 20th century.

–What is the perspective curatorial that they have adopted to highlight diversity and evolution in the work of Sagástegui throughout the years?

Sagástegui’s evolution is really interesting, because it is not that he learned to draw better over the years, but rather that his capacity for analysis became sharper. He became much more perceptive to the details that could contextualize a character, that is why there are several that appear more than once and are not exactly the same, but depending on the news in which it was going to appear, this or that detail stands out. . Great examples are Bill Clinton, Fidel Castro, García Márquez and John Paul II himself.

Post Views: 1.681