Pablo Echaurren

Pablo Echaurren (Rome, 22 January 1951) is an Italian painter, comics artist and writer.

He is the son of Chilean surrealist painter Roberto Matta and Italian actress Angela Faranda.

His surname stems from a clerical error in the civil registry office, which was eventually corrected, but Echaurren continued to use the name professionally.

Despite being Roberto Matta's son, Gianfranco Baruchello was Echaurren’s real art mentor.

Baruchello introduced him to Arturo Schwarz who became his first manager.

Since the early 1970s, Echaurren has exhibited his work in Italy and abroad.

In the 1970s he designed covers for several books, including Porci con le ali (Pigs with Wings), many of which were published by the far-left publishing house Savelli.

An anthological exhibition of his work (from the 1970s until today) was held at the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome (2004), while his most recent production was displayed in a solo exhibition at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome (2006) and in the Pablo a Siena exhibition at the Magazzini del Sale (2008).

In 1977, he and others created Oask?!, the first fanzine by the ‘Metropolitan Indians’ (Indiani Metropolitani), soon followed by other fanzines related to the ‘Movement of 1977’ (Il movimento del ‘77).

He collaborated, as an artist and a writer, with Lotta Continua (a political organization) and with magazines such as Linus, Frigidaire, Tango, Comic Art, Alter Alter, Zut, and Carta.

He is also the author of numerous essays, polemical pamphlets and novels.

In the 1980s and 1990s he produced numerous avant-garde comics such as Caffeina d’Europa (a work devoted to Marinetti’s life, and one of his first graphic novels), Majakovskij, Nivola vola, Futurismo contro, Vita disegnata di Dino Campana, Evola in Dada, Vita di Pound, Dada con le zecche.

His style is influenced by Dada.

He combines “high” and “low” culture as well as art and crafts, expressing himself via different media including painting, ceramics, illustration, comics, writing, video, etc. He aims to create work outside the expected cultural hierarchies.

Since 2000, his work has been shown in the following exhibitions:

In 2009, the MIAAO (Museo Internazionale di Arti Applicate Oggi) in Turin celebrated the 100th anniversary of Futurism with an exhibition focusing on his work.

Echaurren is also a lover of electric basses.

In 2009, he exhibited his collection of vintage instruments, along with several of his paintings inspired by them, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in the exhibition "The Invention of the Bass" (L'invenzione del basso).

In 2010, as an acknowledgment of Echaurren’s forty-year career, the Fondazione Roma Museo organized the anthological exhibition "Crhomo Sapiens" at Palazzo Cipolla (previously, Museo del Corso).

In the same year, together with his wife Claudia Salaris, the artist founded the Fondazione Echaurren Salaris.

In 2010 he created the Foundation Echaurren Salaris with his wife, Claudia Salaris, an historian of avant-garde movements.

In 2011, the Macro in Rome presented the cycle "Baroque'n'Roll", a series of ceramic kiosks dedicated to his passion for the electric bass, and the Mar (Ravenna), organized the exhibition "Lasciare il segno" (‘Leave a mark’) featuring works produced since early 1969.

In 2014 the Beinecke Library (Yale University, USA) acquired an extensive collection of Pablo Echaurren's writings and drawings related to his participation in the countercultural movement of the 1970s.

In 2015 The Galleria nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea hosted a large solo show (curated by Angelandreina Rorro) by Echaurren titled "Contropittura", which analysed the sociopolitical aspects of his work.

In 2016, Chile paid tribute to him for the first time with a retrospective exhibition at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago (curated by Inès Ortega-Màrquez) entitled Make Art Not Money.

In 2017 various shows commemorated forty years from the Movement of 1977: 1) "Du champ magnétique" at Scala Contarini del Bovolo in Venice exhibited Echaurren’s drawings that reinterpreted Marcel Duchamp’s work; 2) the Museo di Roma in Trastevere organized an exhibition of Echaurren’s drawings from 1977 alongside Tano D'Amico’s photographs; 3) the Palazzo Platamone (Catania) hosted the exhibition "Soft Wall", framing Echaurren's alternative/underground production and his connection to the language of Street Art.

In 2019, Mart (Rovereto) hosted a solo show.

In 2020 Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max Planck Institut, Rome) digitally acquired a large section of the Echaurren Salaris' archive pertaining to the 1970s (fanzines, posters, drawings, paintings) and now accessible to the public.

Echaurren’s works are currently in the permanent collection of several museums, including The National Gallery in Rome, the MAXXI, the MACRO, the MIC (Faenza), the Mart (Rovereto), and the Museum of the Twentieth Century in Milan.