“MURAL URACOA” BY THE ARTIST MATEO MANAURE: VIBRANT COVERING OF THE LIBERATOR AVENUE IN THE CITY OF CARACAS.
To refer to Caracas for whom its landscapes are transformed into nostalgia and for whom, in the last ten years he spent there, he dedicated himself to the care, decoration and rehabilitation of its urban heritage, requires insisting on its recognition as one of the cities with the greatest presence of public art, at least, in Latin America.
Thus, the construction of the University City by the distinguished architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva in 1954, which materialized his brilliant essay on the “synthesis of the arts” and brought together works by international and national avant-garde artists of the time (Alexander Calder, Jean Arp, Henry Moore, Omar Carreño, Mateo Manaure, respectively, among many others), gave rise for many years to a real trend in favor of opening museums to the squares, streets, and even highways and expressways in the capital.
This encouraged us, when we founded and presided over PDVSA La Estancia with the mission of identifying the greatest possible cultural contribution for our city, to dedicate ourselves to a great extent to the rehabilitation of public works of art that, due to the passage of time and the scourge of vandalism, but also the absence of maintenance, had paradoxically become a city expression of neglect.
Now, in Venezuela, in the second half of the last century, a group of artists emerged, who had shared a school in Paris, and created the “Los Disidentes” (“The Dissidents”) movement, which, as its name indicates, opposed the predominant trends up to that moment, particularly figurative art, with the aim of doing away with the past in order to transform the history of universal plastic art.
Perhaps Mateo Manaure was undoubtedly one of its most multifaceted representatives, a master of volume, shadows and color, a pioneer in his abstract and geometric tendencies; a critic of himself and of his own artistic evolution, an obsessive seeker of the internal and human, above the rational; and, above all, a great supporter of the integration of art in space. Because the incorporation of his work into architecture was first with man, to whom he owed himself, and which would lead him to seek in art, the fulfillment of a mission, which was none other than that of social change.
The Master applies abstraction in two large walls of the Central University of Venezuela. In one, he does it in a lyrical way, in the style of Vasily Kandinsky. In another, more geometric, under the influence of Piet Mondrian, behind the Aula Magna. This last tendency prevails in him from now on, as Manaure, through verticality, insists on incorporating and not simply adding his creations to the architecture, where the building becomes an integral work.
In this way, his idea of vertical geometry applied to the wall finds its greatest expression in both aerial (fire) staircases of the headquarters of the main Venezuelan public company, PDVSA. These in 2012 are effectively and physically integrated to the city of Caracas, through the placement of the “Uracoa” Mural, in the East-West Axis of the second stage of one of the most important road arteries of the capital, “Avenida Libertador”(“Liberator Avenue”). It is a trench where the Polychrome Oil Columns descend to extend towards more of its walls, in a serial way, generating a sensation of movement by color, which we can catalog as kinetic.
Thus, with the project we call “Vibra Caracas”(“Caracas vibrates”), under the direct guidance of the artist, who with his mastery in graphics and design, transformed the aerial fire columns into horizontal, we covered the walk of the passerby along the second stage of “Avenida Libertador”, thus configuring the longest glass mural of its kind in the world.
The placement of the work implied a previous civil and structural engineering work of great complexity. The walls had not been reinforced since the construction of the Avenue, despite the increase in weight generated over the years, not only by the density caused by the increasing number of vehicles, but also by the many previously unforeseeable constructions, such as, for example, the group of large buildings of social interest, part of the so-called “Misión Vivienda” (Housing Mission), among others. It was then necessary to reinforce the joints of the walls, determine and correct pathologies, clean and eliminate residues and adhesives, and then coat the walls to place the tiles or tesserae.
Continuous inspection and maintenance processes of the Uracoa Mural and its complementary areas as part of the “Vibra Caracas Project”. This during the period of our management.
Since 2010 we started the work, specifically, the test application of the murals, chosen by the Master and under his full guidance and dedication. A total of 320 tons of resources were used and 20 million glass mosaics from the recycling of the automotive industry were placed, that is, obtained in an environmentally friendly way and with low CO2 emissions. A total of 12 thousand square meters were covered, 6 thousand on each side of the pit in the lower part of the second stage of “Avenida Libertador”, by two crews made up of 20 expert muralist operators. The particles or tesserae were grouted, brushed, and polished to give a shiny finish to the surface, which had previously been cleaned of impurities using the “sandblasting” method.
All the above was also complemented with a work of vehicular and public transportation urban planning, bus stops, pedestrian walkways, etc., and with the execution of an important lighting project, which involved the identification of optimal light levels, without deficiencies or glare, for visual comfort in the vehicular and pedestrian areas. This, in a uniform manner, to obtain an excellent chromatic reproduction, according to international standards and for the visual health and road safety of the 50,000 daily users at the time. This installation of 2,060 luminaires had to respect and highlight the mural at the same time. In addition, the pedestrian stairs were illuminated and the aesthetic ambience of the beginning of the Avenue was enhanced by lighting the beams, all with low technical maintenance and performance, and with “LED” technology.
Thus, on the occasion of the Bicentennial of our Independence, the city of Caracas was adorned on September 29, 2012, with the Mural “Uracoa” by Mateo Manaure, named after the town of birth of the painter, which, imbued with the color, waves and volume of the “Orinoco River” that bathes it, accompanies the “caraqueño” in his daily journey and makes alliance with the intense desire of the Master to serve the human being who, with his vital presence, helped him in his search for such creation.
Today, Caracas Vibrates on Libertador Avenue because the Uracoa Mural sparkles with color and movement, illuminating the traffic of the capital’s citizens.
Caracas has the largest vitreous mural in the world