Diego Cirulli was an Artist in Residence at Altos de Chavón during the fall of 2012. His contribution to our program was historic.
In my 33 years of directing the Artist in Residence program at Altos de Chavón, I can honestly say that Diego was one the most outstanding artist presences, in many ways. His skill as an artist is matched only by his commitment to do real and lasting good. His cause is to put his art-making at the service of a formidable consciousness-raising mission. The work he has done on behalf of the women who lost their children to the brutality and perversity of Argentina’s military regime is not only moving but compellingly brilliant. Aiming the spotlight of his art on the atrocities of the era, he raised the awareness and compassion of the many of us who were little informed about acts that the government and certain individuals sought to conceal, and performed a service to all mankind.
Trained as a fine artist, and having worked in theatre set design, Diego has a way of dramatizing his subject matter while elevating it. His paintings and installations with accompanying text on the subject of a hideous historic event demonstrated to students at The Altos de Chavón School of Design the role of the artist as a broker of change. And most importantly, his work underscored the responsibility that a true artist has to provide the public with an understanding of the devastatingly evil effects of totalitarian power ruthlessly corrupted.
During three months at our facility, Diego turned his interest and unparalleled energy to recording and reporting, in haunting images, the innocence of Third World elementary school children in their school uniforms, the mandatory beige trousers or skirt and robin’s-egg blue shirt or blouse. Diego’s series of paintings and oil sketches served as a tribute to the beauty of poor, powerless young people and to their longing for a valid education. The works were a recounting of youth in quest of a tool to break the circle of poverty and ignorance.
Diego lectured for us, visited our classrooms, and shared his experience and the process he goes through when making art. His candor, humility, and disarming passion for what he does moved us and has left an indelible mark on the program, the students, faculty, and administration.
We would have him return in a heartbeat. This is a genuine artist, an egoless servant of information and change. Diego Cirulli is a teacher is the truest sense of the word, a messenger, and something of a prince among men.
A component of The Altos de Chavón Cultural Center Foundation, a U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity, the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design has been graduating students from its two-year associate-degree program, affiliated with New York City’s prestigious Parsons “The New School For Design” since 1983.
Three majors are offered: Graphic Design, Fashion Design, and Fine Arts/Illustration. In addition, The School has developed a state-of-the-art Certificate Program in Digital Design.
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