"Actually, there is no specific moment in which I discovered myself as an artist. It is something timeless. Since I was a child, I always drew, I was always researching, searching, studying. When I was 10 years old, my mother gave me my first book about I drew cartoons because I saw that I drew characters from television or comics. From there, I think my vocation as a future artist or cartoonist was awakened. At that time there was no internet, no videos, none of that. , work, study, read a lot of books, and that is what I dedicated myself to. I had a completely self-taught training, where I read books, I was interested in art, in how to solve certain drawing or painting situations. At a young age, I began to study sculpture, advertising drawing, screen printing (which is one of the techniques I use the most), and lately watercolor. I studied at the Pedro Figari School of Arts and Crafts, and later I studied teaching Visual Communication and Drawing. . Currently I have done watercolor workshops with Pito Campos and Carlos Astramskas.”
“ I believe that art is always a tool through which one has something to say. One has something to reflect on. Therefore, one can study the technique of certain artistic forms, such as watercolor, and know what brushstroke to use, what colors to use, what contrasts, what composition, everything that is in the theoretical framework. But for me, art must communicate things, it must make people reflect, it must mobilize feelings and even provide peace and tranquility, creating a state in the viewer. One can create a drawing that is technically perfect, but conveys nothing. However, when we manage to mobilize the viewer, when we get them to identify with what they see, that is when things change and that is the most important thing for me. Each of my paintings must convey something, it must tell a story, it must make you reflect on certain situations. From there, feedback is formed and one can dialogue with the viewer through the work as a tool. As for my references, I have studied advertising drawing, I have developed in screen printing, and my references have been artists like Shepard Fairey , Andy Warhol, who were related to advertising, stencils and screen printing. Lately, I have been exploring the work of watercolorists like Álvaro Castagnet and Juan Saturio, people who really express a lot through watercolor, and that is what I try to convey in my work.”
“What mainly motivates me are the themes. Addressing a topic involves a study, an investigation, immersing oneself in that particular topic. I can't just rely on saying "I liked this photo and I'm going to reproduce it," because that would be superficial. By the time I held my first exhibition in 2019, I was very committed to veganism. I wanted to denounce animal abuse and raise awareness among people through my drawings and paintings. The exhibition was called "Black Ink" and combined watercolor and Indian ink. I managed to create expressive works, developing characters and raising awareness about animal abuse. Now, with watercolor, I am exploring the theme of boats. By moving to the coast, I am very close to the sea and artisanal fishing. I want my paintings to reflect the life of fishermen, their sacrifice, effort and dedication. I want to convey the uncertainty of going out to sea and finding nothing, or the uncertainty of not knowing when you will return. For this reason, watercolors of boats are solitary, silent, with stormy or threatening skies. I want to motivate the viewer to feel the latent danger, loneliness or certain poverty. What motivates me are the themes. Maybe in the future I will be interested in homelessness, and then I would investigate how these people live on the streets, what they do. My motivation goes beyond simply reflecting something that I liked, it focuses on the themes and generating reflection.”
“Artistic style is a constant search, right? When you discover your own style, I think you reach the climax of art, don't you? One can look at a painting and say: “Ah, this work is by such and such an artist, this one is by another, this one belongs to so-and-so, this one is by so-and-so artist.” That's something only great geniuses do. What one is doing is discovering techniques, trying to work and specialize in them so that they are authentic, credible and expressive. I hope that one day, someone sees my boat paintings and says, “That's a work by Archetti,” but it's a very precise search and I'm not sure I've reached it yet. The idea is to keep working, keep researching and see how far I can develop my own style. I think it's the great artists who really create styles. I still don't consider myself one of them. Regarding techniques, screen printing led me to mass production, working with paper, paints and inks, which is fantastic. But when people see the final result of screen printing, they think it's just passing a spatula, right? But they don't see the whole process, the work in the photo lab to create the original matrix and then stamp it. It's as if they saw the birth but not the pregnancy. This entire previous process is the pregnancy, it is the gestation of the work. There is a whole process behind to achieve the final work. As for me, who is very anxious, I discovered watercolor. I had experimented with it before, but realized I didn't know anything about watercolors. I started studying it in 2020 and found a technique that is fast and expressive, and that satisfies my anxiety. If I am clear about what I want to do, I can finish a work in a single day. That captivated me, because it is not like oil or acrylic, which takes weeks or months, but watercolor is more agile. “That was what really attracted me to continue researching this technique.”
“What really interests me is that people receive something from my works, that they reflect on them, that they put themselves in the place of what I am denouncing and that they transmit some feeling to them, regardless of what it is: whether it is hate, sadness, joy, tranquility or internal peace. If I manage to convey some feeling, I feel satisfied because it means that the work has managed to establish a link between the viewer and the artist. I think the real challenge lies in this. Despite being full of motivations and deciding to work on certain themes or make complaints, the true essence is how to convey it, how to make the work really contain that theme and provoke reflection and concern. There is a quote from Banksy that says that art has to disturb the calm and calm the restless, the disturbed. Therefore, I always seek to provoke that emotion, generate that disturbance. Everything else is a search for technique, for how to achieve certain effects, and is carried out through trial and error.”
“My first solo exhibition, which took place in 2019 just before the pandemic, revolved around the theme of animals, which turned out to be very motivating, disturbing and disturbing. It was a moment of intense development both in technique and theme. The exhibition took place on the Paseo del Prado, an old hotel whose peeling walls provided a somewhat gloomy and denouncing atmosphere, which fit perfectly with the content of my works. I received criticism, support and all kinds of reactions, which was enriching. Because if you expose it and people remain indifferent, it means that you have not achieved anything. However, with the topic of animal abuse, I received everything from support to practically insults. There were people who questioned why I used the image of Jesus with a cow's head, as in one of my interventions called the "Vacantocrator." For those who were deeply religious, this representation was not accepted as art. However, my intention was to convey the benevolence of animals, who offer their bodies and beings for the benefit of man. “
“Personal life along with artistic life is complicated, especially in Uruguay, where one has to work hard to cover basic expenses. In my opinion, it should be the other way around, but unfortunately we live in a third world country where it is difficult to make a living from art. Although with globalization, I hope this changes and that my work can be recognized. But in reality, it is still a piecemeal job, very incipient, and one has to juggle to balance time between family, art and daily, hard work.”
“Well, when talking about the future, I see it as very dark, sad and gloomy. Sometimes I wish someone would just turn off the light and flip the switch to put an end to everything surrounding the internet and social media. In my mind, I feel like this is leading us to increasingly impersonal situations. The idea of artificial intelligence, of creating something that lacks any kind of feeling or essence, worries me deeply. An illustration may be technically perfect, but it lacks the soul and feeling that the artist conveys in his work. Instead, it is something purely algorithmic that does not reflect genuine emotions. Furthermore, excessive dependence on technology has generated an alienated society, similar to a zombie invasion, where selfishness, lack of empathy, lack of solidarity and lack of reflection are increasingly common. People blindly follow trends and opinions without questioning or reflecting on them, which is worrying. Personally, I consider myself something of a "black sheep" in this sense. When I hear news or someone tells me something, I don't accept it immediately, but rather I first verify its veracity, analyze the motives and consequences, and seek to understand the whole story behind it. It is a mental process that requires time and effort, but I prefer not to swallow news or information without questioning it. During the pandemic, I was critical of many of the media and vaccine narratives and manipulations. I researched and examined different perspectives before forming my own opinion. We now know that we are being manipulated by powerful interests, and what remains is a landscape dominated by selfishness, materialism and consumerism. In this context, art is gradually fading away. There are fewer and fewer people who appreciate a genuine work of art. “I can spend hours admiring the Mona Lisa and immersing myself in its brushstrokes and colors, but younger generations may see it as a boring, everyday image.”
“My aspiration is to be able to make a living from my art and for people to appreciate and reflect through my works. I do not seek wealth or fame; My goal is to have the freedom to work, express myself and enjoy moments with my family without being completely absorbed by art. I hope that people can identify with my works and that they generate interaction and reflection between the viewer and the artist. What do I do to achieve it? I work, study, research, practice and engage in conversations with people to better understand what they are experiencing. I am concerned about apathy and lack of critical thinking, especially among youth, but also among older people, who are alienated by social media. My dream is that art is renewed and continues to be a tool to express and reflect on life. Nowadays, I see that many people prefer to go with the flow without questioning, which leads to a loss of values and connection with art. I hope that at some point art will regain its importance in society and will not be considered a luxury for a few, but rather as an essential part of human life. Otherwise, I fear that we will all continue like sheep heading towards the wolf's den or the precipice without stopping to reflect.”