Building beyond dreams

It generally involves organic items such as grass, plants and other vegetation that keep growing as in the case of the celebrated Eve, the grass woman, shaped from the soil and grass at the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. The living art has been fashioned by grafting, pruning and tons of patience. That apart, who has heard of a ‘living sculpture’ borne out of concrete, wood planks and white-wash?

That’s exactly what is Casapueblo, a snow-white sprawling art piece that has been described as ‘part Aegean villa and part space colony’. Some see it as white-washed mud nests of local brown birds. The dazzling complex stands by the foamy surf-swept shores of Punta Ballena, Montevideo, Uruguay. Conceptualised by the restless Uruguayan artist, Carlos Páez Vilaró, the unorthodox art work shines today as resort and hotel, museum, studio and art gallery all rolled into one grand ‘sculpture’ to ‘live’ in.

The cynosure of every passing eye, an architectural wonder, didn’t start that way. Back in 1958, Vilaró, a poor artist with big dreams, started the ‘project’. It was to be a modest home-cum-studio by the sea. Working with his hands and simple tools, he put together a tin-roofed hut. The little nook was quiet but lonely, bereft of electricity or processed water, trees or outlined roads. It was a nice idea. And the idea began to ‘grow’.

Dreaming up legends

Passing-by beach bums, fishermen and friends saw Vilaro struggling carting stray washed ashore wooden planks to add to his tin house, and chipped in to help. Soon the shed became an atelier over the rocky cliffs. The artist continued the housing project even as he worked on his canvas. First, the planks got covered with Portland cement. Then they became rooms - each inter-linked like the bogeys of a railway train. As the home dizzily developed, Vilaro made sure to integrate it to the landscape and nature. In the process, he defied all architectural norms — warding off straight lines and angles, stretching or tilting it in turn heavenwards or seawards.

Even as he worked the studio-home, he worked on this art and held several exhibitions. Whether it was a mural, sculpture, ceramic, literature, cinema or any other creative work, he left his mark. In between, he travelled extensively and even lived with Albert Schweitzer, amongst lepers in Lambarén´. In art circles, Vilaro made many friends — Pablo Picasso, Dali and Brigitte Bardot. Many an evening he’d relax at the Casapueblo-in-progress with such friends, uncorking good wine, putting on harp and other soothing music, and gazing out past the terrace, at the swaying palm trees and the silvery waters turning crimson-orange.

Today, the sprawling complex has grown into a handsome art museum and posh resort with restaurants, lounges, spas, swimming pools and rooms and apartments each with terraces and awesome views of the sea. Visitors are fascinated with the complex’s labyrinthine corridors and rooms, and often sit in the intimate sculpted theatre to see a movie of Vilaro’s art and life. Several rooms serve as an art gallery and individual museum. Art buffs go completely gaga in the place, spending many days taking in the artwork, the building, or the scenery around, either painting or photographing. Invariably, almost everyone ends up ‘dreaming up legends’. But few know of the idyllic Casapueblo’s interesting background.

On a fateful day that the world remembers, October 13, 1972, Vilaró’s son was travelling on a chartered Fairchild turbo-prop over the cloud-shrouded Andes when it crashed. All 45 passengers were feared dead. When there was no trace of them from prolonged searches from the air, it was assumed that everyone had succumbed either to the accident trauma or the intense cold and avalanches. Fact was, 16 people had had a providential escape and were rescued some 72 days later. Known as Miracle in the Andes (El Milagro de los Andes), the ultimate survivors had not only braved the chilly rugged conditions at over 3,600 m altitude but devoid of natural vegetation or animals on the snow-covered mountain, the group found sustenance by feeding on their dead co-passengers’ bodies that had been preserved in the minus zero conditions.

One such survivor was Vilaro’s 18-year-old son Carlos “Carlitos” Páez. The father dedicated Casapueblo to his son’s bravery and heroism.

In 2008, a children’s book, El Secreto de Casapueblo, was published to take the young minds into a world of fantasy. Many experts believe that the book has its origins in Casapueblo. In the Spanish speaking world, it is common for kids to ask: Did this dream building arrive on the back of a whale? Did a herd of white horses transform themselves? Did a cloud alight and become a house? Even as the sun descends each day on the marvelous enchanting building, it’s not just children but almost everyone asking the same questions.

As for the author of Casapueblo, he quietly goes about his life, spending equi-time in Punta Ballena and in a villa in Tigre, Argentina across the Rio Platt.

Though it is arguably his best known creation, 88-year old Carlos sees a world beyond the wondrous Casapueblo. He has a deep interest in Afro-Uruguayan life and culture and studied dances such as the Candombe and Comparsa. He has composed music and conducted orchestras, and has a huge collection of congas and bongos. In between, he continues his painting and sculpture that now adorn the walls of many government offices, corporate headquarters, private homes and public places around the world. His huge mural, the 155-meter-long ‘Roots of Peace’, is a crowd-stopper in Washington DC. In Buenos Aires, across the futuristic bridge, Puente de la Mujer is an open air exhibition of some of his avante garde ceramic sculptures. These are of torsos of a woman in various roles – intriguing, enchanting depiction of girl, mother and future of mankind! But Carlos Páez Vilaró considers the non-denominational chapel, without crosses or headstones that he designed for the cemetery Los Cipreses (The Cypresses) in San Isidro, Buenos Aires as his most memorable work.