Untitled
Primary
Osvaldo Salerno
(Asunción, Paraguay, 1952–)
NationalityParaguayan, South America
Date1974
MediumColor woodcut and collagraph
DimensionsSheet: 21 13/16 × 15 1/4 in. (55.4 × 38.7 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Robert L. Michael, 2003.104.8
Keywords
Rights Statement
Collection AreaPrints and Drawings
Object number2003.104.8/8
On View
Not on viewCollection Highlight
Salerno’s collographs (direct impressions) of keys can be read as metaphors of Paraguay’s long dictatorship under General Stroessner. The broken key is symbolic of a lack of freedom or social justice, and of imprisonment. The use of a humble, everyday object, and the simplicity of the technique are typical of Salerno’s attempt to charge the utilitarian with a political message. The last key in the series is complete, a sign of hope that the repression will end some day.
Exhibitions