Early works

Luca was already creative as a teenager in Switzerland, where our 60-year-old friendship began and where he prioritised his dedication to producing art. Being very demanding with himself, he on occasions produced drawings he didn´t like enough and threw them in the dustbin… I never told him, but some I liked and retrieved them and they are now part of my comprehensive collection. He was always a non-stop producer and if someone poor fell in love with a picture of his, he simply gave it to that person as a gift. He was so generous and sensitive. Once in Mexico he left my place with money to buy painting materials and returned 10 minutes later for more, because he had crossed path with a man he considered of greater needs than his. Mexico City was a short stay for Luca who never liked big cities and always left for small villages where he empathised with the surrounding and its people. In his early years he created miniature artwork, easy to carry in his backpack when travelling light from country to country, but always reflecting different realities, some of them difficult to deny. Inspired as he was, he loved to express these impressions in his many creative and diverse art objects, which expressed the stories of his life. Over the years he produced sculptures out of stone, slate, copper, soapstone, etc. and paintings on canvas, wood, metal, ivory, textile and paper, you name it. Luca was special, yes – very special!

Dieter Garbade, Buenos Aires, 2020