In my recent trip to Ecuador I had the pleasure of viewing a new work by the Guayaquileño artist, Darío Suarez. After nine years of absence, he has started to work again as an artist. His new work is entitled, ‘I think then recycle’.

His work pays tribute to icons who have achieved greatness in the fields performance and politics. He has completed a group work entitled Legends Of Iron which has replicas of the faces of famous characters such as Don Ramón, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, Elvis Presley, Nelson Mandela and Charles Chaplin.

The metal that he works with is originally full of grease, rust and dirt. “I take care of cleaning it and returning it to its pure state. What I do is simply unrepeatable, I can make you another Elvis but it will be different.” He says that each job takes between six to seven hours a day for a week or so.

The genesis of his passion for metal began in 1999 when he started to make sculptures in recycled iron, from objects that were usually considered as junk. His father’s cousin, the painter Eloy Narea Suarez, was one of his mentors. After learning to weld on his own, he explored his ability to be creative. He was ecstatic when, after a time, he came up with perfect faces.

“You can do whatever you want with this art. It’s about finding the ideal way to assemble the piece without cutting or breaking it. You must have the conviction that everything will come together in the end.”

Dario is now expanding his work to also include making sculptures of ordinary people who commission him to create their portrait as they explore their own journeys in the world of pop art.

Dario Suarez’s work can be viewed on https://dariosuarez.jimdo.com/