View of the ‘A Través de Estampas Vol II’ book, published in 1974 by Roberto Pignataro
In 1974, Roberto Pignataro unveiled his third and final artistic publication, ‘A Través de Estampas Volume II’ (Through Stamps Vol. II). Featuring nine sequential abstractions—or "stamps"—this minimalist booklet takes the viewer on a unique journey, led by its animated compositions and the intriguing visual narrative that unfolds with each turn of the page.
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Of the three books my father created, A Través de Estampas Volume II is the one I hold the most personal connection with, as it brings back my earliest memories of him being a ‘maker of things.’ See, I was only 3 or 4 years old when I first held this book in my hands, too young to understand the concept of him being an artist—I just knew he was good at making things, like this book.
I vividly remember trying to make sense of the black and red motifs. To my young eyes, they looked like dancing people, frantically twirling from page to page. Yet, I couldn’t quite settle on this interpretation—I felt there was a deeper story, a hidden meaning I just wasn’t grasping, so I kept flipping through the book, again and again, turning it up, down, and sideways, very eager to crack the code.
My “a-ha!” moment came when I decided it was depicting scenes from a soccer game, with the black figures being the players and the red dots representing the ball in motion. Of course, that interpretation was also short-lived, as my mind soon shifted to something else entirely—this time, the unfolding chaos of two men locked in a street fight. And so it went; my imagination kept running wild.
Whatever interpretation I came up with, my father would chuckle and assure me I was right, no matter what I saw. And that was the whole point—there was never a single story in the book; it was about uncovering one within the viewer, in this case, me. For him, it was the very essence of abstract storytelling coming to life right before his eyes.
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Pignataro, Roberto. A través de estampas, p. 7, Obra R.F. 130 L.