Artwork description / Biography
Born in 1975, Mauricio Mallet is a brazilian visual artist working also as a graphic designer, illustrator and art director. As an art enthusiast since early age he has focused his education in several forms of art expression being graduated in Fine and Visual Arts by important schools in Brazil. In addition to his creative performance Mauricio Mallet also teaches Fine Arts at Panamericana School of Art and Design and Digital Art at Alpha Channel School, two of the most significant art education institutions at São Paulo, Brazil.
Using specially oil and acrylic on paper and canvas at his work, Mallet creates abstract figures outlined by a single, dominant color. Grouped together pursuing a shared goal or as a standalone his subjects are joined in a form of ghostly camaraderie, gathered at the top of a slide or embracing as they walk. Given their proximity to one another, the ease with which they coexist, and the playground accouterment, these children appear to be adolescents, not yet at the awkward stage of teenage discomfort, gender awareness, repulsion, and desire. They exist freely, without pretense, in the company of others. The paintings are a reminder of a shared past and barriers built up seemingly overnight.
Often leaving a border around his work, Mallet reminds his viewers that art is a construct, a manner of control that seems at odds with the content of his work. Perhaps the freedom of an idyllic childhood, the ability to love and care for without question, is a myth, an illusory past invented by a self-deceiving public in search of a better self. Perhaps memory is as treacherous as Magritte’s pipe, an unreality that has as little to do with the past as a painting of a pipe has to do with the pipe itself. Or maybe, just maybe, the image is the truth and the analysis is the self-deception.
Awards:
Acquisition Award at Visual Arts Annual Exhibition of Vinhedo, SP, Brazil - 2016.
Critical Award at 31st Chelsea International Fine Art Competition, New York, NY, USA - 2016 (Critical article to be released at ARTisSpectrum magazine issue, May 2017).
1st Place and Acquisition Award at 23rd Plastic Arts Annual Exhibition of Mococa, SP, Brazil - 2015.
3rd Place Award at 4th Expo-Humor of Campinas, SP, Brazil - 2003.
Exhibitions:
23rd Plastic Arts Annual Exhibition of Praia Grande, SP, Brazil - 2016.
”Map of the new art 2015” at Giorgio Cini Foundation, Island San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Italy - 2015.
47th Contemporary Annual Art Exhibition of Piracicaba, SP, Brazil - 2015.
13th Visual Arts Annual Exhibition of Guarulhos, SP, Brazil - 2014.
Collective Exhibition at Instituto Tomie Othake, São Paulo, SP, Brazil - 2013/14.
Collective Exhibition ”Abertura” at Ateliê 397, São Paulo, SP, Brazil - 2013.
Individual Exhibition ”Artinside Piola”, Campinas, SP, Brazil - 2013.
Show ”Momentos Gravados” at Olho Latino Museum, Atibaia, SP, Brazil - 2007.
3rd Annual Art Exhibition at PUC University, Campinas, SP, Brazil - 2004.
5th International Festival of Humor and HQ, Pernambuco, PE, Brazil - 2003.
Project ”Tercultura”, Campinas, SP, Brazil - 2003.
1st National Exhibition of Humor, Montes Claros, MG, Brazil - 2002.
To come:
Individual Exhibition at Hilton Hotel, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil - 2017.
