Chilean artist Mauro Pesce uses paintings and photographs to reflect on the notion of nature. Bringing in literary resources and a sense of adventure, he builds a physiognomy of the frontier drawn into the Pewen Mapu, the land of the araucaria or pewen. It’s a territory that the Spaniards failed to conquer and defined, for centuries, the limit between savagery and civilization. An ancient ecosystem that dates back to the Jurassic period, the Pewen Mapu is now retreating in the face of human progress.
Mauro takes advantage of the documentary strategies of photography to create visual memories, and the expressiveness of painting to alter the atmospheres of wild landscapes. He paints en plein air and photographs the paintings on site —the site he has reached in awe and then stained.
Mauro was born in Santiago de Chile in 1985 and has a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from the University of Chile. He has held solo and collective exhibitions in Santiago, Villarrica and Pucón, where he lives. His digital painting project Secret Levels was included in the book Sub30: Painting in Chile (Ocho Libros, Santiago, 2014). He has received government funding for the projects 36 Views of Villarrica Volcano (2022) and Into the Mountains (2024), whose exhibition will take place in 2025.
