Artist Spotlight - Gís Marí — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Biography

Born in the Netherlands and based in Portugal, Gís Marí [born Gijs Maris in Haarlem, 1991] paints large-scale, abstract, expressionistic oil paintings.
He was drawn into the world of painting during his study of psychology in Leiden. His apartment and its white walls increasingly served as an atelier, and instead of preparing for his exams, he was occupied with the arts.

Sunlight dances on the waves during sunset in Figueira, 2023-2024. Oil on canvas, 216x179cm .

In his early 20s, he quit university to devote his life entirely to painting. Gís Marí rented his first atelier in Amsterdam [NDSM Wharf], where he worked for 2 years. His increasing discomfort with the gentrifying, speedy and money-driven Amsterdam saw him move to southern Europe, where he fell in love with the city of Porto. He rented an abandoned industrial store in central Porto, which served as an atelier and house, and he worked here for four intense years.

The window of Orpheus, 2024. Oil on canvas, 168x121cm.

In 2019 he moved to an old rice warehouse in the port town of Figueira da Foz, where he currently lives and works. In modern times, where quantity and efficiency prevail over quality, Gís Marí believes in old-world values. He works on a painting for many months and up to years. After constant conversation with the painting, he only puts his signature under his best work and destroys the rest.

Gracias a la vida, 2024. Oil on canvas, 167x122cm.

Artist Statement

What I try to convey with my painting is energy.
For me art is about stimulating whatever is in the beholder.
One can burst into tears, scream for happiness, laugh or experience any other emotion.
If one is, after encountering my work, a bit different than what they were before, I am satisfied.

The shadow of the eye, 2024. Oil on canvas, 167x107cm

I see myself as a messenger traveling between two worlds: from my own ‘inner’ world to the ‘common’ world and back, see it as the character from Greek mythology, Hermes.
I pick the flowers from my unique, inner world and translate them via a comprehensible medium to the outer world. The longer the journey, the more unique the flower and, therefore, the artwork.
This explains why I work on a painting for a long period, in lucid concentration, and often in solitary periods.

Lagoa azul ao amanhecer, 2024. Oil on canvas, 167x123cm.

My biggest inspiration is – besides reading, interacting with other humans and observing society- without any doubt: Nature.
On the entrance of the Amsterdam Zoo, where I used to go as a child, is written in big letters ‘Natura Artis Magistra’. This is Latin for 'nature is the teacher of art', and I could not agree more.

Tabula rasa (?), 2024. Oil on canvas, 210x133cm.

As an artist I put myself in the footsteps of the all-embracing piece of art created by Mother Nature.
For instance, look at the complex symmetry of a snail shell, better than a Mondrian. See the tension in the claw of an eagle, the most powerful Franz Kline; observe a bright, red berry against a green leaf; two strong complementary colours invented by Mother Nature long before Goethe or Johannes Itten wrote about them. And I could go on forever.

In perpetuum, 2023-2024. Oil on canvas, 222x182cm

Signing a painting for me is like cutting the naval cord; the painting is born.
As a parent I can solely support it by giving it a title, writing poems on the backside, using the best materials, and conserving it in the best way possible.
However, the fact that I am the painter is, for me, of secondary importance, just like the parents of a human being are to define the child. The painting now has to deal with the world and its spectators.
I gave all that I could.

www.gismari.com