MAURÍCIO PORTO

February 10, 1964 (Elói Mendes, Brazil)

New-York

I enjoy painting iconic personalities as much as I enjoy creating anonymous faces and compositions full of facial expressions. Nature also inspires me greatly; I think this is related to my childhood among trees and vacations on the farm with my family. I like to mix all elements – flowers, fruits, birds, and people in an elegant and sophisticated atmosphere that elevates the soul and its vibration.

Art was born in me, when I was a very little child it was my mother who first identified my talent. She started to “feed” me with all kinds of papers and pencils. Drawing and playing with images were the universe that absorbed me. In the elementary school classroom, I became the official illustrator to help with the work of my classmates. When I was seven years old, my mother sent a drawing of mine to a newspaper and, to our joyful surprise, the drawing was published in the children’s section of the newspaper Folha de São Paulo. Wow!

When I was sixteen years old, my mother enrolled me in private painting classes with Maria Augusta Procópio, a painter from my hometown who graduated in Fine Arts from UEMG (State University of Minas Gerais – Belo Horizonte, Brazil).

During the classes, I began to feel like a real painter, both because of the admiration and praise I received and because of the growing passion for painting within me. The first portrait I painted during the classes was of my mother, painted in oil on a large canvas. The result was truly beautiful, and I dressed her in glamorous clothes that made her even more beautiful. She soon framed the painting and hung it in the living room of our house. Certainly, my mom played an important role in my interest in the women’s universe.

However, my beloved mother passed away early at the age of 57. Her physical absence at the prime of my 18 years turned into constant inspiration for my artist’s soul. In contrast to her sad departure, my art increasingly became a manifestation of joy and life.

Later, due to my artistic skills and aesthetic tendencies, I thought about opting for architecture as a profession. But it was a schoolmate showing me album covers and notebooks with professional illustrations who said to me, “You should follow this path of advertising.” There were no artists in our family.

So, I opted for a degree in Social Communication, with a focus on Advertising and Marketing. I saw this career as an opportunity to still use my creativity. I have a Bachelor’s in marketing and advertising from Rio de Janeiro. As a creative director in the advertising industry, I designed billboards, posters, magazine ads, and brochures for big companies and theater plays in Rio. I continued painting and learning more on my own, moving from the oil technique I learned in painting classes, to acrylic colors.

The move to New York happened in the 90s when I flew to the capital of the world initially for a design course at Parsons School, seeking further specialization for my advertising career. Direct contact with art in galleries and in a city that breathes creative avant-garde refined my taste for Pop Art.

The advertising world was also a source of inspiration. Images from magazine covers, stock image bank books, advertisements, posters, films, music, and all kinds of media caught my eye. Whether in Carmen Miranda’s wide smile or in the chromatic surfaces in acrylic paint where the oil expressions of the portraits I create and recreate land, my main message is life and its aspects.

Painting fulfills me. I sought opportunities to show more of my art, and this enriched my career both in New York, Brazil, and Europe. I participated in group exhibitions, had solo exhibitions in my city and region.