Featured Artist Marcelo Neira

Argentinian artist Marcelo Neira uses contrasting colors and sweeping brushstrokes in portraits that capture the character and personality of his subjects. Visit his website to see more of his work.

 

 

I am a fifty-year old artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and have been drawing and painting since I was a little kid. I remember many people looking over my shoulder while I was drawing. It was a weird feeling since I didn´t like receiving that much attention.

 

 

Drawing was first, painting came later. My uncle used to tell me that I should be a painter, but I really didn’t know what to paint or which subjects. It was an enigma for me. Of course I would have liked to be a painter, but a painter has to know what to paint.

 

 

I vaguely remember doing a painting with my uncle; I was so young that I could not even open the oil tubes. The result was real chaos, and my sweater ended up having more paint on it than the canvas. It was my first artwork, or at least that was what my uncle wanted me to believe.

 

 

I began studying art many years later when I was eighteen. Ten years later I was already publishing my works in some magazines.

 

 

Nowadays, painting for a living is a dream come true. Since I was an illustrator for magazines and newspapers doing portraits, painting them became as common as drinking water. I must say that, throughout the years, I have grown to love doing them.

 

 

This is not the only thing I paint. I also do landscapes and cityscapes, but I prefer painting people’s faces, as I believe they are the real maps of the world we live in.

 

 

When I look at an image of a face I have painted, I can clearly see what’s going on under the surface—the character, the feelings, the fears, the passion, the kindness and even the evil. Everything’s in there. When I successfully capture the person’s character in a portrait, it is a real thrill because it reveals the whole and complex personality.

 

 

I began painting with inks and watercolors on artistic paper on mounted cardboard. Now I just use artistic and heavy papers, mainly 28 by 40 inches, with mixed media, collage, acrylics, gouache, thinners and other substances to create a rough and hard surface.

 

 

I have shown in many exhibitions, even at Palais de Glace, the French Alliance and other art galleries. My art pieces have been published many, many times and I have also sold hundreds of original artworks to private collectors all over the world.

 

 

My goal is to keep doing what I do, to keep trying to improve every day. I would like for my art to go to every person who would love to get it. It’s thrilling to know that a part of me will be in many places at once even after I am gone.

 

 

I also do some commissioned art when I am inspired by the theme and I enjoy being in touch with art lovers. I have no problem talking to them and explaining my technique and how I work. I hope you like what you see!

 

Artist Marcelo Neira invites you to follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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