Grove Gallery & Interiors held their first art show of the year on Thursday, January 26 feature a collection of works by International renowned artist, Maria Paulina Troncoso.

What makes a lot of Troncoso’s art so unique and sought out, is her use of old sails as a canvas for many of her pieces. Troncoso’s husband, an avid sailor works for one of the worlds foremost sail manufacturers, making the art created by his wife, a true family affair. Their shared love for the sea translates vividly in her depictions of the wild and unpredictable nature of water.

“The sea ecame an icon to represent, in a visual way, my personal world perception; the smallness of the human being in front of the nature forces, the nature itself, ahead of the challenges and the adversity.

My artwork is autobiographical. The marine world is recreated through the senses of my own personal experience.

I try to exalt the feelings and emotions using the color as main axis, and stains combined with fluid pigment, expressing the shape of the water in its movement and ceaseless energy, sometimes intimidating. Waves and wind, both essential elements of nature, in the oriental philosophy sustain the principle of harmony and balance.

Photographic images and memories of my own experiences are my reference, my palette has been reducing to diverse colors of blues, greens, turquoise, that are not always real, they evoke reflections of changing skies and physical laws that obey when light is absorbed by water. The whites are the imaginary shines and lights. I research and experience new techniques and materials, one of them are the old sails discarded by sailboats where the material is wizened by the salt, sun, and wind, where the contact with the pigments is different and sometimes unpredictable.

Being a contemporary artist has allowed me to have infinite expression tools in materiality options, as well as it has opened borders to represent and exhibit my work across different countries and culture.”

-Maria Paulina Troncoso