Mario Naves

Mario Naves
Postcard from Florida #19, 2006
acrylic paint and pasted paper
7 X 5 inches
Image from: Elizabeth Harris Gallery

I've been all a flutter over the collages of Mario Naves that I stumbled upon over at the blind swimmer. For Naves, collage is akin to painting. I totally agree.

Indeed, Naves certainly has a painter's sensibility.

I wish I could go and see this exhibition but unfortunately my place is a little too far from NYC. This awesome video did help.

In his current exhibition Mr Naves creates startingly beautiful little collages out of torn painted paper which he prepares himself. (This is a process that I've been using for some time too. Collage is a satisfying way to work through painting problems.) Naves confidently plays with the relationships between and amongst tones, hues and texture (varied brushstokes in particular) and seems to revel in the delicious feeling of placing paper, like paint, over a surface to mask, energise or reveal.

Those georgeous colours. I'm reminded of Bonnard's paintings for some inexplicable reason.

Over here, I found another painter, Kenzo Okada, who Naves shares an affinity with. Okada paints using similar subtle shifts in tones. Unfortunately I can't find any decent images but from the available jpegs I could swear that the paint is laid down as if it were paper rather than a liquid medium.