Mauricio Benega, Where’s the Bird

Description

Mauricio Benega, Where’s the Bird
Acrylic on kahikatea wood
450x300mm
$850

Te Awanga artist Mauricio Benega’s paintings are rich in colour and humour. When Mauricio Benega was two-years-old, he drew all over the walls in his family home in Brazil. His father, although not too angry at first, relented and redirected the toddler’s creativity to his own bedroom wall. This marked the beginning of the artist’s life-long dedication to his craft. From doodling in high school books, to graphic design for the Curitiba newspaper, and now decorating walls from all over homes in Aotearoa with his paintings and outdoor murals, Benega lives and breathes art. “I am always evolving with my art style. I love comics and caricatures, the use of text, and bright colours,” he says. In his adoptive hometown of coastal Te Awanga he finds constant inspiration. “Any little thing can inspire me, like the sun over the surf break in the evening or a commission request.” Benega’s unique style uses mainly oil and acrylic paint to create a compilation of patterns that showcase kiwiana lifestyles and landscapes, and often carry an undertone of irony.