For Kitchener-based Maca Suazo, painting is an act of discovery. Born in Chile, her work is influenced by the magic realism of Latin American literature, and she also melds elements from her time as a performer in a theatre company. (Above: Because My Heart Battles, acrylic, 39″x39″ / Below: Summer Day, oil & graphite, 48″x42)
“Taken from my background in theatre, I let small characters come to the paintings. They become blurred as elements of colour and form . . . and subsequently intertwine with memories and emotions, bringing figurative impressions to the surface.” -Artist Statement (Above: Cheer Up 3, mixed media on panel, 6″x6″ / Below: New Bedroom, oil on panel, 4″x4″)
Above: Travellers #1, mixed media on panel, 10″x10″ / Below: Vamos a Andar, mixed media on panel, 8″x10″
Maca Suazo was born in Vina del Mar, Chile. She did a Bachelor of Education at UPLA, Valparaiso, while painting in abstracted explorations and performing in a theater company. After finishing her B.ED., she was accepted at La Mancha International Theater School in Santiago, graduating in 1997. The following year, she immigrated to Canada. She continued performing for several years but found her way back to painting. She has a recent Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Waterloo. She is represented by Canvas Gallery, Toronto.
Categories: Painting
Canadian Art Junkie 
Well, I have no other option, having seen what I`m seeing now, but to publicly admit my guilt and shame and, awkward as it might be, my pride, for I am the mean cousin who laughed at Maca’s first works back in Chile and bet that she would never be able to paint anything of substance,…and boy was I wrong! Now, I happily eat my foolish words daily as a penance and as a prayer. Macarena`s work is today for me not only “of substance” but of a genuine and honest depth that can only be expressed though her paintings. The texture you see on the paintings is the unfolding of her life, the colours are her hopes, her pains or her struggles. There is no room for convenience or conventions on her art, is all the naked truth. All that you see there has happened to her, is as if I, as mean as I was were to be given a chance for redemption just to look at them. I am so bloody proud of her, so bloody proud!!
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Thank you for these very interesting comments. I agree with your assessment of her art.
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I am really drawn to these!
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Understandable – she’s got an engrossing style, agree.
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I like the last 2.
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Yes, those little figures in the second-last one really are intriguing.
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I love these immediately!
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Yes, aren’t the colors and textures just beautiful?
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i’m glad i took time to open this post!
her work is absolutely gorgeous. i love the immediacy of it.
‘because my heart battles’ makes me think of a painting i did years ago. i haven’t seen it for years though, gave it to a friend as a house warming gift.
but her work also reminds me of kandinsky with the little details coming to life in a colourscape. he’s one of my favorite artists. i think he was a mathematician by profession before he started painting.
went to the peter gabriel concert last night in montreal. my eyes & heart are still dancing!
http://michellecfecit.wordpress.com/
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Wow Michelle, what a great set of comments. First, I envy you the Peter Gabriel concert. Must have been wonderful. Keep on dancing. Second, Kandinsky is one of my favorite artists and here’s a shortlink to recent post about him on Global Art Junkie, my other blog: http://bit.ly/NECLbD . And I’m absolutely with you on Maca Suazo. If you browse her website, you’ll be more enthralled.
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the concert was wonderful, in the true sense of the word!
his work is so inspiring & he’s a master at recreating his old pieces to breathe new life, (new blood!) into them.
i did visit the shortlink to kandinsky. thanks for that! hadn’t seen his work for a while.
i also browsed maca’s website, even wrote to her!
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