December 2019: Artist of the Month Mario Soares (Mozambique)

by Carol Hogarth December 05, 2019

' Since I was a child in Mozambique I knew that I wanted to be an artist. Growing up, I have experienced art through joining other groups of artists. My work at that time wasn’t of a good standard. When I moved to South Africa almost 10 years ago now, my work has developed and gone through many changes and transitions. My work is largely about the life and perspective of people in Mozambique and South Africa.

Since graduating from Artist Proof Studio, I have produced over 60 etchings on steel plates and each time I explore new aspects of intaglio techniques. This is a constant and intense process of discovery and experimentation.

In my recent body of work I have challenged the scale and depth of the images through printing on a large scale and joining plates to make up landscapes and cityscapes that engulf the viewer. In these works perspective and depth are explored and emphasized through the use of colour.”

- Mario Soares

Mario Soares left Mozambique for South Africa in 2008. He worked as an artist/embroiderer for Boitumelo in Hillbrow before coming to the Artist Proof Studio in 2010.

Soares graduated in 2013 and proceeded to develop his skill in etching through a constant and intense process of discovery and experimentation. He works primarily in etching on steel plates and uses the metaphor of the road to describe the process of growing up, travel and migration.

Faceless and apparently identity-less subjects who give voice to the ways in which immigrants seek to make themselves invisible in their new home country, fearful of entrenched xenophobia.

In 2014, he became an intern at APS at the Pro-Shop and now has progressed into owning his own studio~ SO&MO: Basement Printmaking & Fine Arts Studio. He has been part of numerous group shows and art fairs both in Johannesburg (Turbine Art Fair) & in Cape Town (Design Week).