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2005 No man's land
2004-05 Ruins
2001-03 Hiroshima
2001 Figures
1998-2000 Landscapes
1994-99 Bedrooms

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2004-05 Ruins
2001-03 Hiroshima
2001 Figures
1998-2000 Landscapes
1994-99 Bedrooms

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On painting
Interview in Paris on February 26 and 27, 2005
by Philippe Villaume and Pascal Bordenave
Translation from French to English by Jacquelyn White

(extract)

P. B.: Mauro, 1998-99 is the year you break away... You decide to “knock down” the walls of your room and explore landscapes. Or better, precise elements of the landscape, like the sea, the mountains, a tree. Why this change?
M. B.: I worked exclusively on bedrooms for five years and I felt I had sufficiently explored this theme. So I wanted to make an important change, abandoning a subject which is quite structured from the points of view of perspective and the approach of the spatial element in order to dedicate myself to natural and traditional subjects, in which perspective is reduced to a binary structure: subject/background. I put man aside so I could concentrate on elements in nature that have inspired him. Working on these subjects really fascinated me in that they are found in all civilizations, starting from the most ancient, with a similar symbolic value. Mountains, for example, are tied to the idea of man meeting god; it's in the Bible, obviously, but it makes me also think about the pyramids in Egypt, Mount Fuji in Japan, the Maya ...All people have had sacred mountains or constructions that reproduce the shape of a mountain. Places where hermits withdraw to meet god, to become wise.

P. B.: Trees, mountains... there's a recurrence of vertical elements: do you give them a precise meaning?
M. B.: I only show the top of my mountains and trees, the point where the sky and earth meet, an axis mundi. What I wanted to show through this series of paintings is the conflict between our earthly, material dimension and the need for transcendence, spirituality, and I feel a vertical element is an adequate subject to represent this.

P. B.: Among your paintings, “Starry sky” seems to me to be the most radical in that it's the painting which distances itself the most from representational points of reference. What motivations pushed you to create this nocturnal scene and how are you tied to the tradition of nocturnal scenes in art? Is there perhaps some relation to mannerism that you often refer to?
M. B.: Mannerism, and in particular Veneto artists such as Titian and Tintoretto, which I studied in depth, has always been a point of reference for me. One of the most interesting elements of mannerism, in my opinion, is the theatrical staging that enables the observer to be “placed” in the painting; this principle has always inspired me.
As far as “Starry sky” is concerned, I painted it with the exact intention of creating a “contemplative” work which one can reflect and get lost in.

P. B.: In general, what is your relationship with pictorial tradition and different genres?
M. B.: I'm tied to them by affection and recognition. I believe comparing oneself to great artists is always an enticing challenge and in a way everyone does it in one form or another. I have never come close to different genres to follow the paths of other artists for the reason that they crossed mine. There are many artists who I have learned from, some from the past such as Tintoretto and Titian, who I've already mentioned, but also Goya and Rembrandt. I could cite Soutine, Sironi, Kiefer among 19th century painters… Soutine, in particular, is definitely my favorite from that period.