Maureen Corvalán was born in 1985 in Santiago de Chile, where she works and lives again today. After studying double bass as her main subject, she turned to art and has already participated in many exhibitions. Her works can be seen in Chile, New York, New Zealand, London, Switzerland, Bangkok and Bahrain, among other places.
How did you get into art?
Since I was 13 years old I have been in contact with art. Particularly with music. I entered at the age of 16 to study at the Conservatory of the University of Chile Bachelor of Arts with a mayor in Double Bass. Then I won a scholarship to study at the Amsterdam Conservatory. It was in the Netherlands, where I lived for almost 5 years, where everything began in my relationship with the visual arts. I was very close to the work of many artists from different parts of the world. This approach and close relationship with art in a distant country and far way from my family, pushed my creativity on an investigation that dealt with the materials that were present in my childhood. My seamstress grandmother and upholsterer grandfather showed me the enamel, the threads, needles, tacks and pins. These are part of my works in mixed techniques and paintings, which are always a return to those encounters of abstract childhood memories.
How would you describe your style? What makes your work special?
My work of abstract painting belongs to an investigation of color and the shape that synthetic enamel can take on different supports: linen, glass, wood, different types of paper. The painting takes its place in my search to create different forms with the minimum possible control, inscribing a shape memory - abstract and minimal - in which it is possible to appreciate particular forms with perfectly delimited edges. Many times strange and simple, like other more complex shapes that show three-dimensional volumes caused by excess paint. This, due to the fact that there is almost no use of the brush! Working with synthetic enamel is not easy at all. Depending on the support you want to work on, the drying of the paint can take months and almost a year. It is really wonderful in this work of two, to observe that when the control over the painting is minimal, it can move creating its own movements and effects. A job with paint in this way, implies that the final result is unique, unrepeatable and always a big surprise!
How do you go about developing your work?
The development of my visual work has always been linked to research work. In that sense, the materials: paint, threads, tacks, pins, and everything I want to use in my work are not random when using them in my mixed media compositions or in the use of color in paintings. Each element and proposal become a language that implies a saying that speaks about what I am seeking to represent and propose to the viewer's gaze.
Who or what influences you?
My great inspirations, on the one hand, will always come from the work that I saw my grandparents doing. On the other hand, music has always been an engine that has accompanied and pushed every moment of my life: in the studio, walking, playing my double bass, creating, in solitude, in happiness, painting, celebrating, researching, My great references and influences on development of my artistic work are Mark Rotko, Antonie Tapies, Robert Rauschenberg, Takesada Matsutani and Suzan Frecon. Revisiting these artists will always be a beautiful way to think about the future of my art.
Make us curious. What is planned next?
I am always thinking about the following in my artistic work. This is a situation that keeps me creative and attentive in the work processes in case there is something new and possible to develop. In that sense, I am super excited to start some paintings in which I will work on a support that will be designed 100 percent by me, the new collection will have to do with chromatic color work. Inviting the viewer to think about music as well as color :)
