During the last two weeks of August 2009, Mariana Mara, an expressionist painter, has welcomed Rondeños to an exhibition entitled “Un Momento” in the gallery room of the Casa del Cultura next to the Iglesia de la Merced in Ronda’s Mercadillo district.

Mariana comes across as a fun loving, humerous, intelligent, and passionate person, which is immediately evident on entering her exhibitions. I was greeted to the sound of Elvis Presley coming from Mariana’s laptop, and the frequent outburst of frustration as something didn’t work on her computer.

This sets the scene quite nicely for Mariana’s paintings which are at once bold and filled with colour, subtle with many layers to be sampled, and of course none is to be taken too seriously, all of Mariana’s paintings are to be enjoyed simply because they exist, and for no other reason.

Too many artists strive for perfection in a piece, the perfect stroke, a complicated meaning, but Mariana starts with an idea that is fairly easy to understand, and then proceeds to add layer after layer until she is happy with the finished piece.

I particularly loved her piece entitled “La Marsellesa”, a whimsical look at the world of opera. Painted on wood, the bottom third is painted over letterhead from the Madrid Opera company, and on each sheet of paper one can see a sketch of a lady wearing an opera gown. Over the entire canvas Mariana has painted in delicious skin tones and hues of pink, the face of we suppose a famous opera singer in her prime.

Other pieces also captivate, such as the scenes of the Puente Nuevo in Ronda. Again, Mariana has taken a simple concept, the connection with Bizet’s opera Carmen, and the ubiquitous view of Ronda, the new bridge as seen from the lower gorge. In bold and strong colours, Mariana has overlayed her work on the musical score for Carmen, though this isn’t immediately obvious when looking at the score since it is the French and English version.

My favourite piece in the exhibition though had to be Mariana’s scenes of the sky captured in a variety of different moods. These were perhaps a reflection of Mariana’s true depth of soul, I got the sense Mariana paints moods to escape the meaning and humour she often works with, that her mood paintings represent Mariana relaxing, or venting some frustration, and oddly these simpler pieces let us get to know Mariana better.

Of course we all have our favourites, and in conversations with Mariana she explained that her favourite pieces were those that allowed her to experiement with different media, or allow her naturally witty charm to escape and take on their own life.

A fantastic exhibition though, and well worth half an hour to appreciate Mariana’s work, but leave enough time to chat as well, since her art really comes to life when Mariana is given the chance to express her love of art, and philosophy, the theatre, and of course, life itself.

Ronda Today is pleased to host a virtual gallery of Mariana Mara, which includes every piece exhibited in Ronda.