Mauro Chiarla
Mauro Chiarla Biography
Born: 1949 - Piedmont, Italy
Mauro Chiarla is an incredibly talented and skilled South African artist. He is genuinely modest about this artistic ability, and is one of the most humble artists. In school he loved painting and sketching and when he left college, he started working as a silkscreen graphic printer and manager. On the weekends, he would paint and draw for extra income and exhibited at Art in the Park.
Mauro Chiarla South African Artist
Artist Mauro Chiarla is always ready to learn and apply himself to new subjects and formats. He finds great fulfillment when his pictures tell a story to others and yield dimensions of emotions unknown to him during the creation of the work. Every two years Mauro and his wife revisit Italy, in particular, Umbria and Tuscany, where he paints and draws to capture scenes, taking photographs to complete the research. On his return to South Africa, we then see an explosion of talent and new works.
View Mauro Chiarla Art GalleryMauro Chiarla Artist
Mauro was born in Piedmont, an area known as the French part of Italy, where he lived until the age of eight. As there were very economically depressing times for Italy, the Chiarla family decided to immigrate to South Africa in 1957 to start a new life. Mauro attended the normal primary and senior schooling in South Africa and it was only in his teenage years that he studied Commercial Art at college.
He had always drawn and painted as a child, but had no real encouragement from the outside to seek formal tuition.
Mauro Chiarla Paintings
No one can grow us in the aesthetically rich and varied Italian landscape without it seeping into one’s pores. For Mauro, the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and Expressionists and particularly their use of light and colour made the biggest impact. Matisse, Cézanne, Monet and Manet from the European stable and in South Africa, G. Goodman, Hugo Naudé and Titto Fasciciotti were also big influences.
But of course, the biggest influences on Mauro were the scenes he captured, the interaction of people in that scenery, the colours, attitudes, and movement. his Vineyard scenes and Namaqualand flowers are particularly good examples.
Mauro Chiarla Art
Definitely a Post-Impressionist, Mauro Chiarla uses oil pastel, acrylic and oil paints as the main media for his works on paper, board and on canvas.
He is able to combine colours in support and contrast in a way that thrills not only us the “viewers”, but also other South African artists. He is an artist’s artist and could well command master classes were he not so humbly focused.
Main subjects depicted in all sizes in his paintings are landscapes from Southern Africa and Europe, Seascapes, Tuscan buildings and landscapes, his beloved African market scenes and wood carrier women, still lifes and interiors. Mauro has also done a series of abstract art.
In terms of collect-ability for the future, there is no doubt that Mauro aspires to be a new South African master.
Please contact us should you be interested in commissioning Mauro Chiarla to paint a specific scene.
Mauro Chairla Art Gallery Exhibitions
- South African Art Collection – V&A Waterfront, Cape Town – 2003
- Vineyard Gallery Claremont – Claremont, Cape Town – 2004
- Gallery on the Side – Fourways, Sandton – 2005
- Vineyard Gallery Claremont – Claremont, Cape Town – 2006
- Vineyard Gallery Franschhoek – Franschhoek, Cape Winelands – 2006
- Gallery on the Side – Fourways, Sandton – 2007
- Hyde Park Gallery – Hyde Park, Johannesburg – 2008, 2009
Private Art Collections
- The Table Bay Hotel – V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
- The Worcester Hotel & Casino – Worcester, Western Cape