Artist Profile Gís Marí

Artist Statement

Work from an earlier period, O caminho [the way/path] abstractly depicts the transition between working habitats of the artist [from The Netherlands to Portugal]. Quote on the back is from the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa; “Vivem em nós inúmeros”.

Artist Biography

Born in The Netherlands and based in Portugal, Gís Marí [born as Gijs Maris in Haarlem, 1991] paints large scale abstract expressionistic oil paintings. During his study psychology in Leiden he got enchanted by the world of painting. His apartment and its white walls were serving more and more as an atelier and instead of preparing his exams he was occupied with the arts. In his early 20s he quit university to devote his life entirely to painting. Gís Marí rented his first atelier in Amsterdam [NDSM Wharf], where he worked for 2 years. As he was feeling less and less comfortable in gentrificating, speedy and money driven Amsterdam, he decided to pack his bags and travel to southern Europe where he fell in love with the city of Porto. He rented an abandoned industrial store in central Porto which served as atelier and house, where he worked for four intense years. In 2019 he moved to the port town of Figueira da Foz where he currently lives and works in an old rice warehouse. In modern times, where quantity and efficiency prevail over quality, Gís Marí believes in the old world values. He works on a painting for many months up to years: layer over layer, in constant conversation with the painting, only putting his signature under his best work and destroying the rest. As he believes in the physical power of his work, he uses no social media; the painting has to interact with the observer ‘in the flesh’.