Mario Pucciarelli
Pintura, 1958

Mario Pucciarelli
De profundis, 1960

Mario Pucciarelli (Buenos Aires, 1928) held his first individual exhibit at the Galatea Gallery, in September, 1958, under the title Texturas (Textures). It was a series of oils that grouped a series of small rectangular forms of irregular shape, painted with a spatula and abundant textured material. These pieces reflected his inclination towards free abstraction. A year later, at the exhibits of the Informalist Movement, he presented some typically Informalist canvases, with thick layers of matter, scattered with symbols and graffiti. In 1960 he exhibited at the Pizarro Gallery. He presented a group of works with impastos of diverse quality (rough, wrinkled, soft) mixed with spontaneous graphisms, lumps and drippings. At no point is the matter excessive, the chromate tones are of great restriction; there are many blacks, varnishes and browns. It is a contained informal expression, with a certain tendency towards refinement. With one of these pieces, in 1960, he obtained the Honor Ribbon of the Ver y Estimar Award.

At the National Prize of the Di Tella Institute, the judges, who included Romero Brest and the Italian Lionello Venturi, awarded him the maximum distinction for a national artist for his De Profundis piece, a triptych of great proportions. In July 1961, he presented a group of paintings at the Bonino Gallery. These exhibited pieces continued to be based on the matter, to which he added onto the superficial accidents and textures, ripped or burned plastic cloths, that would give the generally monochromatic picture, a certain casual yet risky effect.