August 27, 2022 - October 29, 2022
212 Johann Rissik Dr, Waterkloof Ridge, Pretoria, 0181, South Africa
The Apogee Boutique Hotel hosts many of the Viewing Room Art Gallery's works, and this solo exhibition at the hotel features Mario's various etchings.
Mario Pedro Soares (1982) is a Mozambican artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He moved from Mozambique to South Africa in 2008. Soares initially worked as an artist/embroiderer for Boitumelo in Hillbrow, however in 2010 he began his studies at Artist Proof Studio. Soares graduated in 2013 and proceeded to develop his skill in etching. Soares’ medium is printmaking, and he works primarily in etching on steel plates. In his body of work, he divulges into the metaphor of the road to explore concepts concerning the processes of growing up, travel, and migration. As an immigrant himself, Soares chooses to use faceless and generalized ‘identity-less’ subjects as he feels it gives a voice to the ways in which immigrants seek to make themselves invisible in their new home country, fearful of entrenched xenophobia. In 2014, he became an intern at APS at the Pro-Shop. Soares now works as an independent artist full-time from his studio in Johannesburg.
"Since I was a child in Mozambique I knew that I wanted to be an artist. Growing up, I experienced art by joining other groups of artists. My work at that time wasn’t of a good standard. When I moved to South Africa, almost 10 years ago now, my work has developed and gone through many changes and transitions. My work is largely about the life and perspective of people in Mozambique and South Africa. Since graduating from Artist Proof Studio, I have produced numerous etchings on steel plates, and each time I explore new aspects of intaglio techniques. This is a constant and intense process of discovery and experimentation. In my work, I have begun to challenge the scale and depth of the images through printing on a large scale and joining plates to make up landscapes and cityscapes that engulf the viewer. In these works, perspective and depth are explored and emphasised."
- https://latitudes.online/shows/current/mario-pedro-soares-voyages.html
