Mauro Chiarla

Mauro Chiarla was born in 1949 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 time 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 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.
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 the Park.
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 in 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. 
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 the viewers.
Every two years Mauro and his wife revisit in particular, Umbria and Tuscany, where he paints and draws to capture scenes, take photographs to complete the research.
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.
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. .