October 18th-November 16th

Opening October 18th, 6-8 PM

In his work, Mariano Cornejo explores the expressive possibilities of watercolor and gouache to create geometric abstractions that evoke imagined landscapes. His compositions unfold through delicate, precise lines that define structures, planes, and shapes that often overlap, creating a sense of depth and movement.

The transparency and fluidity of watercolor contrast with the definition of gouache, producing a subtle visual language in which forms seem to emerge, shift, and intertwine. Cornejo thus transforms geometry into an experience akin to landscape: a territory constructed through layers, rhythms, and spatial relationships, where the recognizable and the abstract coexist.

Mariano Cornejo (b. 1962, Salta, Argentina) studied at the Prilidiano Pueyrredón School of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, where he graduated as a Professor of Drawing and Painting. He received a scholarship from the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and earned a degree in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid. From 1986 to 1992, he completed doctoral studies in Fine Arts in Barcelona, specializing in the symbolism of form and the morphology of space, alongside studies in symbolism and comparative religions.

Cornejo has developed an extensive exhibition career in Argentina and internationally. His institutional exhibitions include Babel Series at the Museum of Modern Art of Buenos Aires (1992), Argentina Paints Well at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Salta (2006), a retrospective of his work from the previous twenty years at the same museum (2016), and Sitting Under a Tree: Retrospective at the Lola Mora Museum of Fine Arts in Salta (2025). His work has also been presented extensively at Van Riel Gallery, with exhibitions including Zoolarium, Herbarium, Beaches, Volcanoes and Emptiness, and Nests–Knots, as well as at Palatina Gallery, where he has exhibited regularly in projects such as Sitting Under a Tree, Deserts and Volcanoes, Desert Blossoms, and Imperfect Geometries. His exhibitions have also taken him to Madrid, Barcelona, Frankfurt, and New York.

Among his distinctions are the First Prize from the Argentine Association of Art Critics at the First Critics’ Painting Salon (Buenos Aires, 1996), the Chandon Prize at ArteBA (2005), and the title of Outstanding Artist awarded by the City of Salta in 2023. In addition to his visual arts practice, Cornejo has published works on poetry, photography, and archaeology, with a particular interest in the cultural heritage of northwestern Argentina. His works are held in important collections in Argentina and abroad.