Guatemalan Landscape Painter Jorge Mazariegos Jr.
Jorge Mazariegos Jr. was born in San Marcos, Guatemala in 1970 and is a very well known landscape painter. He started his studies in art at the very young age of 9 with his father Jorge Mazariegos Rodriguez and has been following the family tradition. His love affair with dogs started some time ago as he was searching for new visual element, one that represented our rural and urban realities. “No other creature in this planet represents our evolution, our problems and human experiences as the dog. It reflects our daily lives in Guatemala and it is totally recognizable but is also universal”.
In the series “Urban Witnesses”, the piece “Soledad” being on of them, Mazariegos Jr. focuses on the street dogs of Guatemala as a metaphor to the close resemblance of humans to these four legged creatures, shedding light on the social condition of both. Street dogs endure the harshness of life at a closer lever and in a glance at them they are able to transmit it to us. Their attachment to us, and ours to them goes beyond that bond. Much like the stray dogs express their need of attention and care, as individuals we find ourselves at a given moment in the same conditions as theirs. To put this series in a more contemporary context they were worked in large formats, some of up to three meters, to give them a monumental character and to make a bigger impact on the viewer.