Meet Mauro Balcazar | Artist & Graphic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mauro Balcazar and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mauro, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I knew at an early age that I wanted to pursue an artistic career. As a shy child, I often found it difficult to articalute my ideas and express these epic stories I imagined in my mind. And It wasn’t until I found art, doodles at first, that I finally felt I could communicate in ways I couldn’t beforehand.

This newfound medium empowered me to finally tell my stories. Which eventually, lead me to a lifelong passion of art and design as a career, which I cherish to this day. It’s very rewarding to bring something into existence that originates in your mind and share it with others to experience. Wether it’s told graphically or physically in my art, I’m still that shy kid just trying to tell a story through his doodles.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I recently came to the realization that my art wholistically is very romanticized. For a long time, I found it challenging to brand myself as an artist with a specific style. But looking retroactively at my work and what I’m currently designing I started to see that my art had a unifying theme of Love. Often focusing on relationships, partnerships or even portraitures that romanticize the magic/nature of a specific person.

Overtly obsess on the subject matter, I always try to identify the best way tell their story in a single image. When painting Madea, I thought a lot about the similarities she shared with my grandmother, whom I loved very much. And I wanted to convey that sense of warmth, love and no-nonsense attitude they both had in my painting. Looking back, it makes me very happy being able to bring that to life and see echos of her in the final product.

Realizing this, I’ve been able to overcome the challenge of fitting into a box and welcome the idea that my art’s a work in progress. Continuously evolving from piece to piece and varying in medium depending on the story I’m trying to communicate. I’d love for anyone viewing my work to have an emotional response, reflecting or reminiscing about themselves or a loved one.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is a fun question because I like two things when traveling myself, spontaneity and food. I’d start with grabbing a classic NYC pizza slice anywhere in midtown. Then immediately hop on a train and check out what’s happening in Union square, Chinatown, Washington Square Park or the Village. Experiencing the random magic of the city, meeting new people and trying all the unique food we’d find along the way. I’d also make them try a NYC hot dog because it’s terrible but a vital necessity when visiting NY lol.

I also love movies so I’d introduce movie related sightseeing stops like checking out the real Ghostbusters firehouse, grand central or Central Park. We’d listen to live music around the Village. I enjoy taking photographs so I’d make sure to capture their adventures on film for the future. The night would definitely involve some partying in Chinatown where we could eat endless dim sum bathed in neon lights and laughs.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family has always been the key to my success as an artist and an individual. Everything I do creatively and personally I owe to them as I strive to make them proud as parents/peers. From their early support of my doodles carrying through in their love and appreciation for my work as an adult, it’s always rewarding and encouraging to do better. Creatively, I’m very driven and inspired by artists I admire in various fields of art. Namely, Guillermo Del Toro, Edward Gorey, Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg and Mike Mignola come to mind as masters in both art and story telling (and mentors in my head lol). All whose epic body of work inspires me to convey some of their magic into my art, daily.

x

Website: https://mrmauro.com/

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