Storm and Steel Painting

María Belén Larroulet was born on March 15th, 1990 in Mendoza, Argentina. In 2009, she entered the Visual Arts program at the National University of Cuyo, and later continued her learning through self-study. Additionally, she took painting and drawing classes for several years with the painter and drawer Martín Villalonga. In 2020, one of her works was part of the Vendimia Regional Salon, exhibited collectively at Eca Eliana Molinelli. In 2022, she has participated in various art fairs in Argentina and in the US. Additionally, she is a guitarist; she began studying electric guitar at the age of 13 and has been playing the instrument for over 20 years, specializing in blues, jazz, funk and rock. She works as a session musician and composer, and is passionate about both disciplines. Statement One of the most beautiful experiences that exist is artistic action, which impacts and moves me. Feeling it in all its forms has been my search since I was young. As a musician/guitarist, I am enveloped in sound, rhythm, and improvisation. When I see a painting or drawing, the world stands still, ad libitum. Just as music leads me to improvisation and a state of trance, line leads me to abstraction. Imagination plays and without play there is nothing. This is how symbols appear: I like when the objects I draw are broken into pieces and constructed again taking a different direction; I also like to disorganize the world I see and sometimes don't like, although perhaps I only disorganize it for fun. Gesture is very important in my work, which is linked to emotion and feeling. I paint on canvases using different materials, acrylic, spray paint, fibers, markers, cardboard, brushes, etc. I paint my house, the everyday, the smell of coffee, my cat floating in the studio with its red cord... in short, that is art for me, life itself passing by as I paint. Seeing the blank canvas before embarking on each adventure makes me feel completely happy. I like colors, drawing aimlessly, life, love, the purring of my cat, jazz, and improvisation. All that in a couple of centimeters of fabric.