Music in the air Sculpture

Mario Pikus, painter and sculptor, won his first Art Award at age 8 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. By his teen years, he was participating in group shows and painting commissioned murals. At age 20, Mario traveled to New York City to meet the only living Paris-of-the-20’s artist, the renowned Cubist sculptor, Jacques Lipchitz. Lipchitz believed Mario to be an artistic genius, and became his mentor. Lipchitz compared Mario to the expressionist painter Chaim Soutine. Through Lipchitz, Mario met his most significant collectors, Lester Avnet and William Mazer. In the 1970’s and 80’s, while living in studios in Soho and Tribeca in New York City, Mario became an activist in fighting for the legal rights of artists to both work and live in their loft spaces. He was responsible for case law and legislation that protected thousands of artists in their lofts. This protracted struggle for the artists’ homes resulted in one of Mario’s largest exhibitions held in Soho, entitled “Pictures of an Eviction”. Mario has completed many commissioned artworks for private collectors and celebrities, including a portrait of New Orleans musician Al Hirt, and the Belmont Triple Crown winning horse "High Schemes" for Joseph Morrissey. In 1985, Mario moved to Los Angeles, Ca, living in the artistic community of Silverlake. Mario had many one-man gallery exhibitions of both his paintings and sculptures, as well as a unique commission to paint his interpretation of Chumash tribe symbols on cave rocks on a mountaintop in Malibu, Ca. Mario brings to his work his unique bursts of color, emotion and intensity. His most recent oil paintings and sculptures combine with innovation, discipline and freedom the elements of Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism and Cubism. Mario moved to Rancho Mirage, Ca. in 2002. He was attracted to, and inspired by, the beauty of the Desert -- mountains, palm trees, bright blue skies, star-studded night skies, and the spirituality in his surroundings. In his Desert home, with its wide open spaces, he has been able to create large outdoor sculptures. He is the innovator of a new sculpture artform called “Harley-ism”. His unique metal sculptures are created from discarded Harley Davidson motorcycle parts. Each sculpture, rather than being welded, is bolted together by the artist to create a perfect balance of weight and form. He also weaves ribbons of metal into the sculptures to create fluid movement.