“In time and with water everything changes” - Leonardo da Vinci

Water is the carrier of nature, the pulse of life.
Water changes itself into as many natures as the different places through which it runs.
Water does not resist, it flows, going wherever it wants, so, ultimately, nothing can resist it.
Metaphysical symbol of purity and spiritual transformation, water is a metaphor for a new-found freedom; a freedom which is gained independently through the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, whilst always remaining true to ourselves.

Born between two rivers in Entre Rios (Mesopotamia), Argentina, María Inés Aguirre (MIA) works as if in rhythm with the ebb and flow of waves breaking on the seashore; energised by the freedom of the constant choices and unexpected currents created by her uniquely fresh and vibrant artistic language.

For Mia everything becomes liquid. Her work flows, and this is especially true of her series about the fountains and terraces of the Alhambra in Granada. These works pay homage to the profound artistic sensitivity and technical expertise of its Muslim architects, to whom water was the magical fountain of life and essential substance of the Universe.

The Earth is water and we are water: both the reflection of and the eyes through which creation sees itself. We are also the purifying tears (lagrimas) which nurture the seed of our inner self and become the catalyst for true creative freedom. As MIA’s ceramic typewriters suggest, this is the indefinable process that sets our imagination free.

About MIA

MIA’s work is her response to the natural world, especially the brilliant colours and light of Argentina, music and emotion. She has lived and worked in London since 1993 and taken part in solo and group shows in Europe and the Americas. Her works are held in collections in every continent.

MIA gave her first solo show at the age of six, when her mother, who was also a gifted artist, hung her paintings between the trees in the main square of their home town in the north of Argentina. MIA graduated from the University of Fine Arts,Tucumán, and moved to Italy after she won a scholarship to study painting with the artist Fabrizio Plessi at the Accademia delle Belli Arte in Venice. While living in Italy, MIA was commissioned to paint murals in Taiwan and Austria and also studied print-making in Salzburg.

In his foreword to the catalogue of MIA’s 2003 show at the Centro Borges, Buenos Aires, the late Pierre Restany (the critic who 'discovered' Yves Klein and a great authority on Latin American art) highlighted the distinctive qualities of MIA’s work: “The exuberance and spontaneity of her painting have their roots in her emotional life. This is why her art will out-last over-rational art: for MIA, each colour represents a sound and each painting is a sun-burst of colour, of joy and imagination which is notable for its musical equilibrium”.

These connections continue to inspire MIA’s paintings and her 3D works, such as the two life-size baby elephants she painted for the Elephant Family (auctioned by Christie’s in Milan and Sotheby’s in London), the giant eggs for the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt, London, the exuberant life-sized crocodile, which was exhibited in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh and the concert grand piano she turned into an abstract 3D painting while artist in residence at Steinway & Sons, London.

In 2010 MIA spent several months at Steinway Hall where, taking inspiration from the colour and energy of Les Ballets Russes, she transformed a shiny black concert grand piano into an abstract painting. She called it 'Dancing Soul' and Steinway sold it (for a six figure sum) to a collector last year. The works Mia created while painting the piano were exhibited in a solo show, ‘The Music of Colour’, curated by Elisa Martinelli at Moor House, London in 2011.