MAURI VIRTANEN/ His artworks are an exaltation of the color and shape

Lives in the city of Quito that is the place where he studied architecture, usually he exhibits his paintings in Ecuador and other places around the world and has been recognized with some awards in Ecuador, Romania, Finland, and other countries, such as the First Place in the International Art Contest for children and youth “OPEN DOORS” that took place in Romania in 1996. His first international solo exhibition was inaugurated in the Palace of the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest-Romania in 2001, his artworks are in private and public collections worldwide.

The innocence of Poland_watercolor_38x28cm_2020

The innocence of Georgia, watercolor, 38x28cm, 2020

Mauri strives to create a conversation between the viewer and the image by painting what he sees and what he likes,  his mission is to capture scenes of life, architecture, horses, and flowers in a natural setting. His artworks are an exaltation of the color and shape, of the drawing and composition, of the rhythm and movement, of the unity in the variety, and of the landscape considered as an alive celebrity.

Since 2015 he paints almost exclusively with watercolors and as watercolorist  has won the first place in the International Contest of Portraits that took place in Romania in 2016, in that year was appointed as co-representative of IWS Ecuador and few months later  became country head of  IWS Ecuador, since then he has been awarded several times in watercolor events such as: selected to be part of the exhibition MASTERS OF WATERCOLOR “ELITE 2017” in Tirana-Albania,  “Honorable Award” at the First Prague International Watercolor Festival 2018 in Czech Republic, “Honorable Mention” in the First Watercolor Festival of November 2018 in Guayaquil-Ecuador, “Best Watercolor Artist” at the third Tbilisi Watercolor Festival 2019 in Georgia, “Special Award”  in the International Watercolor Competition ”Step by Step” 2019 in Gdansk-Poland, “Apreciation Award” in the Abu Rawash International Watercolor Competition 2019, finalist of the ART 2015, 2016 (Art Revolution Taipei) in Taiwan and in the International Watercolor Exhibition 2020 arranged by the Gallery Esde in Cagliari-Italy, among others.

His last solo exhibitions are: UMBRELE VERII at  the  Scoala Gimnaziala de Arta Viktor Karpis, 2015, Giurgiu, Romania and DIALOG INTRE ACUARELA SI PICTURA IN ULEI at the Museum Teohari Antonescu, in Giurgiu, Romania and also has participated in several international watercolor bienals, exhibitions, festivals in Albania, Bulgaria, UAE, Ecuador, Bolivia, Finland, Romania, Hong Kong, Jordan, etc.

He has given online watercolor workshops sponsored by the Watercolor Magazine and face to face workshops in the cities of Bucharest and Giurgiu – Romania sponsored by the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Bucharest and by the Satului Museum of the same city also has given demonstrations of watercolor in the cities of Prague, Bucharest, Tbilisi, Quito, Guayaquil, among others.

As the representative of the IWS Ecuador has organized the First International Watercolor Biennial 2017 in Quito – Ecuador, the International Exhibition of Watercolor and Photography UP IN THE AIR 2018 in Quito  and the First International Watercolor Festival for children THE MAGIC OF WATERCOLOR in Quito  and has been co-organizer of the International Exhibition LUMEA IN ARMONIA PRIN ARTA 2019 in Bucharest-Romania.

He has been appointed as jury member of important international watercolor events such as: 6th  INTERNATIONAL “ZEUGMA – LOVE, TOLERANCE AND PEACE THROUGH ART” Watercolor Festival & Golden Brush Contest 2017 in Ganziantep – Turkey and the TLALOC PRIZE INTERNATIONAL CONTEST 2018 in  México, and also is active member of the UNION OF PLASTIC ARTISTS OF ROMANIA and in 2019 was appointed as Chevalier Academicien (Knight Academist) of the MONDIAL ART ACADEMIA of France.

CITIZENSHIPS: Ecuadorian, Finnish

DATE OF BIRTH: January 7th. 1979

ESTUDIES: Architecture

STOCKHOLM 12.06.2021