BIOGRAPHY

Oscar Maxera (b. 1930; Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an established, internationally exhibited artist renowned for his contribution to modern art. Maxera’s arresting use of color and line is lauded by critics valuing the expressive power and great historical significance of his work. The artist’s paintings are part of public collections at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, (New York, New York), Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT), Museum of Modern Art (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Centro Argentino de Relaciones Internationales (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and Lawrence University Arts Center (Appleton, Wisconsin) among others. 

 

Maxera emerged as an artist in Buenos Aires between 1968-1973 through the Center for Art and Communications and was invited to exhibit alongside the influential “El Grupo de los Trece”. After participating in numerous travelling shows in the United States, Europe, and South America, Maxera further developed his hallmark geometric forms, specifically displayed at an historic exhibition at the Van Riel Gallery in Argentina. In 1977, he became an artist-in-residence in Westport, CT through the Westport International Cultural Exchange Program, earning the admiration of many American and New York collectors. Oscar Maxera’s paintings continued to be exhibited in galleries throughout Argentina before the artist returned to New York City in 1981 and sold his first of five eventual works to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Tom Messer, director of the Museum from 1961-1988, greatly admired Maxera’s work, writing that the artist’s emulation of the “underlying spirit of Mondrian” gave his paintings an unrivalled “lightness and voluminousness from which a sense of life radiates to the beholder”. The Guggenheim would go on to feature Maxera’s painting “To New York” as its Latin American selection for a landmark Painting Since World War II exhibition honoring the Foundation’s 50th anniversary. 

Oscar Maxera’s paintings remain a powerful testament to the immigrant experience. In the 1990s, Maxera’s work was featured prominently in One World Many Visions: A Celebration of the United Nations’ 50th Anniversary sponsored by the Silvermine Guild Arts Center, and Five Spiritual Waves, an exhibition at the Gallery Korea, New York City. Maxera was also involved in collective, or Co-Art, performances in New York City throughout the early 1990s. As a result of Maxera’s success, he was included in the 1998-99 edition of Strathmore’s Who’s Who. Today, he continues to work on creating new masterpieces in his studio in Buenos Aires.