Mario Giacoya: A pure look Though a first impression may lead to the erroneous conclusion that Mario Giacoya's painting is "naif", sufficient reasons prevent its inclusion in this category, namely its wisdom and execution technique. Nevertheless, it is an understandable mistake: a feeling of innocence, based on the transparent spiritual quality of the style, expresses a form of contemplation sugg ...esting an all-encompassing goodness, the essential empathy which brings together everything that lives. Giacoya paints landscapes in a luminous and lively palette, in which the human figure appears as a part of the whole. It is almost a sign, repeated, serialized sometimes in synthetic brushstrokes. Life itself is the genuine interest of those landscapes, and for this reason the trees, when they appear as the main characters of a piece, are populated with birds, numerous and colorful, at times suggestive of a winged flowering. In "The wine harvest" a certain geometric order, governed by the rows of vines placed on the lines of flight of the perspective, includes the grape pickers who are once more a part of the landscape, devoid of any prominence. The human presence is integrated, even dissolved in this profound communion with nature. Thus in "The arrival", cyclists seen from an unexpected angle, from above, are like uniform elements, identified only by the changing color, resolved in a rhythm of abstract shapes that substract from the human figure, turning it into a sign. "The harvest" strikes the viewer due to the economy of the means that, against all odds, once again achieve a merger of the surroundings and the workers, which become a single thing: a simplicity that may be measured by the representation of the almost identical carts, facing towards the right or the left of the canvas, or with subtle changes in the position of the horse as the only data differentiating one from another. The feeling evoked by these landscapes is peace; there is no tempest or adverse climate here. The world recreated by Giacoya is serene, hospitable, friendly. An Arcadian atmosphere of profound wellbeing, a harmony where goodness reigns arises from the works of Giacoya. The realm of what exists offers no conflict in this spiritual recreation made of calm and devotion. It is not far-fetched to assume that underlying this harmonious world a higher consciousness, God or the Divine, is hidden, reaffirming the message of love contained in the peace and quiet. Giacoya's painting is, from this point of view, an exercise in spirituality concealed from full manifestation. Like the flowers hidden in the foliage, it hides but its presence lights from within this world that the look of the artist takes in with genuine devotion. For Giacoya, painting is an act of love. Hugo García Robles