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Mario Maplé’s Pen Drawings Explore Beauty, Discomfort

In Mario Maplé’s ballpoint pen drawings, the artist moves between conventional beauty and the grotesque. The works are deceptively complex in their elegance, the soft lines of the subject the result of tedious work in ink pen. The artist will also occasionally mix in watercolors to emphasize his distortions.

In Mario Maplé’s ballpoint pen drawings, the artist moves between conventional beauty and the grotesque. The works are deceptively complex in their elegance, the soft lines of the subject the result of tedious work in ink pen. The artist will also occasionally mix in watercolors to emphasize his distortions.

TOBA Gallery, which has exhibited the artist’s work, describes his practice as exploring “the possibilities of the human figure, deforming it and achieving unique disfigurements as a two-dimensional sculptural exercise.” The Mexico City gallery was founded by the artist Smithe, whose work has been featured on the Hi-Fructose blog.

See more work from the artist below.

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