After a two-month break, Matteo Mauro is back with the seventeenth session of Sunset Conversations, available on his Instagram page and YouTube Channel.

On a lovely terrace with bewitching views of honey-coloured stone buildings in Catania, Sicily, Matteo Mauro sat in conversation with talented Colombian abstract artist Santiago Parra, whose large, black and white paintings explore the expressive power of the quintessential abstract form.

Matteo Mauro loves the energy, action, movement and strength in Parra’s works. His bold sculptural brushstrokes give off a sense of energy that wraps around itself, stops, restarts and crashes against the gaze of the spectators.

Calligraphy-like images, sinuous vortices, brutality and balance, excess and moderation, spontaneity and pondering are harmonised in Santiago Parra’s works. Black and white are the only colours that he likes to use when redefining abstract structures with his brushstrokes. He treats his paintings as living creatures and he never retouches his work.

Click here to watch the full conversation.

Who’s Santiago Parra

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1986, Santiago Parra is a talented abstract artist represented by London’s JD Malat Gallery, a relatively new gallery specialised in showcasing the best contemporary art and selecting the very best abstract artists in the contemporary scene.

Santiago Parra’s artworks have already been purchased by the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). He draws inspiration from the abstract expressionists of the Fifties, and his bold powerful works have been purchased by art collectors of the highest calibre, including billionaire real estate developer Jorge M. Pérez, César Gaviria, Tanya Capriles Brillembourg and many, many more.

The affinity between Santiago Parra and Matteo Mauro is more than evident. The two of them both are brilliant artist-scholars, explore abstract art and are willing to investigate the potential offered by each and every medium. Like Mauro, Parra also has a solid education, which extends well beyond the branches relating to art and includes literature, television and motion pictures.

Santiago Parra studied Literature at the National University of Colombia, Art at the University of Los Andes, in Bogotá, and Fine Arts at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where he also learnt about Motion Pictures and Television.

For further information on Santiago Parra, just head to www.santiagoparra.com. Click here to follow him on Instagram.