Mauricio

Photo by P.S. Zollo... used without permission...

Mauricio Saravia was born in Uruguay in the early seventies... at the age of five he was diagnosed with McCune-Albright syndrome (polyostotic fibrous dysplasia)... multiple surgeries almost took his life on several occasions and he lost the sight in his left eye... Symptoms of the disease include bone fractures and deformity of the legs, arms and skull, varying degrees of skin pigmentation, and endocrine hyperfunction... He wasn't supposed to make it into adulthood... and yet he did... with a vengeance...

Saravia spent a life dodging genetic bullets... a life wracked with pain... a life trapped in a body that failed him miserably and consistently... and yet despite it all I'm told he described himself as "happy"...

Let that sink in for a moment... keep it in your heart for safekeeping... and pull it out the next time you think you've got it bad...

Mauricio Saravia was a great artist and fluid, meaningful poet, he was a man who refused to allow his grave disabilities to frame his artwork...

His work has the soulful depth of an alternate geography, one unfamiliar to our feet... it merges interplanetary nature with industrial humanism... it is intensely spiritual yet void of obvious mortal form... it is a dreamscape...

I believe we've all been given a set of wings at birth... some of us had them torn from us by the ills of poverty, violence or disease... many more of us grow our wings to maturity but are too frightened or lazy to fly...

And then there are those who have been given wings that are sickly, decrepit, beyond repair... wings that are destined to eventually fail them... and yet somehow they find a way to soar above us all... unencumbered and uninhibited...

That is why Mauricio Saravia flew so high... he knew that his time was limited... he had much to say and do and so little earthly time in which to get it done... he shattered our fear, and challenged us to look past our immediate ignorance and repulsion of his tortured physical being... to let us see the raging beauty beneath it...

Eclipse

Mauricio Saravia will be laid to rest tomorrow... his tortured body finally defeated the light that flickered within him... a victim of a collapsed lung... a victim of a health care system without common decency and empathy... a victim of being un-insurable... a victim of those who couldn't see past his disfiguring shell to view the beautiful core beneath...

It is their HUGE loss... and ours...

Kundalini Spirals

John Lennon once said "Love is all you need"... At first glance, it's a statement that is often dismissed as naive and childlike... yet if you let your mind float over it for a while, the wisdom soaks in...

For it's a busy world we live in... fast, furious, faceless, and often soulless... we stress over our vices... money, politics, sport and entertainment... and yet in the end what does it all mean? How much of it actually enriches us, or are we in effect enriching it?

It would not surprise me if his paintings suddenly became very desirable among collectors... Why does it take someone to die for us to realize the genius of their work? He was right there before us, for over thirty eight years... There are times in your life when you know you really missed out on something special... when you simply got there too late... he obviously meant a lot to many people, among them my friend Zoe, who has been having a rough time of it the past year...

Goodbye Mauricio...

I'm a lesser being for not having known you...

Mauricio's artwork can be seen here... mauriciosaravia.com

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