Some Reflections from Mario Conde's Watercolor

Abstract

This brief reflection on the work of Mario Conde begins by focussing on the special relationship the artist has with the technique of watercolor, exhibiting through that relationship an ethic based on copying. Out of that materiality, Conde builds his response to this moment in postmodernism in which art in general, and particularly Bolivian art, is developing given current social conditions. The ethic of copying is especially explored in two of his works: Exterminator Angel where appropriation addresses colonial issues that reappear in order to question and challenge the very notion of patria (homeland), and Drunk with power (Géricault in Los Andes) where the copy, adapted to the Andean world, distills a desire to reestablish the sacred and unique character of the work of art as well as the Andean imaginary.