BIO
Growing up in Buenos Aires, Mariano known by his tag ‘BNS’ (or BIENES), was heavily influenced by the graffiti, skateboarding and hip-hop scenes. Upon moving to New York City, he spent over a decade creating murals, installations and paintings while developing his own original style that made his name known in the art world today. Although he now works mostly between his studios in Barcelona and Brooklyn, his overall aesthetic is still inextricably linked to his background as a street artist, which is reflected in every piece that he makes.
Combining aerosol paint, acrylics, silkscreen, inks, collage and photography in his compositions, BNS builds each work with over 30 different layers. BNS describes his work as energetic and intricate, and influenced by everything from old school hip hop to the natural world. He loves the vitality and energy of the big city, finding beauty in the chaos of bricks, cables and water tanks; he is particularly interested in architecture and how the built environment coexists with nature, often juxtaposing flowers and plants with graffiti and crumbling facades in his works.
Nowadays BNS is still active in the street art scene, and his graffiti and paste-ups are directly interconnected with his fine art paintings through shared concepts. His street art is strategically placed in key spots around different cities blending in with the surrounding landscape. Decayed corners, iconic landmarks and architectural elements – they all become part of the artist’s work.
BNS’s own graffiti and paste ups, usually ephemeral, exposed to weather, other people’s tags and all kinds of random interventions, often end up being photographed by the artist, then burned into silkscreens and finally painted onto the canvas to become part of his art once again, this time in the form of fine art works.
Since 2015 his work has been shown at the international SCOPE fair in Basel, Switzerland, NYC and Miami editions as well as ART Miami, ART NY, Los Angeles Art Show, ART Wynwood and Palm Beach Contemporary art fairs. BNS has a long list of celebrity collectors such as Paris Hilton and NAS, and has been featured in Forbes magazine and Haute-living among others.
PROCESS
BNS employs an unconventional approach to silkscreening, treating it as an individual art form rather than a repetitive technique. He personally burns and hand-pulls each screen, regulating pressure to achieve distinct results. Without registration, every screen is applied to the canvas just once, resulting in a unique appearance that defies reproduction.
Beneath the surface, silkscreen images overlay layers of graffiti, acrylic, spray paint, marker tags, and textures mimicking street aesthetics. The finished painting that you see in the gallery transforms from a blank canvas to an abstract graffiti piece, ultimately becoming a figurative artwork with a complex background reflecting the entire creative journey through the multiple layers.
Most works are on canvas or wood panels with a resin finish, meticulously crafted in the studio. The resin finish, comprising at least 5 coats, enhances color vibrancy, creating a depth effect. Each piece involves over twenty layers of hand-pulled silkscreens layered over spray paint, markers, acrylic, ink, and collaged lokta papers.
BNS’s meticulous control throughout the creative process allows him to produce art that uniquely reflects his perspective.