Gís Marí (born Gijs Maris in Haarlem, 1991) is a self-taught abstract expressionist painter currently living and working in Figueira da Foz, Portugal. His practice is centred on large-scale paintings that emphasise the vitality of gesture and the immediacy of movement.
Coming from a family engaged in the art trade, he chose to pursue an independent artistic path, seeking a personal form of expression. Gís Marí views his painting as an act of energy. “I try to put in my painting as much energy as possible”, he says. For him, this means maintaining a sense of vitality throughout the entire process, even when the work takes time to complete. He aims for “powerful colour combinations, strong forms”, combining instinctive mark-making with periods of reflection. The process often involves building the surface through multiple layers of paint, mostly in bright, saturated tones. Gís Marí works on his paintings for extended periods while trying to preserve the energy of the initial gesture.
As the artist notes, “the mind seeks, struggles, and sometimes finds”, reflecting an approach to painting that remains focused on process rather than resolution.
For the artist, painting becomes a way to translate impressions drawn from nature – its vitality, unpredictability, and its sense of mystery into visual form. These ideas shape his latest exhibition, A Floresta da Mente (The Forest of the Mind), presented at the Almedina gallery of the Municipal Museum of Coimbra. The title points to the connection between inner landscapes and the natural world. Like a forest, the mind contains paths, clearings, and shadows; it grows from roots we cannot always see. It evokes the idea of a mental forest, a place where thoughts take root and grow, much like trees anchored in shared soil yet branching out into unknown directions. As the artist notes, “the mind seeks, struggles, and sometimes finds”, reflecting an approach to painting that remains focused on process rather than resolution. The works suggest that clarity is rare, perhaps provisional, and that much of what shapes creation takes place in the ongoing act of seeking.
Reflecting on his latest exhibition, Gís Marí remarks that “we are all searching for something to hold on to”. This sense of searching for grounding informs the metaphor behind the show. Galeria Almedina shares a wall with the medieval tower of the historic town of Coimbra, creating a direct dialogue between centuries-old architecture and contemporary art. The artist sees in this juxtaposition a parallel to his own situation – rooted in his origins in the Netherlands, while building a life and practice in Portugal, moving between inherited passion and new contexts of inspiration.
