OIL ON PANEL ALBERTA, CANADA A Marcos Molina painting invites the viewer to disconnect from the busy and loud distractions of modern-day life, to take a deep breath and savour a moment in nature where time stands still. Molina was born in 1977 in beautiful, but war-torn Guatemala. At the age of 9, several years after fleeing the unsafe boundaries of home, Molina, alongside his mother and six siblings, immigrated to Canada as refugees. Absorbing the livelihood and creativity of his new hometown, la ville de Montréal nurtured Molina’s passion to play piano, draw, and paint, broadening the borders of his mind. In the spring of 1999, as a young adult having had enough of the city life, his taste for adventure led him to hitch-hike across the country to the Canadian Rockies, where he fell in love with the mountains of Banff. Since then, Molina has dedicated himself to exploring and painting the beautiful landscapes of the Canadian West, from the Rockies to the Pacific. Originally a self-taught artist, Molina refined his skills through a degree in animation at the Queensland College of Art, as well as through private painting education with realist landscape and portrait painters in Australia and British Columbia. Drawing inspiration from the great masters, as well as Canada’s Group of Seven painters and today’s American Southwestern art, his style reflects his passion for animation, music, and adventure: every painting is a meticulously planned stage where nature’s elements dance together in rhythmic lines, lighting, and colour, telling the story of a unique moment in time.