Carlos Maldonado, the artist behind the viral Iowa City snow shark, wants people to know he sells paintings, too.
Maldonado’s sculpture captured national attention on Jan. 9 after he and his sons built a massive shark out of snow in their front yard in Iowa City. Maldonado has been an established artist since 2019 with his work on display across the state.
As a teenager, painting was just a hobby for Maldonado. He laughed when his high school art teacher suggested he pursue art full-time. He attended the University of Iowa but later dropped out.
While working as a lab tech, he sold his art online, fulfilling commissions for pet portraits and landscapes on the side. Eventually, Maldonado’s art took priority.
“I just really started to consider, maybe I could do this painting thing,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado first discovered plein air artwork in a book he found at a thrift store. At the time, his style was, as he described it, psychedelic and surrealist, but his weakness was in painting convincing landscapes.
Inspired by the books preaching of the benefits of painting from still life, he joined the Iowa Plein Air Painters.
“I spent hours staring at that landscape,” he said. “I can remember the feeling and the time and how I felt and what I ate, and it brings back the memories of that day.”
Maldonado has also competed in many plein air competitions in Iowa. His work currently hangs in Catiri’s Art Oasis in Amana and Art Domestique in Washington, Iowa.
Only now in his seventh year practicing plein air has he begun to like his paintings. He said he’s enjoyed the challenge of painting in the elements, mixing colors on location and having the patience to improve his skills.
“With every painting, even though it might not be my best work, it was my best work at the time, and it’s the best that I could do with the circumstances,” Maldonado shared.
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His current series features Iowa City’s downtown businesses at night and, although plein-air is traditionally painted in open fields or in the presence of vast mountains, Maldonado shared he hopes his work inspires more artists to come downtown to paint Iowa City.
“I painted [Mickey’s Irish Pub], but there’s an infinite amount of ways to paint Mickey’s,” he said. “It’s cool to see the way [one person] paints something versus someone else.”
Raised in West Liberty, Iowa, the Iowa City-based artist found a newfound appreciation for his home state through practicing plein air.
“[I] like being able to see far distances, the giant clouds in the summertime and the sifting cornfields,” he said. “It’s really beautiful here, and I think it’s something I didn’t notice when I was younger.”