Living with art, the incredible personal collection of Mariela Ivanier

He lives in Pasaje Rivarola with a collection of 400 works of art. He organizes meetings that he calls Collection Tea, like the one he held last Wednesday to celebrate advertising, where Alejandra Radano sang. Multifaceted, when asked who she is, she says with a satisfied tone: “I am Mora’s mother, Hugo and Raquel’s daughter and Santiago’s wife.” Only after being in her house, hyper-maximalist and with a playful polychrome, almost a museum, did she say that she started as a communicator for clients who were going through a crisis. She did not formally set out to advise companies in conflict, but after working for Petrobrás – which faced a severe oil spill – she was hired by luxury brands that, also established in Argentina, collapsed in the ’90s.

His emblematic work was the one he did for the AMIAwhere linked to the authorities, although externally, she organized several events to commemorate the 18th of July. He says that he was fortunate to learn with and from his clients and that, after learning about several hot facts, opened his office, Verbo, in 1993. “From that moment on I worked incessantly, even in a pandemic, with Zoom, streaming… and again, my job was to support colleagues and clients who at that moment opened a door for me. Because my proposal was to debate until we saw how the professional sectors survived. Literal. And I learned to be less individualistic, I did a big team exercise… While all this was happening, I reconnected with the world of art. It was a reunion because my family was always very close. “Art is in my DNA.”

Mariela lives with her collection of around 400 pieces. Domestic immersive art, you could say. “This is the house where I live, I walk barefoot, my friends come… My home collection – as I define it – is not solemn. There are many myths regarding collecting and who is a collector. There are discussions with your peers, people who only give the name to those who have pieces of great economic value. Or the one that has a huge number of pieces, and that is my case. There are people who specifically collect a school, a period… people who collect El Rojas, from which several collected artists came. There can be many reasons that lead to collecting. I collect what I like to live with, Argentine and contemporary art. And I have been doing it for many years,” he acknowledges. In his moves – because he also lived on Humberto Primo Street and now on Pasaje Rivarola – he keeps the pieces on display, unless it is a giant painting. “The largest that these walls resist is that of Marcela Mouján,” he says.

Before building her collection, Mariela had to get rid of her first apartment in Venezuela and Tacuarí, and pay part of the debt with a work by the Argentine artist Pablo Siquier, “something he knows and it makes him happy,” she remembers. His painting was a rescue that allowed me access to another home. When I moved in, I swore I would always have originals on the walls and never prints. I had several things framed, but I discarded them and decided to live with blank walls. That’s how I started to find what appeared to me and what I liked.” The first work was a Martin Kovensky.

“Martín Caparrós brought us together because I think Kovensky was presenting his first book and needed press. He recommended me and we made an agreement. I would present the book to him and he would give me a work. After the presentation he invited me to his workshop and showed me work. I looked at a painting and he told me that it had been rejected at a salon, which interested me immediately. And it was one of the most successful works in my collection. It was not for sale, but many who saw it asked him for jobs because of that painting.”

For Mariela, anyone can start a collection and she fervently advises it. “It is a change in quality of life for those who have the sensitivity and not necessarily so much money. There are works of art for everyone. I suggest to those who are inclined, do not fear. Throughout all these years – I started in 1997 – I linked up with different editors who, in general, are artists. They stop riding when they manage to get their career on track. I have been working with Mariana Gallego for about 7 years, who is also a framer. His look is important because he knows that such a work is enlarged with a mat or smaller with such a thing. He is also an artist. Where to place the works is a very visceral decision. I wonder what my belly is telling me. I don’t think the colors match, I think they fall in love…”

The apartment project is by architects Rosalba Smulevici and Cinthia Atlas. They respected its French style, with original floors, wooden openings and stained glass windows. The dressing room, the L-shaped desk and the dressing room furniture for jewelry were made by a carpenter. “I love jewelry. The style of my house is somewhat kitsch and has a lot of vintage. I bought many things from Sebastián Salazar, a store in Barrio Norte. The chairs, armchairs, tables… he inspired me because he takes vintage designs and copies them anew. They are not used furniture. I love the ’50s decade that contradicts kitsch. As I am, contradictory (laughs). I brought a desk that is placed in the dining room, as a closet table, an original from Churba -when he was in Cabildo and Juramento-, also from mom. “I always liked maximalism,” he says.

Light is very important in your house because there is no natural light. “So the issue of lighting was crucial. I did not choose the ceiling, very modern for what the environment is. But it was necessary. I find it interesting when people are encouraged by contrasts. I applaud those who do not copy the decoration of the house from a magazine and put objects that are part of their history. That is personalizing, making the space your own. It is not very different from what fashion is. This skirt I wear is not fashionable, but it is comfortable for me. And I want the same in my house. “It has to be comfortable for those who live there, consistent with their personality.”

Mariela always finds a reason to celebrate, opens the doors of her house and invites her Collection Teas. “It all started when I discovered that I had very beautiful things and that I wanted to share them. Motivated by two friends, the gallery owner Florencia Kaplán, who today lives in Miami, and a cultural manager, Florencia Binder, I opened my house and offered a tea for friends. It turned out they were staying and tea time became cocktail hour, but there was no alcohol. To the next tea, I added a wine. The heart was always my friends, who later multiplied because they brought their friends. Friends of friends that I invite directly, with my phone. You could call it connection tea, because that’s what it’s all about. People who interconnect for the love of art. The call is very good, free, but I have to set the limit on the number of people. Some brands support me – drinks, snacks – because I imagine that the public I gather interests them; Sometimes musician friends come. In addition to Alejandra Radano, you will give me a thousand children, Pablo Mainetti, bandoneon player… I really like being a hostess,” says Mariela.

Sometimes, their Collection Teas go out onto the streets. and presents an exhibition in the beautiful Pereda Palace – the cultural space of the Embassy of Brazil-, by the Brazilian/Argentine artist Ileana Hochmann. The pieces -textiles, oil paintings, photos- displayed their 60-year retrospective, Third Margin. In October, the Collection Tea received the US Ambassador, Marc Stanley and his wife Wendy Hillebrand, and the president of the DAIA Jorge Knovlovits, Renata Schussheim and Silvana Ovsejevich, among others.

Mariela is also the author of two books. The first is called Collection Tea and was designed by Gabriela Kogan, now a book editor. “We did it alone, it was self-publishing. It was presented at MALBA, in the context of Arteba, in 2013. It was an object book, we made 2 thousand copies to give away. I did the second one with Planeta, with the editor Gaby Comte. It is called Art is at Home, with the testimonies of 141 women linked to art. It reflects the experiences of gallery owners, curators, graphic designers, cooks, architects… Each one tells their unique and personal relationship with art. From Narda Lepes, whose parents received great artists linked to the Di Tella Institute, to Alejandra López, photographer. It is very easy to have a relationship with art. It is very difficult not to have it,” says Ivanier.

Art is at home was now presented in Madrid, at Casa América, regarding the relaunched link between the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and the Madrid Mayor’s Office and also at the Argentine Consulate in New York. In February 2025, the Argentine Consulate in Miami, together with the Spanish Book Fair, scheduled its presentation for Spanish-speaking readers.