The Art Magazine June 2020 | Page 119

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15

Hello Felipe and welcome to NotRandomArt. The current issue is revolving around the problem of communication and identity. Is there any particular way you would describe your identity as an artist but also as a human being in dynamically changing, unstable times? In particular, does your cultural substratum/identity form your aesthetics?

To answer this question, I need to clarify that my identity as a human being and as a person with a history is what makes me an artist, they are two things that can’t be separated, I am an artist and human regardless of where I am, whether in a vernissage, an artistic residence , in an interview or anywhere, be it art related or not, I am present as an artist and also as a person. These are two things that go together. Growing up in São Paulo, Brazil: the city and country that I still live and work, means I always have lived on unstable times and constant changes, São Paulo in particular is a microcosm of what happens in the world as a hole and what happens here reflects the country as a hole too.

My cultural identity helps shape what I believe to be my aesthetic and my work. It is more about finding the balance needed for a particular piece: is a variable that hangs between my cultural identity and my sense of humor, which most of the time is cynical and sarcastic to the point of reaching the limit of contradicting myself.

Would you like to tell us something about your artistic as well as life background? What inspired you to be in this artistic point in your life when you are now?

If I had to pick of so many moments of my life, there are two that still reflect blindingly in my life and in my Works: One was before becoming acquainted as an artist, but at 16. I already had a keen interest in politics, history and sociology influencied by parents and grandparents who were the opposition during the difficult years of military dictatorship in Brazil. This was probably the equation that led me to Punk, D.I.Y. And to Anarchopunk, two countercultures that I lived for some years and now I follow its philosophies, both as an artist and also as a way of life. During my academic training I was already doing Graffiti on the streets, not because I faced graffiti as art, but as a contravention, something illegal and extremely simple, to do, just go and paint and leave as soon as possible so that no one sees who is doing. The Graffiti in the streets consequently took me the lines of the trains, the trains and the subways, of São Paulo and all the other cities that I visited. The idea of ​​entering in a restricted and extremely guarded place always interested me more than what I wrote with spray paint on the trains. The process of getting inside is a mixture of a game of chess with the analysis of a work of art, requires patience and much observation. You need understand how the system works, what are your highs and lows and of course, to always look at yourself and understand your own limitations. These two moments of my life are the ones I carry daily, not necessarily putting them literally in practice, but in their way of thinking and acting, and this way of living helps me to stay as an artist today, to create new works and rethink the ancients. Punk and Graffiti were mechanisms to dribble the problems that exist in the world without the arrogance to seek a solution for them, and as an artist this statement shows in my production, I do not seek to solve the problems of the world, much less to live in a world that there are no conflicts and problems, because I believe that these are the elements necessary for art to exist.

Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about your identity as a participant of the visual culture?

This question is complicated since I could list some works that were of strong impact and that I identify with them a lot. But I would like to talk about two specific works. The installation Chromatic scale that I presented in my last solo exhibition called Neither loving it, neither leaving it and the performance Status quo, presented in the performance stand of SP-Arte 2017 (São Paulo art fair). The instalation consists of 199 passport prints of the vast majority countries currently in existence (I believe all), organized in groups by their colors - blue, red, green and black - and ranked from the power influence ranking. Thus, disorganized the visual chromatic order of the color tones of each passport, and proposing an understanding of the color from the power of the sign of each passport. It is visibly recognizable the navy blue tone of the USA passport, or the reddish tone of the British passport. This work struck me because for the first time I was able to apply the clandestine feeling that I carry in me. For me, being a clandestine means not belonging to the country or the culture of where you were born, and to this day I still haven’t find any place or culture where feel like I belong. The Status quo performance is one of my most recent works and at the same time one of my oldest projects. It is formed by a circle of 7 heaters connected at their maximum power, while the performer, me in this case, remains naked and located stading still in the center of the circle until he reaches its limit, in other words, until he feel sick or faints. Works such as that deals with the dichotomy of the current society formed by millenials, a society in which the image of well being, being physically fit, smiling and "good with life" is what is constantly shared in social networks like Facebook, Instagram , Snapchat, etc. The naked body is vulnerable to what is around it, protected in its own ilusion of the heat of what goes on outside the circle. The heaters heat the environment and reverse the position where the ancestors warmed around the fire. The fact that I was naked at work was what gave me the most impact, because I am far from being in physical shape or carrying in the body the acceptable normativity that people preach. Stretch marks, fat, bodyhair. Although I was deeply focused to a point I could barely to what the audience was talking about the performance, some people who was helping me in the performance, standing by if something happens to me, they listen and we talked a lot about it. The first notes of people seeing the performance in large majority were my bodily "faults", and then they looked at what was happening in their total. People ended up pointing their own "faults" out first of all by finding a naked person who does not have the normative body.