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Hi all you magnificent people!

How's life going?

NEWS:

Recently I was invited to give a lecture at Almada Museum, in Almada, Portugal, by Cidadão Exemplar (which is a cool and dynamic  group of artists who have carried out a lot of initiatives in the art field. This came in the sequence of my last exhibition, promoted by the same group, which gladly had a great feedback by visitors.

I must confess I've always avoided these kind of events. I'm more used to the idea of my work speaking for myself than myself speaking about my work. Although, I think I've already mentioned in a previous journal that I'm terribly revolted about the way this country is being fustigated by a bouch of idiots with an anal addition to austerity measures, it's time to act in every way we can. Cultural events may not be as urgent as health services, but people need them the same way. This may look as a different story, but it is not. This time I accepted. Period!

The "thing" was very interesting for me and hopefully the audience felt the same. We always learn a lot from each other's experiences and I must say I learnt a lot. People end up asking you questions that forces you to think about yourself in a way you aren't used to do. That way you learn something more about yourself, which is always good, isn't it?

The audience was composed by students, teachers, plastic artists, photographers and people who are simply  interested in these matters. I ended up mentioning DeviantArt and how important it was for the development of my work, specially when I was starting to experiment with the digital media.

After my presentation, I opened a time for questions and the debate flew in an intense way. This was great because I felt how interested people were both in my work and in these matters in general. We ended up discussing the role of photography in the 21st century and its connections to the plastic arts.

At some point, somebody asked me if I already have a clue to where my work is going from here. To that I answered that I'm sure it will be digital and I'm certain it will be more and more multidisciplinary.

So, that is what it will become. I think that the "static" and "mute" image is coming to an end for me. At least it's how I feel it for now.  The digital media allows us to add sound, movement, besides some sort of interactivity, and who knows what else in the future, so why not try it? I think this has developed, as a natural process, allowed by technology, and I feel like exploring all possibilities to be able to express my ideas or concepts in a most complete way. Isn't that what we all look for?

A few photos of the event can be found in Cidadão Exemplar blog

I haven't uploaded to DA that much lately. Why? I've been experimenting a lot and this has been a constant in my life. It goes like this: experimentation> technical skill/media knowledge>"materialization" of an idea. So, lets say I'm in the experimentation phase.

If I make a brief retrospective of my work, it has become less painting and more photography (even though we perceive it as a group of impossible landscapes). Call it surreal or call it whatever you feel like, I don't mind that much, even because categorization usually comes from art critics and other pseudo-experts who populate the art market. I must confess I've always felt strange when I'm forced to choose a category on DA or anywhere else. I do understand the need for some organization though. But as I don't think like this"Ah! It's an endless night so I'm going to paint a surreal thingy". It comes out as it comes out from the inside. That's why I always hesitate when I have to choose a category. Makes me play the critic role.

Just to share with you more of the lecture's bla bla bla, I'm experimenting a lot with morphing software. I've came to some interesting conclusions: when morphing two or more photos, these kind of algorithmic wonders generate, during the metamorphosis process, intermediate images that retain the main characteristics of a photography. Even though they are not photographs, they look like them. Found a similarity to my latest work here (impossible photo-realistic images). I'm determined to explore these images more and more. In fact, I can not only comtemplate them, for being terribly strange and damn interesting, but I can also include them as an element in my compositions (since they can be saved in a graphic file format). From this point, no more limitations, heh! How cool!

Other than that, I've found so many copies of my "Memorial to Empty Arts" alll over the cyberspace that I'm making a project entitled "My subconscious and someonelse's apple". Named it after finding a painted version of "Memorial to Empty Hearts" in which the person added a big red apple to it, right underneath the heel. Someone placed a big red apple on me. How strange that feels?

I feel like explaining something here, I'm not that anal about people copying these things. It happened throughout History (even before people can bombard the world with images via internet in a matter of seconds). Although, it makes me think what moves these people to "occupy space and time, physical or virtual" with these, pre-fabricated, empty and decontextualized things. Some of them even sell them at incredible prices. Oh Shit! It's the lack of ethics climax! It's the self-realization's wastepipe! If we think about it, when you paint, you put yourself in it. I put a lot of me in my images, inevitably. Some things I'm aware of, some I found later and some I'll never find out. But what about those who paint, putting that integral parcel of your own self in their painting, add an apple to it and make it all go down the wastepipe? Makes me shiver and think about how all this is affecting creativity. Also, the "I've seen something like this before" means banalization and removes what I believe to be the strenght, impact, integrity and veracity of an image. It annoys me enough and, from here, right behind my screen, makes me want to shout out loud a few things to these people: HEY! FOR HOW MUCH ARE YOU SELLING A PART OF ME? LOOK INSIDE YOUR OWN SELF INSTEAD! THERE'S A LOT OF "MATERIAL" IN THERE, I'M SURE, IF YOU LOOK FOR IT!

Now, back to acceptable dB levels,  I'm compiling a mosaic with such images (I've already 12 of them, from 2009 to 2012) which I've accidentaly found or were sent to me by some of you who found them (thank you). I selected the most flagrant ones and despised those who besides the "apple" have a mini-feminine figure, dancing in a colourful bikini, at the door.  Why am I doing this? I don't know, but I've felt this urge to do it. Maybe I'll find out latter.  Maybe is this some sort of mysterious interactivity at a different level? We'll see.

Other than that, I'll be participating in a show in Madrid, opening on July 20 and another in Paris. I'll provide more info soon.

Hope you guys are doing great.
Much love!


Paula