Recent Work ( 2005-2006) :

Current Work(2007-2008):

Lupe’s first artistic influence was her diplomat/artist father Luiz Cunha who was developing some textural abstract expressionistic works while working as Consul General for Brazil in Chicago, Illinois. At that time she entered Mundeleine College where she was accepted for the Art Department. Completing her foundation there, she moved back to Rio de Janeiro and continued studying at the Escola Federal de Belas Artes until 1976 when she was offered a job at the Brazil Herald to undertake photography for them. She continued to do this on a free-lance basis until 1980 when she decided to move to the UK and further develop her photography. In 1987, she had her first fine art photography exhibition in London WC1 with ‘Photoarte’ and then at Mandela Gallery N1 ‘Negative Women’ both photos combining painting. Shortly after the birth of her daughter in 1986 her photography took off and left her with little time for fine art although she had further exhibition at her studios in Winchmore Hill N21 ‘Blue Toned Portraits’  and Southgate N14 with ‘Faces of Nature’ again involving darkroom manipulation.

During her studies at the University of Hertfordshire she was diagnosed with breast cancer and her textural oil paintings of this period, the ‘C’ series, was an attempt to battle this disease, In Sept 2005, she did her first Open Studios in Hertfordshire (HVAF) to raise money for Cancer Research in thanks for the excellent support and treatment she received.

She completed her degree in 2006 with a painting and light installation show, ‘Patropi’, exhibited first at the main UH gallery and then in the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, London E1.

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Lupe then went straight into a practical MA in Fine Art also at the University of Hertfordshire which she completed in 2007.  Unfortunately the university did not provide a graduate show for the students completing theiR course that Year so only a small gathering of friends and family were able to see the site specific mural installation, ‘Porthleven’, extending 24ft by 8ft which comprised her post graduate degree piece. She was awarded a merit level degree for this work. 

At the Maynard Gallery in Dec 2007, she had two of her current fine art photographic works which she had been developing since 2005. The works exhibited were from the series ‘Mystical Trees’, which followed ’Tropical Fruits’, ‘Canada Past&Present’, ‘Brazilian Life 1, 2 & 3’, ‘Viva’ and ‘Absence and Presence’, ’Textures’, ’Glasswork’.

In 2008, she again exhibited her Brazil series at the Courtyard Art Gallery, ‘Memories’ again containing a mixture of her work based on her memories of life and childhood in Rio de Janeiro and where the large abstract oils, which were the focus of this show, based on the photos and memories of an earlier youthful timeframe, aim at evoking emotive nostalgic responses from the viewers encouraging them to link these expressionistic images to their own personal memories.

In March 2008, Lupe organized an exhibition, Repertoire 2008,  a selection of her MA work at the gallery at Art Van Go in Knebworth with six other MA graduate colleagues. This exhibition later led to the sale of some of her MA works as well as providing her the opportunity of running workshop at this same venue during 2008/2009.

In May and June 2008, she had the opportunity to organize, curate and exhibit in an empty, dilapidated shop and barn in the centre of Hertford Town an exhibition of works from 12 artists entitled INSIDEOUT Contemporary Art. In this exhibition she prepared a site specific installation recreating the Autumn Beech woodlands she loves walking with her dogs.   This idea of Installation Art as a way of recreating through colour and light a time and space which is impossible to transpose to another location is something which her work frequently explores.  In this new piece, she also introduces light projection which is another aspect which she began to explore in her MA studies.

End of 2007, Lupe Cunha returned to exploring the printmaking techniques which she had first explored in 1986 and which she looks to combine further her painting and photography. Her studies took her back to the studios of UH, to Curwen Studios where she explored Lithography and further developed this at Gainsborough House. In August 2008, she was accepted as Printmaking Fellow at Digswell Arts Trust where she continues to develop her Printmaking Work.

In Sept 2008, Lupe Cunha ran the first of her HVAF Open Studios at her home studio at Clay End where she currently runs workshops for painting and photography students.

Her Current Work aims at exploring ways of depicting the beauty and vastness of nature through art in a way which fewer and fewer of us can experience it as a 180 degree visual panorama of the countryside but which at the same time also fully expresses the sense of enormity and insignificance one experiences when looking over this kind of landscape.  A small selection of her studies for this project are included in the website as Work in Progress.