LUPE CUNHA - Artist Statement

 

I paint from the material I source with my camera. The viewfinder of the camera helps me perceive the world more clearly.  The camera focuses my attention on the multiple facets of the details around me. And it is through the process of photographing that I can identify with, relate to and then eventually respond to my environment past and present. Then digitally through the image and Photoshop I extract the essence of my subject, often through distorting the image in a number of different ways. Once the subject is absorbed then painting takes over introducing selective colour and expressive mark-making. 

While I work mostly  to achieve an abstract result. I prefer to start from a natural source, I use colour as well as photography to express my perception of the subject. Like another Brazilian artist, Helio Oiticica, who made colour a dominant part of his fine art research, I also enjoy combining colours in layers to provoke greater resonance in the work to better reach my audience.  In my installations, through colour and light I aim at absorbing the viewer into the piece so that the viewing becomes a whole body experience, felt rather than simply read.

Also important in the development of my work is the use some of the destructive/constructive processes also found in the work of artists such as Callum Innes and Gerhard Richter. This adding and removing to create the final artwork give the necessary depth to the piece.  At this stage photography sometimes again comes to the fore and can again be introduced in transfer or collage form adding a hybrid dimension to the piece by this inclusion of photography in the final stages of the work.

My canvases raise issues of memory and identity.  My abstraction is expressive rather than formalist. Observation is expressed through mark-making. And transposed to the canvas first through textured outlines, then through the development of colour areas and finally these are brought together through collage and mark-making to bring the the viewer a sensation rather than a description of what is being portrayed.

LUPE CUNHA - CV

 Biography - Personal

      • Brazilian born
      • 1981 Moved to London
      • 2002 Naturalized British
  • Education and Acreditations:
        • 1971     :ESDI, Rio, Brazil – Graphic Design
        • 1973/4  :Mundeleine College, Chicago, USA – Art Foundation
        • 1974/6  :Escola Belas Artes, Rio, Brazil – Fine Art
        • 2002/4   :Greenwich University, London – PGCE
        • 2003/6   :BA Fine Arts – University of Hertfordshire
        • 2006/7   :MA Fine Arts Practice – University of Hertfordshire

        Skill/Training:

      • Kodak and Fuji Master Classes in Professional Photography
      • Watercolour & Acrylic Painting with Open College of Arts
      • Oil Painting with John Lewis (Artist Studio)
      • Abstraction with Graham Oliver
      • Printmaking with Nicola Slattery, Curwen Studios, Gainsborough House
      • Masterclass in Creative Life-Drawing

    Solo Exhibitions

        • 1984    ‘Photo-Arte Exhibition’ – The Camera Club, London WC1
        • 1994    ‘Close-up Senses’ – Photo-arte Gallery, London N14
        • 2002    ‘…to Art and Beyond’ – Wyllott Center, Potters Bar. Herts
        • 2003      ‘ Sea Sand Sky ’  – Courtyard Arts Gallery, Hertford
        • 2004      ‘ Sea Sand Sky II’ - Letchworth Museum, Hertfordshire
        • 2006     ‘ From Little Acorns...’ - Artspace Botany Bay, Enfield
        • 2008     ‘ Memories of Tropicalia’ - Courtyard Arts Center, Hertford
        • 2008     ‘ HVAF Open Studios’ - Walkern, Herts
  • Group Exhibitions
        • 1983   ‘Negative Women’– Nelson Mandela Gallery, London
        • 2003  ‘Spring’& ’Summer’ Exhibitions – Walkern Gallery, Walkern
        • 2003  ‘New Beginnings’ - Courtyard Art Center, Hertford
        • 2004  ‘Painters South HVAF’ – Hitchin Museum, Herts.
        • 2005  ‘INDIGO GROUP HVAF – Maynard Gallery, Welyn Garden City
        • 2006 'UH Degree Show, University of Hertfordshire
        • 2006 'Heart's Transplant', Truman Brewery,London E1
        • 2006 'Robinson
        • 2007 'MA Degree Show, University of Hertfordshire
        • 2008 Repertoire - Art Van Go, Knebworth
        • 2008 'Inside Out Contemporary, Cowbridge, Hertford
  • Open Exhibitions
        •   1998 Photo-Arte Gallery Open Exhibition, London - Invitational
        •   2002 Margaret Harvey Gallery Open Exhibition, St Albans, Herts
        •   2003 Hertford Art Society 51st Open Exhibition, Hertford, Herts
        •   2004 Maynard Gallery 1st Open Exhibition, Welwyn Garden City
        • 2004  Open Studios  Hertfordshire – HVAF 
        • 2005  ArtShed (Ware) – Group Exhibition – Herts
        • 2007 Courtyard Art Center Open Exhibition, Hertford
        • 2007 Margaret Harvey Open Exhibition,St Albans
  • Commissions/Collections (Private)
        • Nicola Manning, Cambridge
  • Bibliography
        • ‘Cave Painting’  British Journal of Photography Annual 1987
        • ‘Painting Photos’, Practical Photography, Sept 1992
  • Associations
        • 1984-pres.  ARPS – Royal Photographic Society, Bath
        • 1989-96    .British Association of Picture Libraries & Agencies
        • 1992-2005  Association of Photographers, London
        • 2002 ....... Hertford Visual Arts Forum
        • 2008 ........Printmaking Fellow at Digswell Arts Trust

    Appointments:

        • 1978/79    Photographer for Latin American Daily Post
        • 1984-1985 Visiting Lecturer, Rochester School of Photography
        • 2002-2006.Staff-Lecturer in Photography at Harlow College
        • 2006-2008 Gallery Manager & Facilitator, Artspace Botany Bay
        • 2008 ........Lecturer Hertford Regional College

         

  • Internet:          www.lupecunha.co.uk.