NAME:Alice Quaresma
AGE: 30
HOMETOWN: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Brooklyn
MEDIUM OF CHOICE: "Photography, and every material I can overlap over photo paper."
HOW I BECAME AN ARTIST: "When I first went to the Tate Modern in 1998, I saw Cy Twombly’s "Quatro Stagioni" cycle of four paintings. Twombly’s paintings touched me on a deeper level—I was taken by the freedom of his brush/pencil strokes and by the madness of the color composition that unexpectedly made so much sense. I was amazed by the use of words and how each word became lines in his paintings. He showed me that a masterpiece has the power to change people."
Cy Twombly's Quattro Stagioni: Autunno, 1993–5
WHAT I'M WORKING ON NOW
"With my new piece Castaway, I'm exploring the immensity of the ocean and how that affects the human mindset. The idea is to create quiet and subtle images that overlap photography and drawing."
ONE ARTWORK I CAN'T GET OUT OF MY HEAD
"I've been thinking a lot about Lygia Clark’s 'Bicho' sculpture series from the 1960s because of the sculptures' simplistic look but very intriguing critiques of human behavior. The sculptures look firm and solid, but they surprise you when you realize that they are actually quite fragile and hard to keep in a stable position."
Lygia Clark's Bicho, 1960
A VIEW INSIDE MY STUDIO
Photo by Leandro Viana
STUDIO ITEMS I COULDN' T LIVE WITHOUT
"Everything that goes inside my top drawer: pencils, markers, tape, ruler, and paintbrushes. I need them to function. I only use my camera outside the studio. My studio is my safe place."
Photo by Leandro Viana
WHERE I FIND INSPIRATION
"I find inspiration every time I feel physically disconnected from the place where I am."
MY PERSONAL ARTISTIC PANTHEON
"Cy Twombly, Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Uta Barth, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Fred Sandback, Tunga, Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, and Francesca Woodman."
WHAT I'M READING NOW
"438 Days by Jonathan Franklin. The book tells the story of a Salvadoran fisherman who survived 14 months lost in the Pacific Ocean. I am interested in the book because it writes about the experience of being a castaway—the ocean and its tales fascinate me."
MY PROCESS
"The essence of my work is exploring the feeling of displacement and challenging the boundaries of the photo medium. In the artworks Blue Ocean, Slow Motion, and Rewind from the series "Aura" (you can find them on my Artspace page), all of the images show movement, some registered by the speed of the train and some by the speed of my steps.
Slow Motion, 2015 "The project emphasizes the subjectivity of the experience and how you create an emotional connection with every place you visit rather than a physical understanding of the space. In my art process I investigate texture, volume, and how to make photographs that aren't editions—each one of my works is unique."
STRANGEST REACTION TO MY WORK
"People are always trying to find out or guess where the image was taken."
CLICK HERE TO BROWSE THE REST OF ALICE QUARESMA'S WORK ON ARTSPACE
