Nasci a uma e trinta da madrugada de dezessete de abril. Não sei dizer se isso explica o fato de que sou noturna, sanguínea, mercurial e um tanto eloqüente quando defendo minhas idéias.
Sou atraída pela pintura desde criança. Sempre achei pintar mais natural do que desenhar. O simples deslizar do pincel sobre a superfície da tela e a maleabilidade da tinta me são prazerosos. Talvez também seja a pintura mais condizente com a minha percepção do mundo: vejo cores, planos e massa. Já para desenhar e localizar a linha encontro maior dificuldade. Com o lápis, sempre achei mais fácil descambar pela escrita. Considero que a pintura é que me escolheu. Encanta-me a plasticidade da tinta, a possibilidade de criar a tri-dimensionalidade na superfície plana. Admiro a pintura que deixa o rastro do pincel visível na tela, que tira partido das manchas, que revela o impulso gestual, que contrabalança o imprevisível e o controle sobre a tinta. A pintura pela pintura!
A tecnologia está hoje mais valorizada. Vídeos, fotografias, fractais e engenhos eletrônicos têm seus lugares garantidos nos museus e galerias. Mas, eu acredito que o impacto de se ver uma bela pintura é muito grande para ser considerado irrelevante.
Pinto por pura emoção. A minha relação com o mundo é absolutamente sexual, sensual. Oscilo entre o prazer de tomar do pincel e deslizá-lo languidamente sobre a tela e a euforia de pinceladas enérgicas e rápidas.
Gradativamente, meu trabalho evoluiu de forma a não se restringir a retratar apenas o corpo feminino, mas a explorar a sexualidade da mulher com sua carga explosiva e sua dor, nesta dualidade entre o prazer da entrega e a sensação de perda ao se render, que remete à educação cristã associada à culpa cristã do pecado original. A pintura foi se tornando, consequentemente, mais expressionista e menos naturalista. As formas se tornaram muito mais emblemáticas – simbólicas mesmo.
A minha pintura é muito autobiográfica. Só posso mesmo ver o mundo sob a minha visão baça. Nas telas estampo as minha próprias angústias, minhas batalhas travadas, aniquilamento, medos, euforia, desejos e fantasias.
Não tenho a intenção e nem a pretensão de ser feminista e muito menos de ser panfletária. Apenas, quero falar desse universo feminino que foi retratado através dos tempos, na maior parte das vezes por homens, sob a ótica masculina. Mas estou muito mais preocupada em fazer arte. Uma arte que transcenda às questões políticas, religiosas e feministas. O que me impulsiona é o desejo de produzir imagens que causem emoção e que levem o público a pensar.
O elemento animal nas pinturas é totalmente simbólico. O animal pintado sempre possui algo de sagrado, divino ou sobre-humano, e ao mesmo tempo de profano, de sub-humano. Os animais são pintados desde as pinturas das cavernas do homem primitivo. O nascimento de Cristo é retratado entre os animais. A simbologia é diversa e muitas vezes discrepante. Eles podem representar o sexo masculino, o poder, a potência, ou apenas os componentes do animal que habita dentro de nós. Aparecem como parte do inconsciente, do imaginário feminino, representando os componentes eróticos do desejo. O fundamento da natureza humana é o instinto, que todos temos que aprender a controlar e reprimir muitas das vezes. Os instintos reprimidos rondam o homem civilizado, e se insinuam nos seus sonhos mais secretos. Não raro, há um desdobramento da mulher que retrato, ficando uma palpável e telúrica, enquanto o seu duplo aparece, etérea, numa representação entre o prazer carnal e a realização do amor puro e sublime. O primeiro mais instintivo, mais facilmente realizado, o segundo, mais dificilmente alcançável, mas que certamente a redime. Daí que surgiu o título da série, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, co-optado de William Blake, representativo dessa dialética que habita a mulher.
Rosana Mendes Campos
I was born at one-thirty am , April 17th. I can’t say whether this explains the fact that I’m nocturnal, mercurial, passionate, and quite eloquent when defending my ideas.
I am attracted to painting since I childhood. I have always felt more natural painting than drawing. Simply sliding the brush over the surface of the screen and experiencing the sheer malleability of the paint are pleasant to me. It might as well be that painting is also more consistent with my perception of the world: I see colours, planes and mass. Besides, I find it more problematic to locate where the line is. With the pencil, I have always found it easier to slip through writing. I believe painting chose me. It enchants me the plasticity of the paint, and the ability to create three-dimensionality on the flat surface. I admire the painting that leaves the trail of the brushstrokes visible on the screen, which takes advantage of the smudges, which reveals the momentum of the gesture, which counterbalances the unpredictability and the control over the ink. Painting for Painting’s sake!
Techonology is now more valued. Videos, photos, fractals and electronic devices have secured their places in museums and art galleries. But I believe that the impact of seeing a beautiful painting is too impressive to be disdained.
I paint out of pure emotion. My relationship with the world is absolutely sexual, sensual. I oscillate between the pleasure to take the brush in my hand and slip it languidly on the screen and the excitement of fast and energetic brush strokes.
Gradually, my work has evolved so as not to be restricted to exclusively portray the female body, but to explore women's sexuality with its explosive charge and its pain, showing the duality between the pleasure of rendition and the sense of loss as she surrenders, which stems from the Christian education associated with Christian sense of guilt of the original sin. Consequently, my painting has become more expressionistic and less naturalistic. The figures have become more iconic - even symbolic.
My painting is very autobiographical. I can only see the world through my dim vision. What I imprint on the screen is my own anguish, my battles, sense of powerlessness, fears, euphoria, desires, fantasies and deliriums.
I do not intend nor claim to be feminist and still less of pamphleteering. I just want to talk about this female universe that was portrayed through the ages, most often by men, from a male perspective. But I am much more concerned with making art. An art that transcends the political, religious and feminist ideas. What drives me is the desire to produce images that cause emotion, and that lead the viewers to think.
The animal element in the paintings is entirely symbolic. The painted animal has something sacred, divine or superhuman, whereas, simultaneously, profane and sub-human. Animals have been painted since the cave paintings of primitive man. Also, the birth of Christ is depicted among the animals. The symbolism is diverse and often disparate. They may represent male power, strength, or the animal impulse that dwells within us. They may appear as part of the unconscious mind, the feminine reveries, representing the components of erotic desire. The foundation of human nature is the instinct that we all have to learn to control and repress most of the times. The repressed instincts lurk civilized man, and insinuate themselves into their most secret dreams. Oftentimes, I portray a split of the woman into a tangible and earthy one, and her double which appears ethereal as a representation of the carnal pleasure and the fulfilment of pure and sublime love. The former more instinctive, and more easily accomplished, the latter, while more difficult to achieve is capable of giving her redemption. Hence, the title of the series, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, co-opted from William Blake, representative of this dialectic the female experience.
Rosana Mendes Campos
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I was born at one-thirty am , April 17th. I can’t say whether this explains the fact that I’m nocturnal, mercurial, passionate, and quite eloquent when defending my ideas.
I am attracted to painting since I childhood. I have always felt more natural painting than drawing. Simply sliding the brush over the surface of the screen and experiencing the sheer malleability of the paint are pleasant to me. It might as well be that painting is also more consistent with my perception of the world: I see colours, planes and mass. Besides, I find it more problematic to locate where the line is. With the pencil, I have always found it easier to slip through writing. I believe painting chose me. It enchants me the plasticity of the paint, and the ability to create three-dimensionality on the flat surface. I admire the painting that leaves the trail of the brushstrokes visible on the screen, which takes advantage of the smudges, which reveals the momentum of the gesture, which counterbalances the unpredictability and the control over the ink. Painting for Painting’s sake!
Techonology is now more valued. Videos, photos, fractals and electronic devices have secured their places in museums and art galleries. But I believe that the impact of seeing a beautiful painting is too impressive to be disdained.
I paint out of pure emotion. My relationship with the world is absolutely sexual, sensual. I oscillate between the pleasure to take the brush in my hand and slip it languidly on the screen and the excitement of fast and energetic brush strokes.
Gradually, my work has evolved so as not to be restricted to exclusively portray the female body, but to explore women's sexuality with its explosive charge and its pain, showing the duality between the pleasure of rendition and the sense of loss as she surrenders, which stems from the Christian education associated with Christian sense of guilt of the original sin. Consequently, my painting has become more expressionistic and less naturalistic. The figures have become more iconic - even symbolic.
My painting is very autobiographical. I can only see the world through my dim vision. What I imprint on the screen is my own anguish, my battles, sense of powerlessness, fears, euphoria, desires, fantasies and deliriums.
I do not intend nor claim to be feminist and still less of pamphleteering. I just want to talk about this female universe that was portrayed through the ages, most often by men, from a male perspective. But I am much more concerned with making art. An art that transcends the political, religious and feminist ideas. What drives me is the desire to produce images that cause emotion, and that lead the viewers to think.
The animal element in the paintings is entirely symbolic. The painted animal has something sacred, divine or superhuman, whereas, simultaneously, profane and sub-human. Animals have been painted since the cave paintings of primitive man. Also, the birth of Christ is depicted among the animals. The symbolism is diverse and often disparate. They may represent male power, strength, or the animal impulse that dwells within us. They may appear as part of the unconscious mind, the feminine reveries, representing the components of erotic desire. The foundation of human nature is the instinct that we all have to learn to control and repress most of the times. The repressed instincts lurk civilized man, and insinuate themselves into their most secret dreams. Oftentimes, I portray a split of the woman into a tangible and earthy one, and her double which appears ethereal as a representation of the carnal pleasure and the fulfilment of pure and sublime love. The former more instinctive, and more easily accomplished, the latter, while more difficult to achieve is capable of giving her redemption. Hence, the title of the series, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, co-opted from William Blake, representative of this dialectic the female experience.
Rosana Mendes Campos