Oficina Marques

Oficina Marques

“Today we live in a society in which access to goods is so easy that we end up distancing ourselves and forgetting the processes, the rhythms, the know-how. It is time to reconnect with life.”

Your artistic world is filled with traditional symbolism, mysticism, culture, curiosity, and infinite beauty. Where do you find your inspiration?

The work of OM, although plural, follows 5 basic themes that can appear alone or added to a larger narrative: the sea, the forest, the body, the faith and the city of Lisbon. The sum of these five elements, we call Tusa de Viver.

 

Where did the passion for anatomy, in artistic representation, come from?

It is in bodies that we live, are and relate to the world, it is in bodies that we have pleasure and faith, so our work celebrates the body and human life.

 

How important is the reuse of materials in the work sphere?

Materials are tools for telling stories.

Working with “things that once were” allows us to exercise a new way of seeing objects; they are like skeletons that will eventually gain new muscles, new tendons, a new skin, and a new life.

The manual and tactile choice of raw materials privileges those that are part of everyday life, discarded furniture and objects, waste, and also organic materials such as wood and clay. The materials themselves are a constant source of inspiration.

Oficina Marques has pieces by Gezo and pieces by José, and also pieces that were made by both of you: what are the biggest differences you feel in creative terms when you work separately and together?

OM was born from the need to materialize and tell stories with our own hands, our work is very plural, we have pieces produced individually, some by Gezo and others by José, and we increasingly have more pieces made with four hands where there is a good balance between the two universes.

Each of us has a distinct universe, we are different in many aspects, and it is from this encounter that such a plural body of work develops. We usually say that OM’s identity is the result of this meeting of universes and different references, it is the constant dialogue and sharing (and also collision) of ideas that drives us forward.

 

In your interviews you talk a lot about “Tusa”, what is your greatest desire at the moment? Do you have any goals that you want to achieve in the near future?

Parallel to the signature pieces, creating a line of multiples. That is, pieces that are easier to reproduce and in that way make our work even more accessible to everyone.

 

Is there any work that has marked you in a special way?

Our growth has always been very organic, full of learning and key moments, in general all the pieces and exhibitions we do are important moments because we “force” ourselves to go deeper into our work process and to tell our vision of the world better and better, still we can highlight the Wooden Horse Sculpture, Panel for Avocado House restaurant or the Mother Goddess Panel.

 

What is your favorite part of creating an artwork? Do you prefer the creation, the idea, the exhibition?

Each phase of the process brings us different challenges and accomplishments, we enjoy them all. The idea and creation are very personal moments where we are involved intellectually and physically with the materials and the pieces. In exhibitions the pieces also belong to other people, it is a moment of encounter that we enjoy.

“Neptunia” in exhibition at Oficina Marques

 

Your art brings together the best of both worlds: reusing materials that should be at their end of life and then transforming them into aesthetically beautiful pieces of art. Do you follow any kind of specific format?

We want people to reflect on the value of life and time, so the manual record is very important in our work, hence the name chosen for the project being Oficina.

The fact that things are done manually by us, in an increasingly digital world, is also a way of positioning ourselves. We believe in and value manual work very much, as well as the human dimension of those who create with their own hands.

Today we live in a society in which access to goods is so easy that we end up distancing ourselves and forgetting the processes, the rhythms, the know-how. It is time to reconnect with life.


Photographies by Inês Ventura, at the artists atelier, Lisboa.
September 20th, 2022.


ART

Gezo Marques shares with José Aparício Gonçalves the need to materialize and tell stories with their own hands. Together they form a team that celebrates the cycles of life, memories, scars and second chances. All with a great sense of humor.

LIFE

Gezo Marques was born in Brazil and lives in Portugal. He made his way through college with a degree in Media Studies and then took a different learning path, working for several ad agencies as an Art Director in both countries.

José Aparício Gonçalves graduated in Design and Master in Cultural Management, he has professionally developed his artistic work since 2010. He has navigated between painting and illustration, graphic design, printing, photography and video.

Oficina Marques

Pauliana Valente Pimentel

“I have always been fascinated by these men women who present themselves in a dignified way exposed to the danger of the night and living on the margins. For years I have been building up the courage to approach them and to get to know them intimately. At the beginning the feeling is always of a “blind date” I never know what I will find and that is fascinating.”

Pauliana Valente Pimentel: documentary photographer, photojournalist or visual artist?

I have never distinguished and have always had some difficulty in putting photographic practice into “boxes”, I have both worked for magazines and newspapers and I work for galleries and museums where I exhibit regularly. I am a bit of all of that, my photographic practice is linked to the investigation and documentation of a certain reality.
You could say that I am a visual artist, since I live from my art, and with this art I create documents, and these documents are usually journalistic in some way, since they reflect contemporary political and social issues. For the last ten years I have been focusing on social issues in various countries. Youth, nomadism, gender, and social groups living on the margins are recurrent in my work. In my series the intention is always to build a narrative, recording everyday situations placing the photographic image between documentary and poetry, in a mixture of individuals, landscapes, and interiors. Despite all the difficulties of being a visual artist, I have passion for what I do, and I enjoy all the processes: the research, the meeting, the editing, the thinking of the appropriate installation for the presentation space – whether it is in a museum, a gallery, the street. I like the inaugurations, and people’s reactions. I like the possibility of the work being published in a book, allowing it to be registered for “eternity”, or seeing my work in the home of a friend or collector. Teaching is also very rewarding, being able to share my knowledge and learn as well.

 

In 2018, you stated, and we quote, “I’m interested in the island dimension, to understand how the youth moves, what kind of groups exist, the kind of openness and freedom they have and how it manifests itself.” “Youth of Athens” (photography + film, 2012, Greece), “Quel Pedra” (photography + film, 2016 – Mindelo, São Vicente Island, Cape Verde), are two examples of projects you have done. What differences, in behavior, do you observe among the young people you have portrayed?

This statement comes from the work I did on youth on the island of São Miguel in the Azores. Youth became recurrent when the crisis in Greece was triggered. The series “Youth of Athens” (2012) reflects the European crisis and how young people adapt and face the future. After Greece, it was the young people of Northern Europe, a series called “The Passenger” (2012), a train trip I made through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, portraying young artists trying to make a living from their art. In these series I was confronted with a Europe that was being questioned, where the experiences of the parents no longer served, and new ways of living had to be reinvented.
In “The Behaviour of Being” (2015) I have documented a group of young artists in residence in the Algarve, in the middle of nature. Coming from a big capital – London – I understood the importance of slowing down and creating in the middle of nature, away from social networks, and how this experience could influence the artistic process.
Youth interests me because it is in this phase that we believe we can change the world, where genuineness and the capacity for transformation emerges, where everything is put into question, and everything is felt in an extreme way.
“Quel Pedra” (2016) portrays a group of transgender youth on the island of St. Vincent in Cape Verde. It was in Mindelo that I discovered that there is a myth that says that whoever sits on a certain stone becomes gay between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five, they like to wear women’s clothes, makeup, and to be called by women’s names. There is still a very strong intolerance towards homosexual people in many African countries, in some cases motivated by religious convictions, in others by ignorance. Many Africans are forced to immigrate to Europe. The idea of this work was to confront the viewer with their prejudices by challenging the conventions and norms about human identity. Simone de Beauvoir said, “One is not born, but rather become a woman”, and perhaps this work was intended to unravel what it means to be a woman nowadays.
From the island of São Vicente, I went to the island of São Miguel in the Azores for the series called “The Narcissism of Small Differences” (2019) and portrayed the young Azoreans. A paradoxical paradise in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with ancient traditions, a stratified and isolating society. The title refers to Freud’s writings, where the idea of small differences is addressed as the basis of the feelings of strangeness and hostility that arise among peoples. In this work, as in all the others, I am interested in difference for its genuineness and not in confrontation. I am interested in creating a dialogue. As an island I encountered young people alienated from the world and turned on their own differences, melancholic and fragile who have their own cultural restraint and the transgression typical of their age, reflecting an authentic and charming side.

 

Your work demands a close approach with others. How do you create this almost personal environment with those you photograph?

I am incapable, anywhere I am photographing people, of arriving, photographing, and leaving. If I’m doing a job for a magazine, where I have two days, it’s impossible to create a relationship. But even then – I don’t use zoom – I have to be next to the person and feel them – to say my name, to feel them, to make them laugh. What I really like in my work is meeting people, getting to know them, even if they don’t speak my language, even if it’s in sign language, as happens in some countries. But still, I can be with a person for an hour drinking tea, just looking, laughing, and drawing. It takes time.
In these personal works, I spend a lot of time with my portrayed people, and we often become friends, accomplices, because in reality there is an exchange. In reality I am “stealing their soul” – not that I really believe that, but they are giving me their soul and I have to give it back in return. For me portraiture is a sacred thing, there has to be a mutual respect and that gives me great excitement. For example, in the work I did in Conde Redondo about prostitution of transgender youth (Make up, 2011), it was very difficult at the beginning. For years I had to build up the courage to approach them …but this is part of the process and the excitement. I have always been fascinated by these men women who present themselves in a dignified way exposed to the danger of the night and living on the margins. For years I have been building up the courage to approach them and to get to know them intimately. At the beginning the feeling is always of a “blind date” I never know what I will find and that is fascinating. My images come from the trust and complicity with the portrayed, it is always a collaborative work.
Then there are countries where people are more open than others, in Cape Verde we fell in love with each other and I had immediate access to their intimate lives, whereas in the case of the work I did in Dubai about the Arabs (Empty Quarter, 2015, 2018), it was extremely difficult to get to their intimacy – the work had to be done in several moments. My most recent work on Algarve about the gypsy communities (Faro-Oeste, 2020), I first had to get permission from the heads of the various communities and only then gain the trust of each family portrayed.

Diaspora. What responsibilities do you feel when you are photographing diaspora themes?

The responsibility for me is to do a thorough research and be as faithful as possible to the reality that I find, regardless of the theme.
“Afrodescentes (2021)” was a work developed at the invitation of António Pinto Ribeiro, for the group exhibition “Europa, Oxalá”, which has so far been exhibited at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and is now going to the “Afrika Museum” in Belgium, where I portrayed some young migrants – non-white Europeans who live in Lisbon and belong to the generation after mine.
In this project, I was interested in understanding if these descendents, children or even grandchildren of African repatriates still have the memory of that colonial legacy present in their cosmopolitan daily lives, and if they were born in Europe, to what extent their African roots are present in their daily lives.

Is there a setting or community that you aspire to photograph or film?

I am starting a project that portrays some Lisbon teenagers – young “teenagers” who are transgender or who don’t identify with any specific gender.

What comes first: the image, the visual concept or the message?

Everything is intertwined, of course. But, for me, the concept comes first, it always starts from the discovery of a certain reality, then comes the images that I build, and after all this experience the message emerges, which can be interpreted in different ways, from the imagetic narrative that I build.

“Quel Pedra” (2016) portrays a group of transgender youth on the island of St. Vincent in Cape Verde.

You studied Geology, the science that studies the Earth. When, and how, did you begin the transition to photography?

My initial education is in sciences. I graduated in Geology at the Faculty of Sciences, did my Master’s in Dynamic Geology and worked in research. Photography has always been a part of my life, and initially I did travel photography and published in Grande Reportagem and other magazines, not only photography but also text about my experiences. It was in 2005, when I started the photography course of the Gulbenkian Program, of creativity and artistic creation, that my life changed, and I started to dedicate myself to authorial projects. After the course I abandoned Geology to dedicate myself 100% to photography, where I joined the collective Kameraphoto and Galeria 3+1 Arte Contemporânea in Lisbon.

 

You are a Professor of Authorial Photography in schools such as ETIC, you organize workshops on “Photographic Narratives” regularly at Casa Independente, Lisbon, in Algarve and now also in international schools. Also, 3 months online mentoring with the creation of a project with national and international students. Did teaching appear in your career as an accident, or was it something you always felt a vocation for?

I have always enjoyed sharing knowledge and I have always enjoyed teaching. I left home at 18 and earned money tutoring math, physics and chemistry. After the Gulbenkian Course and when I joined the collective, with the exchange I had with other fantastic photographers, I felt ready to start teaching photography – how to create a narrative, how to approach a certain theme and also what is this authorial photography, how to make an exhibition or an authorial book.
Now, at this stage of my life, I am ready to start a PhD, the sciences have shown me the importance of research and theorizing, and I feel that at this point in my career I am finally ready and able to do theoretical research on my artistic practices.

“Quel Pedra” (2016) portrays a group of transgender youth on the island of St. Vincent in Cape Verde.

Do you still remember your first camera and your first picture?

My first camera, which I still have, was a Canon AE1.
The first picture I have no idea…

 

Can you share what you are currently creating in the areas of photography and filming?

I have a new project yes, as I mentioned before, it is about teenagers in Lisbon who don’t identify with a specific genre. Recently I did two projects – one for the collective exhibition “Europa Oxalá” which was at the Gulbenkian and will now go to the Afrika Museum in Tervuren, Belgium – about Afrodescendants and another Faro-Oeste about the Algarve gypsy communities – which was at the Faro Museum and the Lagos Cultural Center and will be heading north.


Photographies by Inês Ventura, at the artist’s atelier, Lisboa.
14th July 2022.


ART

Her journey as a photographer began in 1999, when she held international workshops with renowned photographers, including David Alan Harvey, known for his photographs for National Geographic and the Magnum Agency.

In 2005, she attended the program of the Calouste Gulbenkian Creativity and Artistic Creation foundation in the area of ​​photography.

Pauliana was part of the Kameraphoto collective that imitated the model of the Magnum Agency and which in 2014 closed its doors due to financial difficulties.

In 2016 she founded with other photographers the collective the “N’WE” collective, among them were: Céu Guarda, Sandra Rocha, Guillaume Pazat, João Pina, Martim Ramos, Jordi Burch, Valter Vinagre, Augusto Brázio and Nelson D’Aires . Through the collective, they photographed political and economic instability in Portugal, among other topics.

She published her first book in 2009, VOL I, and in 2011 Gulbenkian published the book Caucase, Souvenirs de Voyage, in which she and Sandra Rocha recreate Calouste Gulbenkian’s journey to the Caucasus through photography.

In 2018, choreographer Vânia Rovisco was inspired by a video recorded by her to create a choreography that was presented at Teatro Micaelense during the Walk & Talk festival on São Miguel Island in the Azores, where Pauliana also exhibited and held an artistic residency.

She exhibited in several countries, namely Portugal, United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Cape Verde, Dubai, among others. In Portugal, she exhibited in Porto at Maus Hábitos, on the island of São Miguel (Azores) as part of the Tremor festival.

LIFE

Pauliana Valente Pimentel is a Portuguese photographer borned in Lisbon, 1975.

She studied at the Society of Fine Arts in Lisbon and graduated in Geology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, where she worked as a researcher.

Her journey as a photographer began in 1999.

Likes Of, Marta Cerqueira

Likes Of, Marta Cerqueira

12 August 2022

Yellow Wide shorts with patch pockets

$57,20

BAFFIN JUMPSUIT

$164,99

The Salt Shirt

$98,99

Croco Hemp Backpack

$86,90

Rainbow Bag

$69,30

Marta Cerqueira is a journalist and writes about the environment, sustainability and ways of making a (positive) impact on the world. Marta is the founder of Peggada – in one site you will find everything you need for a more sustainable life: bulk shops, sustainable hotels and restaurants, tips for buying second-hand clothing and more.
Sustainability is a topic that attracts more attention every day, something positive, but that can very quickly be turned into negative by those who use it as a false social responsibility. How can we recognize and combat “false sustainability”?

Sustainable, green, bio, are words that have entered our world as a guarantee that something better is there. We all want to believe so, but if we look with a critical eye, we quickly realize that, many times, these banners are nothing more than marketing and that they serve to camouflage other less ethical practices of a particular company.
That is why, I believe that the critical spirit is an asset in this sustainable journey. Doubt, question, research, be demanding, do not let yourself get carried away. This is the profile of the consumer who wants to do more and who wants to be assured that they are really on the right path.

Kruella D’Enfer

Kruella D’Enfer

“The things Angela sees as negative, are almost a fuel for Kruella to present herself the way she does and to work on the ideas and concepts she works on, and the good things from Kruella bring a lot of magic, realizations and wisdom into Angela’s life.”

Kruella, did you always know what you wanted to do as an adult?

No, I wanted many things. As a child, I imagined myself designing dresses for runway shows, because my mother was a seamstress and I thought we could be a team, and because I used to look at fashion magazines from the 90s that she had at home. As a teenager I wanted to be an architect and used to drew blueprints of my dream house. Going to college was a drama because I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I went to Lisbon because my friends from Tondela all went there and I ended up going there a little bit because of it, rather than consciously deciding on a course.

 

Mystery and magic are constantly present in your work. Are you aware of the origin and reasons for this interest of yours?

I was born on a stormy Halloween night, in the middle of a village near Tondela. The interior of Portugal is very strong in mysteries, legends of witchcraft, myths, superstitions, but I also think that the fact that I spent a lot of time alone as a child, playing in a very rural environment, surrounded by nature and animals, fed my imagination a lot.  And the things I loved most – cartoons I watched or stories I heard – had those themes and they were my escape and the way I traveled in my own mind.

 

And do you have any rituals of your own when you start a project?

I tend to get a little anxious the day before I start a project and I always sleep badly because I go to bed already thinking about work and thinking of all the ways it could go wrong. I like to organize my desk because if everything is disorganized and full of junk my brain goes crazy, and I really accumulate a lot of junk, but I need everything to be in the right place so I can concentrate.

Atelier

Was using a heteronym to represent you as an artist, Kruella D’Enfer, a natural choice, or did it happen because of a specific moment in your career? 

It was natural because I began to realize that I could do something in the field of illustration when I started meeting other artists. Then, as I had contact with the world of graffiti, which consequently taught me how to spray paint and gave me a sense of larger scales, I had to create my own tag and it came from there.

 

And by the way, what is the origin of the heteronym?

Basically, I googled villain names and of course, within the Disney universe, I had many options. Cruella from 101 Dalmatians, was the one that sounded good to me and fit perfectly with my shy personality, I created a tough cover for those who didn’t know me (laughs) and then I adapted it to Kruella because I realized it works better as a tag, as a set of letters, as a signature and gave it a more personal touch. Kruella d’Enfer makes it more charming and complete.

 

How much of Ângela Ferreira is Kruella D’ Enfer?

I always took refuge in Kruella for the creation of this idea of Freedom, of doing what I want, of getting into a strong, easy-going, positive, mysterious, funny character.
Angela (I write and sign without an accent, go ahead and judge me.) has an introverted and closed side and has many unresolved things, which I don’t love, but have been learning to accept and mostly working on it with therapy… and eventually, without realizing it, Angela and Kruella started to merge naturally. The things Angela sees as negative, are almost a fuel for Kruella to present herself the way she does and to work on the ideas and concepts she works on, and the good things from Kruella bring a lot of magic, realizations and wisdom into Angela’s life.

Ophiussa Brewery, 2021/2022

Kruella, you have your work beyond the Portuguese borders, and you don’t have an agent representing your art. There is all this behind-the-scenes work that implies persistence and career management. Do you like this challenge?

I like it a lot. I am very proud of this freedom that I am conquering and of the management knowledge that was inevitable to learn. It is sometimes exhausting to do everything alone, from looking for clients, managing the website, online store, social networks, sending mail on time, answering emails, making production, knowing how to disconnect and rest, looking for inspiration, going to exhibitions, preparing exhibitions, making a good balance between commercial work and personal work, but everything can be achieved.

 

Are you aware that your art positively impacts other artists, illustrators, and designers?

I am aware of that because I am told so. I like to be in contact with other artists and I like to give them feedback when I really like what they are doing. It’s also nice to feel that feedback in relation to what I do, especially from those who I really admire the work of.

“ISOLATION DREAMS”
December 2020 / Crack Kids, Lisbon, Portugal

Is there any kind of project, service or brand that you would like to work on artistically?

I would love to make a sculpture for Burning Man for example, if we’re into thinking big. Or, I don’t know, … designing and building a whole set for a fashion show for a luxury brand. Or paint an airplane.

 

Do you have a favorite medium, and, on the other hand, is there one that you are curious to work with?

I really like the spray, mixing the colors, the texture, the smell, the shape of the can, the colors…I love it and always will. I would love to venture out and buy an airbrush because of the similarity to the texture of spray, but softer and do things like that on canvas. I’ll see if I invest in one of those things.

Atelier

A curiosity, what did Lewis Hamilton tell you when you crossed paths in Formula 1 in Portimão, 2021?

The curiosity is more in what I said to him. He asked me if I did that huge drawing that was on the podium right there behind us (yes I was on the podium with him), I said yes, and he complimented me. Then I told him I did it in 24 hours and he was surprised, and I said with the biggest nerve in the world: “Yes, I am as fast as you man!”.
After that our interaction was in the ladies room because he got mistaken and I almost had a heart attack.

 

Another curiosity, have you ever worked the black and white?

Yes. I did a solo exhibition in Switzerland, called Mixed Feelings, and I divided the gallery in half and on one side there were only mega colored works, I even painted the wall where these works were with colored shapes too, and on the other side there were only black and white works, with a background also with black shapes under a plain background, to create this duality.

I have phases where I like to draw more monochromatic things and work on shadows and tones. Next year I would like to do a series of works with this technique and think about a new solo exhibition.


Photographies by Inês Ventura, at the artist’s atelier, Pandemónio, Lisboa.
9th May 2022.


ART

Portuguese visual artist and illustrator Kruella d’Enfer, Ângela Ferreira, has been delighting us with her enchanted visual world, evoking a deep sense of wonder with the fantastical, benevolent creatures that inhabit its dark and mysterious corners, be they mystical wolves or magical foxes. At ease painting both large-scale murals and intimist works on paper and canvas, her use of contrasting colours and geometric shapes brings age-old legends and myths to life, composing fantastic stories with a universal appeal. She has been exhibiting her work in solo and collective shows since 2010.

www.kruelladenfer.com

LIFE

Born in Tondela, North of Portugal, in 1988.
Ângela studied at ESAD – School of Arts and Design, Caldas da Rainha – but she dropped out college to pursue her art career, totally self-taught.
Loves to travel, food and her 3 cats.

Atelier

Likes Of, Teresa Cortes

Likes Of, Teresa Cortes

29 April 2022

Cabaça Earrings

$28,41

Medium Marble Serving Board

$32,99

Meia Lua S

$92,40

Wayz Sonder White Grey Almond Milk

$174,89

Laura | Box Bag, Timeless Line

$318,99

Teresa Cortes, Marketing Manager of Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV) with extended experience of working in the Sustainability and Environmental services industry.
SPV is the nonprofit organization that manages the integrated system of collection and treatment of packaging waste in Portugal.

 

The term recycling is often used incorrectly because it is confused with the concepts reuse and/or reutilize.
What are the differences between the 3?

Recycling presupposes a transformation of materials (mechanical/industrial). The initial object is transformed and converted into a new raw material that can be used in a completely different application. Exp: a water bottle that is transformed into fiber to be used as a car upholstery filling.

Reuse is to give a new use to something that already exists – reuse a bottle, reuse a piece of clothing, reuse a Tupperware, without necessarily having any kind of alteration to the existing object, in the limit, there may be a repair.

Reutilize, considering regulatory aspects linked to reuse systems, presupposes that a given item is returned, treated, and put back into use. As an example, the returnable tare system: a bottle is filled, used, returned, cleaned and disinfected, and filled again.