Tell me a little bit about you!
I was raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A city where there is a lot of nature and water, the waterfalls, the sea, those are still very special to me and I think it does influence great part of my practice today. I moved to London six years ago to study painting and since then I have been investigating and exploring what this medium can offer to me. I moved here cause I wanted something that was the opposite of what I had; I guess it was the need of feeling discomfort in a place. I did feel that way when I arrived in London and surely for a long period.
When did you first discover art, or realize you wanted to make it yourself?
I had always been involved with art when I was young. It was the class in school I most had fun with. It all started with the materials I could play with and the mess it became afterwards. I enjoyed a lot of that mess and I guess I still do until today, it felt as if it was some sort of freedom.
Before moving to London, I was attending a painting class in Rio. During the process of painting I realised that I wouldn’t think of anything else but the process itself. That made me wanted to study painting on a deeper level.
Can you tell me about your practice? What ideas are you exploring?
My work explores ideas of cultural and geographic identity through painting. Drawing from my past in Rio de Janeiro, these ideas are investigated through abstraction by exploring colour, transparencies, movement, rhythm and erasures, using brush marks as motifs. Water has had a lot of influence on my work, its movement, and its transparencies, how the colour of water changes according to what object is beside it. The repetition of movement plays an important role on my work and it is something I want to be exploring.
What is your process like?
My process begins on the sketchbooks. Recently, I have been using marker pens as a way of planning paintings through mark making, colours and layering. These sketches have become studies for the larger works. I always begin with a background colour, then I add elements to the work, from there I respond to the layers and that’s when it get’s exciting, as I do not know where the process will lead me.
What is your studio like?
My studio is active and messy. I am usually working on many paintings at the same time, as if I am jumping around from one painting to the other. Movement is very present in the work and so that reflects on how I am always moving around the space of the studio. I usually have large buckets of water on the floor and many pots of mixed colours also on the floor.
If you could sit down for dinner or a drink with anyone, who would it be and what would you chat about?
This was a question made me think for weeks and I must say I still think about people I would love to sit down for a chat with. Today, I have thought about Clarice Lispector, I would talk about the intensity of life, about personal experiences. I would also love to sit down for a drink with Jacqueline Humphries and Tauba Auerbach and chat about painting and many other things.
What do you love most about your medium? What challenges or surprises you most like about it?
My work is a lot about the process and painting has always surprises during this process and that’s what keeps me going. The challenges of painting would be the patience it requires. There are days where work happens by looking at it and thinking about it. I do write a lot about each work after making them. It helps me see what more I can do with it and if I have passed the point of that painting. Another challenge could also be, knowing when to stop and I’m sure this could be applied to many painters. The surprises, I would say, they come during the mistakes and risks taken. These often lead to new techniques.
What do you need or value most as an artist?
Dedication, passion and persistence.
What keeps you creating?
The surprises, the challenges, and the fact that I don’t fully understand what I am investigating or exploring, the questions I have that I cannot answer. The colours.
What are you working on right now?
I have been exploring movement in painting and recently I have made one painting that involves a whole layer of a same movement. I would like to explore more works that comes from this piece. I am also looking forward to be showing my work again in Brazil in April. It has been a really good experience to be working in two different countries, which I both consider my homes.
Anything else you would like to add?
Thank you!
Find more at goiamujalli.com and on Instagram @goiamujalli!
Leave a Reply