In Conversation with RUNA

First of all, why are you an artist, and when did you first decide to become one? 

I believe that no one becomes an artist – one is born an artist. The question then is to make a professional career as such. This is the big challenge; a challenge that is timeless, that is, over the centuries there have always been artists who stubbornly pursued their vocational path, struggling with all kinds of financial difficulties. And currently, from what I understand, from what I read and hear from other artists, most see the need to work in other areas, sometimes not related to the arts, to maintain financial stability. The vocation is born with the person, who as a child begins to stand out at school for his artistic skills, while showing particular interest in recreational activities linked to the arts. From the age of three, pots of paint were made available to me in abundance, still in pre-school, and all of us – children – were seated at rows of tables arranged side by side, outside, in a patio, so we could paint and dirty everything at ease. At that age we didn't even use brushes. I painted with my fingers and hands – hence the need to put the children on an outside patio, trying to minimize the mess.

Then the second question arises: to maintain the interest and the relish – the pleasure – in painting. All children paint in school, however, you quickly realize which ones really like it, and who therefore never stop doing it throughout their lives; and the other children, who with time will also find their vocational path, in other areas. It wasn't really my decision, therefore. This vein was born with me, it was put into practice from an early age, and I haven't stopped since. I always had paints available at home. There are children who ask for toys (today they ask for computer games!), I asked for paints. At the age of 13 I won my first competition, at school, to paint a mural in one of the school pavilions. Over the years, I have made more than thirty exhibitions, both individual and collective. I never stopped painting.
To conclude: the affirmation and consolidation as an artist is made over the years. Throughout the person's life.

What is your personal aim as an artist?

I want to grow artistically and professionally, and share my art in different countries. And through this, get recognition of my work and artistic style. It is increasingly difficult to maintain a uniqueness in the work of each artist. We are currently eight billion humans on the planet. We are many. Maintaining a single approach is not always feasible. It remains for us (and for me) to be genuine and look for that uniqueness.

Furthermore, I would like to increase people's interest and participation in the arts. Erudite art has traditionally been consumed by an erudite public (this is also linked to the financial issue) but with the evolution of humanity, that is: with the growing cultural degree of civilizations, I hope that it extends to everyone, whether people linked to the arts or not, whether or not they technically understand these matters.

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And how would you define yourself as an artist today?

I have been particularly influenced by my travels, and I have been emphasizing this connection – between painting and travel – in the presentation I make of myself, namely on social media and in the interviews I give. I travel alone by bicycle around the world; some of these trips can be seen on my website www.rutenorte.com. The absorption of multiple cultures makes me understand the world from different perspectives – the world and consequently myself; and travelling alone, in a physically and psychologically demanding environment – by bicycle – makes me learn from the challenges, and this is inevitably reflected in my pictorial work. On another level, I also highlighted this link between painting and travel in my recent master's thesis. I am currently finishing my Master's Degree in Painting, at Fine Arts Faculty, University of Lisbon, and my thesis deals precisely with how the experience of a place influences the pictorial production of the artist-traveller, in the 21st century. In fact, human beings are constantly being altered by spaces and places, seeing their identity expand and enrich as these multiply. So I use my case to evaluate how being in a peculiar place affects artistic production, that is, how the work of the travelling artist is born and develops in this circumstance, as well as my particular way of transmitting ideas, thoughts and sensations, through a transfer to the plastic register. Soon this analysis will be able to be read in its entirety when my thesis is published.

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Where do you get inspiration for your work? 

One of the great inspirations was mentioned in the previous question – my travels around the world; otherwise, no artist is oblivious and undisturbed to what is happening around him. I believe that directly or indirectly, all of us artists are influenced by the world around us. Political and social issues are among my favourites. From the issues related to the excessive growth of the human population - and having travelled the world, and witnessed high levels of poverty, particularly in Africa and Asia, this has greatly influenced my perspective; to issues related to animal and environmental protection; the empowerment of women, or the conservation of historical heritage. In fact, I think that an artist doesn't need inspiration, since everything is in front of him and he just needs to grab it. I never had any blocks, for example. Sometimes I hear about artists who interrupted their activity for a certain period of time, because they didn't feel inspired, because they had some kind of block. Until today this has never happened to me. You never know what the future holds, but I believe that lack of inspiration will not be a reason for me to stop painting. Probably sickness. Certainly death.

What is your creative process like? And how did you evolve this way of working?

Regarding technical aspects, I usually use acrylic on the first layer, and oil on the following ones. Complement with oil pastel and oil stick. Sometimes I draw in pencil directly on the canvas, before starting to paint; other times I go directly to brush strokes, applying paint - on canvas or paper - with a brush, without any previous sketch. I rarely paint with spatulas. The painting is built with successive layers. Occasionally the first and only layer is enough. It's rare but it happens. During the paintings I can carry out abundant studies before moving on, before taking any decisive step, and I use digital media for planning.

I don't always choose colours. Without looking, I pick up a tube of paint at random from inside the paint box. The colour that comes, is the one that will be used. But the colour that comes defines which point of the picture is painted. If it comes the blue, maybe it's the left corner. If it comes the yellow, maybe paint the top. Here is an intuitive process. All colours are beautiful, and they understand each other, it is the human eye that gives them more value or not. And there are a lot of human eyes.

Currently, as I mention in my artist statement, I have been working on a new medial context, on large-format canvases, treating the pictorial matter in my paintings in order to achieve relief effects. This search has been evident since I was 20 years old, where materiality is present in the paintings, namely through the use of sand and collages. Currently I have been working with lighter materials, namely polyvinyl acetate. This evolution was allowed by my new studio, since 2021, due to its larger dimensions.

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What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

I pay particular attention to the plasticity of the painting. The formal search is also evident, and I would say that it is intuitive or almost unconscious, however the options linked to plasticity totally modify a work, and I take them - these options - in a very conscious and premeditated way. The use of oil paints, with the implicit delay in drying and the consequent possibility of retouching or emphasizing some detail, or the use of substances such as wax or polyvinyl acetate, reflect this concern.

The search for materiality in my works – the physical and tangible side of reality – has always been present, but it has taken on greater importance in recent times. I would still like to develop this area a lot, and I am far from what I intend to do, mainly due to space limitations.