Thursday, November 10, 2011

Mariana Santos: "The way you deal with confusion"

Mariana Santos is a 15 year old artist from Portugal. She is an Urban Sketcher and likes to sketch everyday and she loves to paint from concert photos. In this interview with TYT she speaks about creating something new and why art is about not being afraid. 

Mariana Santos
What inspires you to your art?
I started drawing everyday stuff in my sketchbook because of the group Urban Sketchers, I got really inspired seeing all that fantastic work and decided to get my own journal, I started drawing every day and that really helped me to develop my drawing skills. Before I had a sketchbook I did some portraits of my favorite musicians, I got into drawing because I got into music and photos of concerts really inspire me when drawing a musician, I love to paint in black paper from those concert photos.
Recently I’ve had some ideas and done some studies for a different kind of paintings in which I’m trying to move a bit away from sheer representation of reality and to play with color and shapes even though they’re based on real subjects.
Mariana Santos
Your work is mainly about music and everday life.Which moments fascinate you most?
I think regarding my sketches on everyday life I’m more fascinated and enthusiastic while traveling. While I’m not traveling I lately tend to draw a lot of portraits of my friends maybe because I spend so much time with them, I also draw a lot on the subway, in the classroom. My sketchbook ends up documenting my life. I’m also fascinated with the possibilities of shapes colors and lines, the composition within a page.In my music drawings I draw my favorite musicians from photographs, usually what fascinates me is the action and the contrast.
Mariana Santos
Do you have favorite artists?
 I love all kinds of things and I change my favorite artists very often.Concerning the subject of everyday sketches and visual journals, I really love the work of Danny Gregory, Tommy Kane, Lapin, Eduardo Salavisa, Richard Câmara, Nina Johansson, John Woolley, as well as other Urban Sketchers correspondents.
The painters I’ve gotten pretty interested in recently are Egon Schiele, Basquiat, Touluse-Lautrec and Eric Fishell, I also love Andy Warhol, Picasso, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Alexander Calder, Jackson Pollock, Oskar Kokoschka and lots more.
Mariana Santos

Mariana Santos

Would you like to become a full time artist after you finish school?
 Yes, I’d love to become a full time artist when I finish school but I’m keeping my mind open.  I think nowadays in the art word you have to do a bit of everything in order to survive. Those things still feel very complicated to me so for now I’ll concentrate on my art, what makes me happy.
Mariana Santos

Creativity is…
To combine the things you know and create something new, everything comes from somewhere. To be creative is not to be afraid. Creativity comes from hard work, dreams, involvement, confusion and the way you deal with that confusion.
Mariana Santos

If you'd like to have a look at more of her work, check out Mariana Santos Blog and on Flickr


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