Maria Luz
Objects never sleep
Maria Luz's portrait
Untitled, 2023
Cleanings, 2023
Ways for silence, 2023
August 2024
Interviews with forward-thinking artists/designers like Clio Dimofski and Olivier Garcé, who share a deep passion for craft, art, and architecture that defines their work.
Next in our interview series, we speak with Maria Luz, artist based in Lisbon, Portugal.
Maria lives and works in Lisbon, where we met her at his studio.
We were first captivated by the humility woven into her creations. Each piece seemed to whisper of a serene, concealed strength, a quiet power veiled beneath its surface.
I saw that you studied design, How it has influenced your practice?
Yes, I finished the first year of the Bachelor of Industrial Design at ESAR.cr, in Caldas da Rainha, and only then did I switch to a degree in Painting at FBAUL. Studying at ESAD was decisive for the direction I ended up taking. ESAD is a polytechnic school, so the teaching method is very methodical and effective. It was on the Design course that I learnt to work in workshops and not to be afraid of experimenting and making mistakes. For a year, I was surrounded by incredible designers and artists who also brought me a new visual culture. Living in Caldas also meant learning to value living artists and having them not only as friends, but as references in the professional world. I think that's one of the great lessons design has taught me: to look sideways, to those who are thinking about the world at the same time as you, and not to be stuck to the past.
Aesthetically, I've taken extra care in the way I present all my work and also in the way I ended up starting to paint: the framing, the visual cleanliness, the objects... every millimeter counts. It's a care that's so refined that it's obsessive. Slowly, I've been letting go of some of these rigid rules. Painting needs more space than that to develop. In the painting series "Flowers for my Grief" I believe I have found a balance between the two.
I was told a while ago that I was doing "Industrial Painting", a concept that I found funny. In fact, every designer has their own chair... I've painted them and created chair-shaped earrings.
How you define your emotions into your work between figurative or abstract?
I think my work is somewhere in between... I work a lot with objects, spaces, nooks and crannies, everything I come across and I find interesting. On the other hand, my work is directly linked to what I'm thinking or experiencing at a given moment and my emotions, so it has an abstract component. I don't portray things as they are. The places I've seen are no longer recognizable when I paint them. The emotional charge with which I carry the figures makes the image created an ambiguous space, a kind of place between dream and reality.
What defines your color palette?
The blues! It's very rare not to use blue in a painting. Even if you don't see it, almost all the colours I create have cobalt blue in them. It gives the whole image a colder atmosphere.
Why do you use oil on your work?
Oil is the only material with which I can create this fading effect of something that is gone or exists only in a dream. Oil has a strength all of its own. Even in the darkest and most enigmatic paintings, the way the colours touch and the effect they create cannot be reproduced in any other material.
How is your journey when you create?
My work is directly linked to what I experience and what is familiar to me. The beauty of having living artists lies precisely in creating a unique record of a particular period in history, which is why I keep my focus on the present time. A series can arise from a very strong emotion or just from a new object I've found. Everything I see goes through a kind of x-ray of what may or may not be material for creation. I can't remember the last time I switched off from this. I'm always on the lookout, always looking for images... there are many images to be found. I find inspiration in the most unlikely places... sometimes I just open an old box, forgotten in someone's grandmother's house, and in a few seconds I know exactly what I want to do. Other times, as was the case with the Flowers series, it takes me a long time to find the ideal visual narrative. Essentially, all the series tell a story, whether it's more or less personal, and the creation times vary according to the need for them.
Who is your favorite artists?
Teresa Murta, Gonçalo Preto and Poppy Jones are the references of the moment.
Why are your more inspired by contemporary artists, does it comes from your design background?
Yes, partly yes. As I said before, I prefer to look sideways rather than backwards. I like my goals to be realistic and achievable. Of course I value all the art that has been produced to date and I deeply admire the painters of past generations - especially the women who made it big, like Paula Rego - but times have changed and it's not fair to aspire to or compare my career with that of an artist who came of age in 1960. To be a good professional, in any field, we have to adapt to the times. It's no coincidence that I mentioned Teresa and Gonçalo earlier. Both Portuguese, former ESAD.cr students, slightly older than me. Funnily enough, they are also the older siblings of two friends of mine (also artists). This kind of familiarity is important to me: knowing the context, their starting point and the possible timings.
What book is on your bedside table?
The Body Keeps the Score portuguese version (O Corpo Não Esquece). It's an intense read that I wouldn't recommend to just anyone... while the author gives his vision of a particular psychological trauma, it can be a trigger for the reader due to its precision and detail. It interests me a lot. I've always been fascinated by the human brain. I admit I'm reading more slowly than I planned, but it's worth it.
What place to do you cherish in Portugal?
I'm a big fan of Costa Vicentina... the landscape, the music festivals, the perfect temperature. Where I can't hear the airplanes and look at the sea, I'm fine.
What is your perception of Portuguese contemporary art at this moment?
We all know Portugal doesn’t support the arts as it should. Still, I feel like we have more and more women artists out there, which shows a more balanced art scene from a few years ago. As a person, Portugal is small and cozy, but as an artist, Portugal is just too small. We were not educated to care about art, which means we were not educated to think, recognize, evolve and act differently. I was taught the artists were the thinkers of the society. They wake you up, make you feel uncomfortable with yourself and open space for reflection. I believe a developed country has to trust their own artists and assume everyone can be criticized by them, including the country itself. Sometimes I feel Portugal doesn’t even accept their own artists, a country that doesn’t want to listen…
What is next?
It’s time to go abroad. The current housing shortage and poor quality of life here in Lisbon has made me realize that it's time to try something new. Before I go, I’ll be working on a fashion collaborative project with Mestre Studio and designing the next collection of Eixo de Luz earrings, both projects side by side with the new series of paintings.
Flower series, 2024
Columbano’s_chair, 2023
