Art, // February 28, 2018

Decolife — ARTIST

Decolife---TOP-OF-PAGE

Decolife

 

Interview with the artist Decolife —

 

1. Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Andre Ruiz de Freitas, I am a painter working under the name Decolife.
I am the right person doing the right thing in the right place at the right time.

 

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2. Why art?
I never asked myself this question, but I believe I had no choice of doing anything else! I’d rather ask art “why me?” and the answers would be in the things that I have been trough and feel responsible for painting about them.

3. What is your earliest memory of wanting to be an artist?
I grew up in the countryside of Sao Paulo in Brazil and I remember, at the age of 6 or 7, painting on pieces of wood found on the streets to give to my family. About being an artist, I never really knew what that meant! But I was sure I would make drawings all my life and needed to do something with them.

 

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4. What are your favourite subjects?
I like to look at Art, Science and Religion as potential subjects; their beginning and roots, and also the history of art in the middle ages when these three were one.

 

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5. How do you work and approach your subject?
I spend a lot of time in museums and other places looking and finding inspiration. I always have pieces of paper in my pockets for notes and sketches, which are useful for things I would like to remember but also for the things I would like to forget. Back at the studio, I enjoy putting those little pieces of paper side by side, analysing how my day went and what my next steps should be. Later I might use some of the sketches with the composition of larger paintings or sculptures.

 

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6. What are your favourite art work(s), artist(s)?
It would be unfair to only mention a small list of influences, because I try to go as deep as I can researching them, and the deeper I go, the more names are added to the list! But if anything, I have to express my appreciation and respect for Marc Chagall, Joan Miro, Georges Braque, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, William Blake and Michelangelo

 

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7. What do you like about your work?
What I like most is the Act of Creation, the work in progress, the never ending desire for creating and the feeling, as a creator, of getting closer to The Creator of the universe.

 

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8. Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
5 years ago exactly, I was sleeping in a phone box in front of the Victoria and Albert Museum, drawing and writing about the moment in a diary, and I certainly could not picture myself today, in 2018, getting ready for my London exhibition! All I knew was that I would still be painting! So today I can’t think about where I’ll be in 5 years time but I am sure I see myself painting and making references in my work to new and old experiences.

 

Decolife: As Above, So Below

1-9 March 2018
The Framers Gallery, 36 Windmill Street, London W1T 2JT

http://www.theframersgallery.co.uk/

 

 

Decolife---SIGNATURE

Decolife

 

 

 

LINKS —

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/decolife1/
Website: https://www.decolife.co.uk/