SEEING LIFE BEHIND THE BUBBLE

In conversation with the young Alagoas, Brazil-based painter Pedro Lima

Interview by S(GBA) | All images courtesy by the artist Pedro Lima

He paints acryl on canvas and leaves lots of his paintings untitled because they speak for themselves. Through skateboarding, the young painter Pedro Lima comes in contact with the streets of Alagoas a small State in the north of Brazil, and extracts a deep-felt productive motivation for his paintings "My inspirations reflect a lot of what I absorb". It comes a lot from the daily life that I bring into my work“. In our interview, he speaks about his vision, opportunities, and living in the moment of action and conversation.

Tell us about yourself, where did your journey began (you can start wherever you want: as an artist, as a kid, or in your current project, you are free to choose to tell us where we start), where are you right now and where do you see the future?

Since I was a child I’ve had contact with art. At home, with my parents, and at the school I attended where I had art class. I know how lucky I am to have experienced this from an early age. I believe the acme of everything came when I started skating and having daily contact with the street. I watched each detail it had to offer me. This influenced me a lot. The underground culture of skateboarding and music gave me a cool vision of expressing myself without fear what I wanted to do and pass on. Talking about the future for me is always difficult when it comes to wanting to live in the now. But I hope to do many projects and contribute a lot to art, whether in my city or elsewhere. I intend to get opportunities to show my vision of seeing life beyond my bubble, and I want this to be common for me and other artists in small cities in Brazil.

I can imagine you are surrounded by young creatives and like-minded people that feed, support, and move your days but also your life and creative process. Do you want to tell us a bit about it? The scene, the people that inspire you, etc?

My inspirations reflect a lot of what I absorb. It comes a lot from my daily life that I bring into my work. I consider my city (Alangoa) as not one of the big capitals of Brazil that already gives me a look, I suppose. More innocence and pose. The culture, passersby, and the dynamics of the street around here occur differently. The city’s frequent hot and sunny days are reflected in the diversity of colors that I intuitively discovered in my works. The contrast of the beautiful with the transgressor always caught my attention and I believe that’s what I like to talk about on my canvases, having as a start construction observation of the city and the human presence.

How can we imagine a day of Pedro Lima in his studio, creating and processing ideas and letting art flow? Would you say it varies from project to project?

I understand them as natural processes, where I allow myself without pressure what I should or shouldn’t do. My studio is a place where things flow without weight always in the company of music and dialogues with myself. I have many daily and intuitive drafts that help me and add to the construction of my projects, there I discharge my energies, thoughts, and all my freedom of creation.

In one of your images, I saw a book by Matisse. What artists do inspire you and your works? What materials do you use and what do you like about them?

Yes, Matisse, Basquiat, Pollock… and many others. I love to watch books and the history of the big artists of that generation, even when something doesn’t suit me, I’m looking at it hahaha! The current world gives us the opportunity to consume art in a grandiose way, through social media, for some time now I have been discovering scenes from different parts of the world through Instagram, and the list of people who inspire me, whether in Brazil or abroad is big. But I feel all that’s within my daily reach inspire me a little further, with my family, my girlfriend, my friends, and my daily! I usually paint with acrylic ink, charcoal, oily chalk, and also with what I have at the moment. I’m more to creating with what I have, without waiting to make it happen!

How do you see the world you live in and how do you see the world that surrounds you? How does that reflect in your artistic expression?

I live in a moment of action and observation. We have to have a lot of wisdom involved to reach that moment of the world's existence. I’m from a city that is a mix of paradise and prison. Things don’t happen a lot around here and I know there is a world outside of it. Even though I have a lot of love for it, I have to do three times as much to have a space in other places. If I came from another place, I wouldn’t have the vision I have in my works. Just living here affects me, and I’m grateful for that. My origins reflect in my lifestyle, and the production of my paints. I love this, but I also want to have the opportunity to be in other places in the world around me!

Apprendix about Music: 

Music is extra energy in my work. I don't usually paint in silence, I'm always in the presence of music that for me is like a daily companion, I don't feel alone, and that motivates and moves me. On both sides of the painting, I can't define which songs fit directly into my work with any meaning. It is the rhythm and dynamics that move me when I press play in my playlists. I don't feel alone and then feel complete and well accompanied by the music that drives me.

Listen to the Dublab BR Mixtape:



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