My very first phase was characterized by dreamlike works, which were based on reveries about other planets. This argument has always attracted me; considerations about other lives, galaxies, the infinity of space. Actually, these themes have always influenced, in one way or the other, the development of each phase of my artistic career, as briefly indicated in this website by the leitmotivs of each of them.
In another earlier phase, people at the cross-walk, in front of the “Stop” and “Walk” signals, influenced my thoughts about human life and freedom, either physical or social. And the form of those marked path for pedestrians became part of a number of my works, even in subsequent phases. Almost as to signal the distance, the limitations or possibilities for achieving our goals, about what we would like to have and what we actually have.
Besides paintings, I have been using for many years objects, photography and video and, more recently,digital photography, which makes it possible for me to reinvent my paintings. This process of development and combination fascinates me, while working with video permits the introduction of movement and sound.
This is the case of the “Transfer” phase where the work plays around the repetition of a constant element, a colourful piece of textile, sometimes recognizable, sometimes only depicted in parts. On the one hand recalling the memory of a journey on this planet, on the other travelling through parallel spaces, universes, where fragments of life are mixed together, as in a dream.
Images are essentially forms, plays of color and line, be it a tree, a satellite, a trunk or a bird. I am first of all a painter, and I prefer working with acrylics, either on canvas, linen, textiles or other support, so I feel in greater control, my hand expresses itself better and everything is more organic. Strong colours are a necessary element. I always love vibrant tonalities, I feel them as if they were candies, irresistible.
I start working on a sketch. However, it is only an initial part that it is developed together with other elements that come up afterwards, elements that I had not imagined from the outset.
Although most of my work remains with a dreamlike connotation, I believe that dreams, lost instants, are as real as those moments lived when we are awaken. It is a work that travels through the unknown territory of everyday life.
Cybčle Varela, October 2011
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