Ara Gouveia paints for more than forty years. An impulse that he took full consciousness off. Since his teens and fills his day even today. Although his paintings are abstract, he likes to say that makes dolls. He paints for pleasure and because he wants to. Likes colors in its more vivid expression, because he does not enjoy the dull tones, both in his painting, and in life.
Do you think your work is influenced by nature; you live and work in Porto Santo?
Ara Gouveia: If it seems that way is unconscious. If you see inspiration in nature is possible, but I do not think much about it. I look at nature, I'm an observer naturally and for defect, because I am a teacher of drawing and I have to dissect the natural environment. So is what we see more and I am also talking about everything that surrounds us. Like the sun, the wind, like plants and animals. All this impresses me. If this is reflected when I paint, perhaps, I do not say no.
So what inspires you to paint?
AG: Nothing inspires me. I do what crosses my mind. I do not know what inspiration is. I intend to make a working group of up to ten at most. After a while, can be changed. It is planned with my feelings, with my heart and my stomach. Then I start painting and forget the rest. I remember having lived in Calheta and the landscape that was in front of me was the sea and the sky. It was 180 degrees of landscape, from sunrise to sunset. All that shifting, all use of color impressed me a lot. I took many pictures and colors on the plans. I can say that in those days, I could have been influenced by nature, more so. It was very flat and smooth colors.
Color is important in his work, they are very much alive. Have something against the dull colors?
AG: Yes. Just as I am against people who are dull. (Laughs)
You have a long career ...
AG: I started with fifteen, already in high school, I exposed a few risks. Then later, a year or two later, I had my fists show in a gallery. From there forward I went to Porto and follow the path of any artist.
The fact of living in Porto Santo influences your painting?
AG: They are much more intimate. Even that does not appear. They are very experienced, highly reflective. Before deciding what to do and the line of work, I reflect a lot. When he was invited to this event, I decided to make a puppet, not something with legs and arms, but in the end is a stick figure in blue. Angelo de Sousa, who is an artist who has already died, he used to say about his works that he drew dolls and I also like to use this expression to define what I do.
How you defined the art scene in Portugal?
AG: It is very good. In terms of innovation and quality of the galleries and the artists. Maybe I'm not the best person to talk about it, because I live in seclusion. I'm in Porto Santo. Although, I'm not far away, because I have access to the Internet and buy books. From the little I know and have seen there is a very good performance is not far behind the rest. From what is given me to do, groups of artists rooted in Germany and England; do not owe anything to others.
O facto de viver no Porto Santo influencia a sua pintura?
AG: São muito mais íntimas. Mesmo que não pareça. São muito sentidas, muito reflectidas. Antes de decidir o que vou fazer e isso verificou-se nesta linha de trabalhos, reflicto muito. Quando foi convidado para este evento, decidi fazer um boneco, não algo que com pernas e braços, mas que não deixa de ser um boneco azul. O Ângelo de Sousa, que é um artista que já faleceu, chamava as suas obras bonecos e eu gosto de usar também essa expressão para definir o que faço.
Como vê o cenário artístico em Portugal?
AG: É muito bom. Em termos de inovação nas galerias e pela qualidade dos artistas. Eu se calhar não sou a pessoa mais indicada para falar sobre isso, porque vivo em reclusão. Estou no Porto Santo. Se bem que não estou longe, porque tenho o acesso a internet e compro livros. Do pouco que sei e tenho visto, há um desempenho muito bom que não fica atrás do resto. De aquilo que me é dado a ver, de grupos de artistas radicados na Alemanha e na Inglaterra, não ficamos a dever nada aos outros.
