OBRAS
JEAN LIMA
Feira de Santana (BA), 1981 l Lives and works in Feira de Santana (BA), Brazil.
Like almost everyone involved in artistic expressions, I also began to take an interest in the area as a child, but it was at the time of graduation at the School of Fine Arts, UFBA, in 2002, that I had access to the world of the arts in fact. The history of art introduced me to artists and artistic movements. And that was decisive and indispensable!
I am inspired by simple things; I have a special attraction to colors. There is a chromatic richness in the world, from the colors of the sky in an afternoon to the variations of the blue of the sea. There are influences of the contemporary and the abstract in my works, but also of regional culture. I treat cultural traits from an enlarged perspective; I am interested in the intercountry, the intercountry and its customs, the traditional and coastal peoples and their characteristics
INTERVIEW
How did you get into the art world?
Despite having a history with visual expressions since childhood, it was during graduation in Fine Arts (UFBA) that the art world opened up to me. I was delighted with the history of art, with the artists, with the artistic movements, everything from rock art to contemporary art generated a fascination and I found the reverberation of the things I have always been interested in since I was a child. Initially by form and color, but at that time the meanings, the senses, the semiotics and the philosophy of art were added to this what we can call here "childish passion".
What do you understand as Fine Arts?
The term is historically linked to the expressions of painting, drawing and sculpture. Already "plastic" refers to the beauty and visual artistic conception that comes out of the world of ideas and begins to occupy a place in the real world. It is the thought that took body, that became real, that came out of the abstraction of thought and occupies a place in the world of things.
How do you define your Art?
It is my job, my love, my conviction... It is also my contribution in time and space, and who knows, on some level, my proof of existence. I am very proud of the fact that my work and trajectory are relevant, even if it is in a fraction of the time and in a certain clipping of memories in which my daughter, my brothers, my parents are. People close to me who recognize that there is from me a contribution to art, even if it is only in a specific group. When I die, these people will surely talk about me and when they speak, they will talk about what I produced and what I left in the world.
What are your greatest references in the world of the Arts?
There is too many of them. To name some names, among the historical ones: Leonardo da Vinci, for his life as an artist; Rembrandt Van Rijn, for his work and aesthetic contribution; Willian Turner, for the avant-garde painting he produced; Van Gogh, for the love of art. Among contemporaries: Eudes Correa, Marcos Beccari, Voka, Williams Martins, among many others.
What are the main themes used in your works? And why is that?
In fact, there are no major themes. As the poet would say, "but not to say I didn't mention flowers," I think I work in the field of memory and belonging. I start from an assumption in which art is the field to which freedom and creativity belong, and from there everything that attracts me, interests me or touches me, serves as a starting point for my productions. It is quite true that there are series I am always resorting to from time to time and creating new pieces, but I think my artistic doing is libertarian. And with this thought, I find myself producing works of the most varied supports, aesthetics, themes, styles, materials ... I am a restless and persistent contemporary visual artist and perhaps of unorthodox thought.
What are the main techniques used in your work? And which ones do you like to use the most?
Thank God and the thought of creative freedom; I do not have something I like more or less. But I really, very like watercolors, sculptures in the most varied supports, oil and acrylic on canvases ... but working with foreign materials also seduces me.
What do you seek to pass through your works to the viewer?
I want to touch the human being, touch a sensitivity, a place of memory, a feeling... create with my work a point of contemplation and/or restlessness. But what is very poetic, is to know that a work of mine that finds a new dwelling, works as someone who has there in his house a little piece of me and at the same time is also a little piece of the person or her story. I think that if you create a relationship for life, we were two "strangers" who might never have met or related, but that by having a work of mine these "strangers" of yesteryear will be connected for life by one thing in common, art. And so we stop being strangers.
What are the best and greatest experiences in your artistic career?
To name a few, among many cast Participation in the 35th Annual Philadelphia International Art Expo - October Gallery - Philadelphia USA - 2020 - Selected to exhibit at the Brazilian Art Salon in Liechtenstein - Switzerland 2019/2020. Participation and curatorship in the Collective Exhibition Roots at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Feira de Santana. 2019. Participation and curatorship in the collective exhibition Several Visual Voices at Espaço Cultural SESC Feira de Santana (Headquarters). 2019. Participation in the collective exhibition Croma Skhema at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Feira de Santana. 2018. Participation and curatorship of the 1st International Art Exhibition (took place simultaneously at the Museum of Contemporary Art - MAC Feira; and the Regional Museum of Art - MRA CUCA).
In his work is there a kind of protest beyond what is obviously seen? If so, which one? If not, is there a theme that awakens your willingness to protest?
There's always a year of protest, I think it's one of the fundamentals of artwork. The nature of protest, in my case, is about what I think about art and the title of artist.
However, what most incites the will to protest is the human and/or social behavior factor. But when protesting you run the risk of wanting to establish rules or define right and wrong. And when I find that path, I have a predilection for freedom that I consider that everyone has over whatever the thing or theme.
Are you interested in doing a traveling exhibition? If so, how do you imagine this exhibition? Would you know what topic you would like to address?
Every sentence that starts or has the word "exposure" in the middle interests me. I like to expose, I like to be evaluated, criticized, observed, contradicted, if that's the case. Anyway, I like to expose and also all the things that can occur when exposed.
Well, I've always dreamed of doing a traveling exhibition in fact. I imagine a bus full of works, circulating and exhibiting in every corner, squares of small towns and in the places that arise. I think it is my responsibility to have this social and educational nature of being able to provide access to art to anyone. Both those who buy and those who only see.
Where do you want to get to as a Plastic Artist?
I don't intend to make it.
And I explain not to sound arrogant [laughs]. The truth is, there's humility in that sentence. You see, when I started at UFBA in 2002 all I wanted was to be able to paint and exhibit. And to paint two works, I needed to paint one and sell and with her money subsidize the second and so on. So the fact that I've been painting and exhibiting for 15 years is, in fact, what I wanted to get to.
It is quite true that a career is built up by climbing steps on a ladder and this climb is only a consequence of what we persist in. I'm happy and fulfilled to be where I am. And I will be happy and fulfilled to be where I will be.