Editorial
Interview
In an interview with Laís Amaral, Lucia Laguna talks about her journey, references, and creative process
Laís Amaral
18 Nov 2024, 12:56 pm
Having the opportunity to engage in a deeper conversation with Lucia Laguna (an artist represented by Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel) is a milestone. She is one of the artists who have influenced the beginning of my painting and continues to do so today. I learn a lot from her dynamics and practices in the studio, especially how she conducts the entire process. Without a doubt, it is one of the paintings I immerse myself in the most and that impacts me greatly.
She was one of the first Black artists I met who painted something between abstraction and the figurative. In my opinion, her language is very unique — it represents a very particular universe and, at the same time, a collective one when she thinks about cities and landscapes.
Both Lucia’s reasoning and practice are deeply inspiring and truly bring me closer to the possibility of art. She is an artist who, in addition to inspiring admiration for her work, demonstrates that it is possible to live from art and, above all, from painting.
The interview below was conducted by Laís Amaral, an artist represented by the Mendes Wood DM gallery, in Lucia Laguna’s studio in Rio de Janeiro on September 30, 2024, and transcribed for this editorial.
Above: Studio of Lucia Laguna at Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro)
Lucia Laguna, Paisagem nº 35, 2011 (Photo: Mário Grisolli. Courtesy of the artist and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro)
Laís Amaral, Untitled, "Gesto-Caminho" series, 2022 (Photo: courtesy of the artist and Mendes Wood DM)
Laís Amaral: How did you start in painting, and why did you choose this language?
Lucia Laguna: The call came indirectly, almost by chance, when I got off a bus to find out what a visual arts school was.
In the 1990s, I lived in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, near UERJ [State University of Rio de Janeiro], and I was heading to Shopping da Gávea – I didn’t go to the South Zone much. I saw that visual arts school [Parque Lage], got off, and went there. There was an office right at the beginning with books that talked about the courses and the teachers; I took a look and thought, “Good God, I don’t know anything about this. How am I going to begin?” I asked the lady who worked there, “Is there a teacher who takes students who have never done any of this before?” and she said, “Yes, there’s Professor Luiz Ernesto [director of Parque Lage from 1998 to 2002],” so I enrolled in that course. I attended and never left, until I went through all the teachers from that time. I loved that school; I loved the interaction.
I also took Charles Watson’s [a teacher at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts] course for a long time and really enjoyed his classes because there was lots of discussion, texts, and critiques of works.
I chose painting as my medium because it made sense to me. I was involved with written arts, but also manual arts, as I even did some embroidery and things like that. My husband and I had a toy factory for children. Once you are in that environment and transition to art, you see that you were actually thinking about sculpture back there [in the toy factory]. Everything is connected. It was very easy, very simple to make that transition.
Portrait of Laís Amaral and Lucia Laguna in Laguna's studio during the interview for this editorial.
LA: What are your references?
LL: I really love, from the bottom of my heart, the Impressionists and Expressionists. Especially the Expressionists, because of their bold brushstrokes and their choice of subject matter, and the way they approached it.
LA: How did your creative process happen and how does it unfold?
LL: It’s like the saying from Milton Santos, the geographer: “The world is what you see from where you are.” And that’s how I went about it. I was there, on Nazário Street [in Rio de Janeiro], with a landscape around me, a garden, my house. So, that’s what I was going to talk about in my painting.
Since I had no prior art practice, I would often look out the window of the studio that was on the third floor of my house, at the top of a hill, and paint what I was seeing outside. The houses, trees, highways — in other words, the neighborhoods of the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. So, all that expanse of buildings, the crowding, and the suffocation of the city — it was all there.
There’s also the part of teaching, of providing a lot of information to the assistants who were not used to painting in that way. I started to have assistants because I liked to make large canvases, and large canvases are difficult to handle, and at that time I was already over sixty. To discover new things, I would rotate the canvas, paint in one direction, then in another. It created a certain confusion, and in that confusion, I would find myself. When I found something interesting, I would put tape to cover certain areas and start erasing other areas. And then came the moment to remove the tape and see if what I covered was very incongruent with what was around it.
Lucia Laguna, Jardim Nº11, 2013 (Courtesy of the artist and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro)
LA: How do you classify your painting style?
LL: I find it problematic to define a style, you know? If you have a defined style and remain dedicated to it, you might want to change but find yourself stuck. So, I think I don’t have any style at all. Style is yours, from your particular world. In my case, I eliminate some areas and insert others. I overlap parts of the painting. Essentially, painting is this: looking through a window where you see a reality outside.
LA: Are you currently following the work of any artist? Who and why?
LL: After I went to London in 2022 and saw an exhibition by William Kentridge at the Royal Academy, I became enchanted by him and his concepts again.
LA: And how did your early travels impact your process?
LL: The first time I saw a Degas in person was quite enchanting and, at the same time, agonizing because it was impossible to retain all those details. The book wasn’t enough; the films weren’t enough.
LA: For some people, painting is something superficial and outdated. But you present a perspective that is already a milestone, being a Black woman in Brazil. I feel that abstract painting, done by women, is very relevant and has something behind it.
LL: My painting is not abstract. I make a break in the figuration of the narrative of painting. My intention from the beginning has been to reproduce what I see through the window, reconstructing landscapes from my point of view and trying to surprise the viewer.
Lucia Laguna, Jardim n. 16, 2013 (Photo: courtesy of the artist and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro)
Lucia Laguna, "Paisagem N5", 2007 (Photo: courtesy of the artist and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro)
Laís Amaral, Untitled II, "Auto imagem de dentro" series, 2023 (Photo: courtesy of the artist and Mendes Wood DM)
Lucia Laguna, "Pequenos Formatos Nº 72", 2012 (Photo: Sumara Rouff. Courtesy of the artist and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro)
Lucia Laguna (Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil, 1941)
In Lucia Laguna’s work, recognizable elements—foliage, furniture, food, animals—coexist with juxtaposed lines and colors, in calculated gestures that compose landscapes and interiors in fractured planes. The forms that fill her canvases seem incomplete, emerging from the accumulation and erasure of layers of paint. Laguna’s works are part of important public collections, including MAR, MAM SP and Rio, MASP, and the National Museum of Brasília.
Laís Amaral
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