An Interview With Portuguese Artist Adriana Molder

Describe your practice in a few sentences.

My life is my practice and my practice is my life.

You have a longstanding love for drama and film which led you to pursue a degree in stage design before you turned to fine arts. What impact have the dramatic arts had on your fine art practice?

A big one I would say. When I went to study stage design I was very interested in the works of Pina Bausch and Robert Wilson. I was very interested in staged artworks like the paintings of Caravaggio or the photographs of Jeff Wall. I guess my love, fascination and hate for actors comes from that period too. The large-scale works, which is what my hand feels most comfortable with, has a lot to do with the grand scale of the stage.

What intrigues you about portraiture?

The same things that intrigue me about people: to know someone and to want to know more. Portraying someone is almost an impossible task, but I find that capturing someone is more likely in painting and in film. I also like that there is such an incredibly strong tradition behind me.

What role does color – or lack thereof – play in your work?

For a long time I wanted to work in black and white, then I began to use red and now there are other colors naturally joining my work. When I think about dreams and memories, what comes to mind is black and white. Even though I still work a lot in black, white and red, in this moment I’m more interested in a different type of composition that deals with the present and with the presence of the subject I paint. The contrast between strong colors and black translates to that more recent desire.

Can you talk about the relationship between your paintings, your videos and your texts?

I really like to write. And I do it mostly after a series is completed. I did some videos before but I’ve stopped because I like cinema too much. One day I would love to direct a film. The videos I did belong to specific series of works and are connected to the practice of drawing or to my fascination with film, faces and photography.

Can you speak a bit more in depth about some of the overarching themes that are addressed throughout your practice?

No matter what idea surrounds the series that I do, I think the theme is always the same in all of them. Can you capture someone? Can you recreate a true likeness in the form of a portrait?