Emily Larson Margaret Pezalla Group

Emily Larson
Artist Research
Beatriz Milhaze
Beatriz Milhaze, resident of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil draws from the beauty of her surroundings to create stunning canvas with display her interest in conflict. She uses colors to create conflict in her paintings. She finds beauty in nature; colors from the sky, gardens, sunsets, appear in her paintings. She loves to surround herself in nature, and actually has a studio she up in a canopy garden with tall trees, calming coos from birds, and trickling waterfalls. She also has a home out of nature; a home in the city gives her a different atmosphere to draw from.
She has used cut outs from fabrics, and has even used images cut from previous paintings of her own in more recent works. She places her art in books, but most often on large canvases, which appear at galleries across the globe. She prefers to create her own motifs, or homemade acrylics. Instead of going through the laborious task of cutting out shapes from felt or paper like visiting artist Liz Miller, who eventually purchased an electric scissor to help her with her work. Milhaze uses paint plastic transfer sheets, her paint, and paintbrushes to create her scrapbook like images. Milhaze’s work is comparable to that of Miller. She then glues the painted side of the transfer sheet to her canvases, and removes the plastic sheet after the glue has dried, leaving the painted image. Milhaze says she prefers to create her works in this manner so there are no brushstrokes and the works she creates look clean and smooth.
The bold array of colors and playful images evokes a an image of a party, while contrasting colors balance the canvas with an industrial sensation. Dark, machine like images seem to collide and enhances the contrasting colors and edgy, flirty bright shapes to create a sense of conflict. Her images are easy to get lost in, as there is a lot to see. Her images aren’t entirely perfect like computer images though, and they appear to look like paintings when you are not close to the image, the semi-transparency of the painted motifs allow you to get lost in the depth her technique creates.
I would definitely recommend this artist to friends. It creates inspiration to make the world bright and lively, and the art is almost universal. Anyone can interpret their own meaning from it. I think it also was created for enjoyment, because it is simply intriguing, playful, and seductive. It is a great blend of the nature, and beautiful patters and a sensation of balance that is out of this world.
Sources
Roberta Smith. “Beatriz Milhaze.� The New York Times November 7, 2008: (C31).
Adriano Pedrosa “Tate Online.� Tate Etc. Editor. Autumn 2004. Galeria Fortes Vilaca, and Stephen Friedman Gallery. Curgier, Bice; Grant, Simon.
25 November 2008 http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue2/inthestudio.htm