The Stranger
Marcia de Moraes

During her residency in ‘ace, Brazilian artist Marcia de Moraes constructed a 4 panel polyptych in graphite and color pencil on paper called El Extraño (the Stranger). The final work measured 140cm x 325 cm and was exhibited to the public in the Políglota Gallery. The Stranger, the large scale drawing was intended for that space and therefore, the artist had to work “in- situ” throughout three intense weeks in order to carry it out.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I see many possibilities in drawing. I have a great attraction for the trace left by the pencil. The time it takes also appeals to me, and in the way that I work, it is slow. Unlike photography, the image takes a long time to form. Perhaps it is more like the process of painting unless that here you can not pass “above” what you do not like. In drawing, you must constantly deal with “mistakes” , improvisation and the inclusion of these mistakes in the context of  the whole is what drawing is. Until now I still insist on drawing … but sometimes I think that my drawings could work three dimensionally.

Often, I hear that my drawings looks like paintings. I do not care about these divisions of language. For me, people have the freedom to define my work as they please. What matters is the concept involved, rather than how it’s done. I understand there is a certain curiosity in people when they learn that these large drawings are done so carefully and laboriously. However, when this first impression goes, happens what I think is interesting: the moment in which people can discuss what is actually drawing the image and can be interpreted through their personal repertoires.

Talking about the drawing, basically done in black and white, I do it every day. I think many artists draw constantly. I draw every day in the notebooks I carry with me everywhere and others that are scattered throughout the study. But they are somewhere. These are ideas, sketches, written off, not intended to be shown in exhibitions. At the moment, my work has required a large dimension and color to express what I want.

-MARCIA DE MORAES