Carolina Vaz

My practice centres around large scale figurative paintings that depict Portuguese culture and experiences. The purpose of my work is to capture life through an energetic manipulation of oil paint. The themes present include community, the everyday and tradition.

My expressive painting style combines figurative compositions with an abstraction of the background, through simplified interpretations of people and objects into sections of colour. This contrast emphasizes the focus onto the figures and subjects in the foreground, ultimately creating a dynamic composition that illustrates the energy and movement expressed through the physical act of painting. The role of the oil paint is a focus in my work; it’s intuitive application onto the canvas with loose mark making and bold colours conveys the dynamic atmospheres I want to represent.

The subjects of my works are figures and scenes that subtly portray Portuguese traditions and customs from day-to-day scenes like cafes and markets to lively cultural festivals, with the familiar traditional characters that inhabit these spaces. I have a personal relationship with the images I paint as the source material mainly consists of found family photographs.

I take inspiration from the energy and use of colour from abstract expressionists like Lee Krasner. My painting process involves mixing colours directly on the canvas and relies on fast gestural marks that transmit the energy of the depicted scene into the painting. I paint on a burnt sienna underlayer, building up thick layers of paint whilst leaving areas of the canvas exposed, playing with the added luminance the sienna wash creates around the figures and the disparity between the heavy paint and the empty unfinished sections. This process is intuitive.

Alongside my painting practice l explore the same subjects in printmaking using, lithography and mono printing. The printmaking processes allow me the freedom of surrendering to the materiality of the medium. The lithographs act as drawings where I can portray these scenes in more intimate format. Mono printing with watercolour allows me to create softer and quicker representations. Working fast and intuitively is an important element for my creation of expressive compositions.