Away from TV, Regina Duarte wants to encourage green preservation with visual arts

The actress, producer and theater director Regina Duarte (77) prepares to welcome friends and admirers at the opening of his second solo exhibition New Faces of Naturewhich will be held next Thursday, 4th, from 5pm, at the artist’s gallery Roberto Camasmie, in Jardins, in São Paulo. From the 5th to the 30th, the artist’s paintings will be available for viewing, from Monday to Friday, from 10am to 6pm, and on Saturdays, from 10:30am to 2pm. In an interview with CARAS Brazil, she talks about her dedication to the plastic/botanical arts. “It’s calming, relaxing,” she confesses.

In February 2023, while on vacation in Rio de Janeiro, Regina woke up to a new cycle of life – full of leaves, fruits, flowers, seeds and tree bark. With collage techniques, these materials gain a new life through the artist’s hands, a new meaning. And this is how she rediscovers her identity with Botanical Nature. “I want the public to realize the tribute I am paying with this praise of nature. The Brazilian flora and our glorious agriculture deserve it. We need more awareness that plants not only generate the oxygen on which our lives depend, but are also our nutrition. I hope that my art can awaken a new perspective on the preservation of greenery not only in Brazil but across the planet”says the artist.

Currently, Regina has been attracted to portraying human figures through botany. “I think the actress in me is encouraging me to reproduce people and characters”comments the artist, who also reveals what she feels and thinks when she is producing. “I think the first thing I think about is balancing the distribution of leaves, flowers and seeds on the cardboard. Then, I focus on being careful not to damage anything in the process of spreading the glue. I also wonder if my fans will like it. Most of the time I don’t think about anything and I think that’s what they call meditation. It’s calming, it’s relaxing.”highlights.

Away from TV since 2017, Regina reveals what she hears most from people when they are surprised by her works. “I receive a lot of compliments and there are also those who don’t say anything. There are people who look at the work, look at me with admiration and look at the work again. It’s a silent approval that leaves me fueled with joy. You don’t always need words to feel embraced”he speaks.

And what helps the actress to be inspired to create? She explains: “I organize the elements that will be part of the work. Then, I do it in a way that seems intuitive to me. My Bahian employee who has been with me for over 40 years says that I look “manifest” (laughs). I really get immersed in a another universe, distinct from reality. And it’s addictive, people”.

Since October last year, Regina has participated in four group exhibitions – with an average of 4 to 6 works on display. Now, at the invitation of Roberto Camasmie, she will have her second solo exhibition. “When Camasmie came to my studio to formalize the invitation to exhibit in his gallery, he saw a face I had there. She was a little lady with white hair made with string from a beach almond leaf that I had found on the ground, with two holes that suggested two eyes, one higher than the other. The title of the work came easily: Picasso’s Grandma”remembers.

“Camasmie fell in love with that figure and immediately suggested that I should do more things like that. Then, he invited me to a collaboration in his studio. Using a photo of me, he had made a drawing and we finished the work together with leaves and flowers. I loved the result and the experience encouraged me to continue along the lines of the characters”complete.

Visual artist Roberto Camasmie is recognized for the portraits he has made throughout his 50-year career, both of famous and anonymous people. He began his career professionally painting black and white portraits of personalities from the social circuit of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

In his career, he has painted actresses such as Sophia Loren It is Catherine Deneuve even Princess Diana and several Brazilian personalities. With his realistic style, he continues to portray celebrities from different sectors of society.

FIRST OIL

Regina Duarte reveals that her first oil happened shortly after her daughter Gabriela Duarte (49), also an actress, was born. “I spent the postpartum quarantine in a place and between one feeding and another, I reproduced a photo of the family together for Easter lunch. From then on, whenever I had a break between one job and another on TV or at the theater, I went back to canvases and paints”it says.

Regarding the quantity of works, she has done less with more details. “The profusion of intentions in the pages and with the pages means that each work takes five times as long to be considered finished. The process of evolution in transforming leaves into people is fascinating”, account. Regarding the presentation of the work, she amends: “Sometimes I have replaced cardboard with canvas and this calls for different frames than the ones I have used so far”.

The exhibition will be open for viewing at the Roberto Camasmie Art Gallery, located at Rua Bela Cintra, 1992, corner of Alameda Lorena, in Jardins.