Artist of the Month September 2015

Newton Scheufler

Brasília, Brazil

How and when did you start creating art?

They say the first word uttered by Picasso as a child was "cil" (pencil). Obviously, I'm not Picasso but I identify with this idea, since my earliest memories are related to the design. I began to draw as a child and never stopped.

What media and genres do you work in?

I work with various media and supports. In the paintings, I use acrylic and oil paint. In addition, I do highly appreciate drawing with pen and ink, with artistic calligraphy and watercolor. In the last two years, I am working with engraving (etching).

Who or what are your influences?

Some teachers were fundamental. With Manabu Mabe, I learnt abstraction. With Miró, I learnt color. With Paul Klee and Kandinsky, I learnt shapes. However, before all of them, I learnt to draw with my father, who was a good amateur drafter and taught me the basics of line and composition.

What was your inspiration for Ocean Chronicles?

This work is the result of two years of research on color and composition and on formal synthesis.

Describe your creative process?

I work in several different ways. Sometimes, I produce many studies and sketches; sometimes I work directly on the support, intuitively seeking the work definition. Anyway, once set the course, I seek to reach a certain formal and chromatic density to work through the application of several layers of paint.

What are you working on currently?

I am currently working on Ocean Chronicles, a series of paintings on canvas, and on a number of calligraphies inspired on the book Message, by the great Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa.

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

First, I try to continue my research and to increasingly refine the artistic density and aesthetics of my work, because it is the work that justifies and hold my activity. If you take care of the work, the work takes care of you. All the rest is just a consequence.

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

My site is www.artscheufler.com . There you can find a good part of my production in recent years. In Brazil, I work with several galleries in Brasilia, where I live, as ArteXXX, as Reference Gallery and as Expoarte Gallery. I am currently taking part in two international exhibitions in Europe: one in Switzerland, in Der Teufelhof Hotel, in Basel, and one in Italy, in the town of Bellano, in a medieval church (eg Chiesa San Nicholau) in a project called Ancient Pallaces, organized by the curator Marcello Cazzaniga.