Interview with Eduardo Recife

Eduardo Recife is an inspiring arist. His collages carry a powerful picture language and many, often ambiguous, levels of allusion und message. Enjoy this interview and a selection of his phantastic work.

S.M: Why is collage your favorite artform?
E.R: I think collage reminds me of dream language, where all sort of images, symbols and other elements when put together portray a message or tell a story. The surreal, metaphoric and ludic side of it also interests me, where nothing is impossible or out of its predetermined place. Apart of all this I’m also passionate about vintage imagery, old photos, paper, textures, magazine, labels, ephemera, you name it, if it’s old theres a high probability that I will enjoy it. I like to see the effect of time in things and I try to mimic that in my work.

S.M: Do you have special topics, political or philosophical messages/statements which you treat in your work
E.R: I believe most of my work is a sort of introspection about life, feeling and everything that surrounds me. My work deals with themes such as love, emptiness, search for happiness and the vanity of life. Im not very good in expressing myself verbally so my work is very cathartic and its a way for me to communicate things I usually cant find the words for.

S.M: Can you describe your creative process: What comes first, the idea or the creation?
E.R: It’s not a rule. Sometimes I write down ideas in a notebook, sometimes I do a very simple sketch of it, sometimes I just start a piece of work and see where it’s going to leed me. I welcome accidents and unexpected changes in direction when I’m working on something. I believe intuition should almost always prevail intellect when working.

S.M: You often use vintage characters or even characters from former centuries like the Renaissance in
your works. What messages or picture language do you transport through those ancient portraits?
E.R: There are several reasons for using vintage imagery and characters in my work, one is the previous mention of my appreciation for vintage imagery and how it naturally carries the effects of time in it. Another is the copyright issues when using recent resources. But mostly I believe there was a strength and poetic quality to these images that you rarely find today. When I see an old Renaissance painting or an old photograph, I sometimes can see the soul of the individual portrayed in it. I believe things were done with more talent, more passion and more sincerity than what we see mostly being produced today. The characters in my work are also not confined to any specific time or place, but my main focus is man and all the complexity and frailty that is within him.

Thank you for the interview!

Eduardo Recife (32) lives and works in Belo Horizonte/ Brazil.