Lupe Cunha
Lupe Cunha is a British Brazilian abstract painter and art teacher who works from Cuckoo Farm Studios in Colchester. Originating from Brazil, from where her colours are inspired, she began her artistic life over 40 years ago — first in Chicago, where she was drawn to the Abstract Expressionists and the frozen waters of Lake Michigan, and then in Rio, influenced by the colour work of Hélio Oiticica and the mountains and sea. Settling in the UK in 1981, she found that artists such as John Piper, Peter Lanyon and John Hoyland added a new dimension to her work, while the milder British weather cooled her palette and brought the contrast and expressive mark-making of her present style. She holds an MA in Fine Art from the University of Hertfordshire and teaching qualifications from the University of Greenwich, joined Cuckoo Farm Studios in 2014, and exhibits regularly across the south and east of England, selling internationally. She also runs regular painting workshops. She lives in Sudbury, Suffolk.
Artist Statement
I am an abstract artist and the creativity starts at the very beginning of the process. Until I begin I don't know where I am going, as in my art there is no expected result. No reality to give it focus. Or to tell me when I have reached the end.
But because it is abstract it is also a very exciting process and this is why I call my painting process "Colour Instrumentals". Like music, I start by associating from what I am hearing: into my own world of memories, emotions, experiences and places. And it is only when I start that I begin to know what I am going to paint.
Abstract art to me is like the improvisations of music: explored, developed and fine-tuned until it clearly expresses the variations of my thoughts and emotions. It took me many years as a semi abstract figurative painter before I fully embraced the freedom provided by abandoning completely the constraints of subject matter.
Nowadays working from my unconscious, I make use of structure and design in my marks to create the music sheet on which to build my compositions with colour, texture and value. Like a guitarist riffing an instrumental to speak of experiences, emotions and longings, I feel I use my colours and marks to riff my thoughts and emotions and in that way communicate the many nuances of inspiration behind each of these beginnings.