Gusta Proença, originally from Ponta Grossa/PR and with roots in the Recôncavo Baiano region, is a multidisciplinary artist who works between Music and Visual Arts. With a degree in Music from UNESPAR and a postgraduate degree in Musical Production and Arrangement, he is self-taught in the visual arts. In his abstract works, he uses free strokes, sinuous curves, vibrant colors and ancestral textures to explore Brazilian ethnocultural syncretism and the intersections between the micro and macro in life. Co-founder of the AURA collective, he held the exhibition “Em Cores” at the Casa de Cultura SoMovimento, in Salvador, where he also works as an art educator at the Arts Training Center of the Cultural Foundation of the State of Bahia. His creations promote a dialogue between drawing, video art and soundtracks, connecting the real and the abstract to offer a hybrid vision of everyday life and its infinite possibilities.
How did your journey into the art world begin?
Since my childhood, I have always been in contact with artistic languages, both in the Visual Arts and in Music and Literature. My artistic journey developed and was consolidated through music. I seek to bring languages closer together by finding a transversality in them. Amid the confinement of the pandemic, I began to experiment with drawing forms and techniques that brought me to this moment.
What themes do you prefer to explore in your works?
The becoming of lines between their connection points, the sinuosity and beauty discovered in imperfection. The poignant fulfillment of pure colors and organic textures. In my art, I explore the fluidity of existence, suggesting movement, transience and the dynamic interaction between forms and meanings.
What is your creative process like?
I research, within my daily life, the boundaries between fluid forms, the continuity between filling and emptiness. I select the vibration of each color, what their relationship is with the lines I have in mind.
What materials and techniques do you use most often?
Felt-tip pens, some metallic, pastel chalk and Indian ink on textured paper; own photographs and videos, often digitally modified.
What is the meaning of art in your life?
Art is the best part of being human. It is what dignifies me and it is through it that I create a bridge with society and universal energy. Making art is what motivates me every day. I seek to recognize that each challenge is food for my artistic work and that both the process and the result can be a vehicle for transformation and questioning of existence.
What is the role of the artist in today's society?
In my opinion, the role of the artist is to deliver art that moves and disturbs, towards a consciousness that breaks all prejudice and selfishness.
