Main artist: Ana Tristany

Written by Ana Tristany

Thursday, 01 October 2009 00:00

Ana Tristany

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Janela de Otoño I by Ana Tristany

What is Art?
Creativity and imagination are two of the most powerful characteristics of the human being. They took us from the cave to the Moon, and are in the genesis of all human achievements, of which Art is the most noble.
Art is often considered completely dispensable and superfluous by the more prosaic, but is intrinsically indispensable in our lives. Everything surrounding us is subject to aesthetical choices: either our own or those made by others. These choices can be conscious or unconscious but are a fundamental part of our lives. Life without Art would taste like a cake that is not sweet, would be like seeing in black and white. Art is probably the greatest gift of human kind, the cherry on the top of the cake.
For most artists painting is not peaceful or calm. Its tense and intense, it’s a war where the winner takes it all. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, sometimes we excel, sometimes we despair – there is no midterm. Each project has its own life, with beginning, middle and ending. The artist fights and suffers for it, but when the project is finished, it somehow dies in the artist’s heart. The work of Art then acquires its own identity, and should leave to find its place in the world.
What to paint was never the real question for me. We have the all world at our fingertips and inspiration comes from everywhere inside and outside us. The real challenge is how to paint, how to convey what we want to express. As a sculpture I was never satisfied with the classic pallet and brushes work. Therefore, the only restriction I impose to myself is the canvas, maybe for fear of falling too obvious in three dimensionality. Otherwise, everything is possible. Nothing makes me fell more free than constantly exploring new ways of

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Janela de Otoño II by

Ana Tristany

painting. This is probably the reason why I don’t fell the need to be more homogeneous in the subjects of my painting, although the appeal of Nature can be seen in most of my work. The most obvious unifying line of my painting is the use of steered drip, which gives me the freedom and physical intensity of drip, as initially explored by Pollock, while allowing enough control over the materials to express myself. Freedom and control are the tools of my quest in Art. What do I seek in this quest? In the words of Emily Carr (1871-1945), “Art is not (…) done for a reason and explained away by this or that motive. It’s a climbing and a striving for something always beyond”.

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Biography
www.anatristany.com
Born in Lisbon, Portugal (1966), Ana Tristany graduated in Fine Arts (1989) and specialized in Sculpture (1992) by the School of Fine Arts (University of Lisbon), worked in stone sculpture and medals being awarded several prizes. She has co-founder of an advertising agency and later worked as a creative in a multinational advertising company. Ana Tristany has been teaching arts for the last

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Jalea de Otoño III by Ana Tristany

17 years having developed many pedagogical art projects for children and adults.
After some years living in Canada, Ana Tristany developed a new interest in painting, especially in the works of Jackson Pollock and Morris Louis, who first used the technique of “drip”. Subsequently she developed a related technique, “steered drip”, which brings to her painting something of her initial sculptor formation.
In 2009 she was awarded the prize of “Revelation in Painting” by MAC – Movimento Arte Contemporânea (Contemporary Art Movement) for her individual exhibition “À Chuva, ao Sol e ao Vento” (“Under the Rain, the Sun and the Wind”).