Criticas

Nancy Pimenta Alves's work expresses different formal, conceptual and aesthetic registers. A subtle balance between figurative and abstract is transmitted in the most diverse formats, materials and mediums, proving the well oiled technique of their author, formed by years creating and teaching.

The frank, naturalist figure is evident in her early work. Most of these are self portraits in which Torre expresses attitudes and moods with striking gestures. The intimate character, the use of light and shade and the palette dominated by ochre tones remind us of certain masters of classical painting, such as Rembrandt, although the strong feminine presence brings Raquel Forner to mind, the Argentinean artist who emphasized the woman's place in social and art history. In her later works, the figures become more distinct; drawing begins to dominate and features take on a hyper-realist character.

In many cases, faces find their counterpoint in objects and images elevated to the category of symbols. Keys, brushes, children's drawings or emblematic characters (such as Quino's Mafalda) establish a visual dialogue with the artist, in which at times the tension can be felt. On other occasions definite symbols appear, such as the elephant which translates into qualities of more psychological overtones. These are resources that allow the author to construct an interaction between the inside and the outside world, between what can be seen and what is projected beyond the canvas, between the evident and the latent.

Subsequently, this dialogue finds new, formal resolutions. The backgrounds of the paintings become more abstract and the expressive strength is transferred from the faces to the surroundings. Now the counterpoint is not concentrated on figures but is established between them and the atmospheres gain distinctive properties, between gestural and allegorical. The interaction is much more disperse, but it doesn't disappear. It's not about the normal relationship between figure and background, but a visual situation in which a kind of expectation is formed, whose resolution depends principally on the spectator.

A new step towards the abstract increases this activity. The feminine figure is disappearing and the construction of a sense that overcomes recognizable images becomes ever more decisive. Drips, stains, energetic lines, grids that multiply on a pictorial surface form a visual, all-purpose universe, dynamic and uncontainable, that opens up to intuition and spontaneity. The chromatic configuration undergoes a similar mutation: yellows, pinks, reds, light blues, fluorescent colors and those intense colors that sometimes are seen behind large, dark extensions that produce optical vibrations.

The impact is prolonged in large formats. However, it is not about a ticket to pure expression but the exploration of new paths in which the concepts and tensions don't disappear. Letters and secret numbers start to populate the canvases, reactivating their enigmatic character and introducing inevitable conflicts. With these resources, added to those already consolidated, the work of Nancy Pimenta Alves takes on promising impulse, and the results are yet to be untangled.

---

I absolutely believe that an artist doesn't choose to be, rather, he undertakes a task that has chosen him. Understood in this way, as a way of life, as a path and destiny that is formed each day, this difficult task becomes imperative. The artist doesn't choose to be born as an artist, he doesn't choose to create art; art transcends him. There are those who practice constantly in order to achieve that status as an artist that seems to be so socially important. And then there are those who belong to a group that has learnt to balance both ideas and make a true creative powerhouse of their art. They are not deceived by what inconsistent and sporadic inspiration dictates, and don't work for hours trying to get water out of a stone. There are artists who know what they're capable of, but who also decide to make an empire of that.

Nancy Pimenta Alves is a worker of technique, of trial and error, and is on a permanent and insatiable quest to perfect the look, palette and brush stroke that bring reality to life; to our reality. With a well-trained eye, years of working with hyperrealism and a tremendous sensitivity to express it, Nancy's work demonstrates the polished knowledge of skill, which is applied in many paintings along with with the subtle abstraction that separates photographic figures from a recognizable space to place them in fantastic scenes. Expressive faces, feelings and passions are transmitted in each of her paintings that above all speak of a "workshop worker", the kind of person who has spent endless hours polishing their work, giving it the perfect finish, and learning as they paint. And as a good worker, Nancy creates and creates and creates, and when she's not creating, she teaches, exhibits, and if she has a few hours to spare, she carries on creating. Painting and painting… learning and teaching… an artist who knows how to combine talent and hard work to perfection.

She is captivatingly charismatic, a talent that's not often found nowadays when hyperrealism seems to be behind the times, her sincerity and total commitment to her technique, which she feels is something so personal and representative that she defends it when questioned because she truly believes in herself as an artist. Nancy Pimenta Alves forges her path with a low profile, blind trust in her work and the willpower to get up every morning to work hard on the task that chose her and that she honors every single moment.

---

The new series of paintings by Nancy Pimenta Alves, which are presented in ARTECLASICA11, show a deep shift in her career as an artist, whilst at the same time sustain certain essential characteristics of her restless personality. Multifaceted and determined, Torre has many times gone down the path of classical figuration as well as configuration, and although she has always worked from a strongly rational and structured space, the product of tireless research and theoretical investigation, Nancy Pimenta Alves has managed to merge the academic with lifelike visual situations of a purely emotional nature.

The paintings that form part of the artist's new vision offer the best of her academic technique as far as the presentation of the human figure is concerned, while at the same time are opened up in heartfelt textured images of deep lyricism. The formal aspect of her new work is fed by a version of conceptual content that Nancy Pimenta Alves has decided to incorporate with no looking back. Through the inclusion of contradictory elements and images that come from other realities as a part of a visual language, the artist speaks to us of the modern woman's world, her concerns, fears, her inclusion in our social reality. The critical aspect of Nancy Pimenta Alves's painting is found in the branch of art known as new figuration or neorealism where the artist's technical virtues are empowered in a conceptual framework that's previously decided upon and demonstrates that technical classicism can also coexist quite happily with our contemporary art.

Visual mimicry, as Adorno would say, is redundant next to the infinitely more effective method that the photographic camera has to offer and it is then that metaphor and contradiction of resources that rescue and revert the checkmate situation of the more classical art techniques. Seriousness as we know it makes room for something even deeper and that ironically depends on the less serious aspects of our human condition. To quote Adorno once more, "the constellation animal/fool/clown is a fundamental layer of art." Nancy Pimenta Alves understands this and she demonstrates it in her new production.

---

When an artist merges the figurative with the abstract, he will surely lead the way…
When an artist expresses himself with heart and mind, he will surely transcend the times and set a trend…
When all of this comes together in one artist, we will surely be face to face with the work of Nancy Pimenta Alves.

Nancy paints with much more than her soul; all of her impulses seem to be influenced by her capacity and her desire for her work to be not just impeccable, but to make an impact and be unforgettable.
Each one of her figures is placed with great precision, and seems like a fleeting journey: something that has concerned her from the past, or that she hopes for from the future, or that shapes the present, is placed with resounding effectiveness. Expressions that belong to a fantasy world and nostalgic dreams, traces that are related to the transcendental and idealized are found in exactly the right place. They feel like plans or memories or something that's part of her life and that tell of her social commitment. The use of space together with time makes her self-portraits so lifelike.
Her work presents living aspects and instinctive aspects, unavoidable aspects that seem like needs hoping to be fulfilled.
And it is all there, in the correct place, following the lines of a graphical territory that creates the effect of a painting that dominates because of its forcefulness and skill and that she goes over as though it were an intersubjective map.
In all of her work, Nancy includes everything that she loves, that concerns her, that she wants, that afflicts her and that she longs for.
She transcends borders and wants more, she accesses cultural values and empathizes with them. And she travels in time. She takes routes and arrives at destinations where she settles in, with her characters and the overpowering force of her subject matter.
She chooses to reproduce what makes an impact because of its force, nobility, memory and simplicity. She doesn't scrimp on style, effort or technique to achieve it. She goes beyond the beauty of what's real and makes it magnificent.
Her work is overpowering, because it provokes visceral emotions, it uses sensitivities that are transmitted in rough and deep textures with material that makes a mark on every feeling, almost like a stamp. Maybe this occurs because Nancy feels powerfully and then thinks and evaluates, and then acts on the feeling. She calibrates and accommodates adaptively, generating well-being and warmth around her. She allows her tenderness to be expressed and expand like an open fan. She knows what her loves and passions are, and she transmits them.
Nancy doesn't give in to her fears or sorrows. She knows them and connects with them because they fuel some of her productions and she works wonders with each one of her feelings, because she can recognize how important they are and how much she needs love to give and receive and believe in what she loves.
This balance between thinking and feeling, between the abstract and figurative give a distinct stamp to her work. It allows her to embrace a wider spectrum of possibilities and shades, where sensitivity and reflection go together and almost seem to create an art philosophy.
The use of color in her work provides the necessary ingredient to channel her emotions: the impulsive strength of the warm tones, the nostalgia of the grays, the balance of the neutral tones, all of these accompany meticulous forms and abstract lines that join together to express a certain personal richness.
It is when an artist feels and knows to create something so impeccable from it, that their work is valued for the effort it takes and also for the subjective commitment that comes into play in each brush stroke.
Her work is complex and complete; her effort encompasses all possible perspectives: it is demonstrated in firm lines, angles and curves, where definite and categorical passions are found alongside femininity and warmth that characterize her. The strength of her lines, the use of color, movement on canvas, texture so faithfully recreated, light and shade in just the right place that honor and create believable features and testimonies that bring energy and sensitivity. Nancy has found the right balance, where she can keep part of herself private, guaranteeing a place in her private life that surely, together with her art, means that she can find new paths to fulfillment.
Nancy exposes her most beautiful artistic expression with the humility that characterizes the great, and part of her internal world is exposed in each detail, movement and in the rhythm of her work. Her paintings exist to be more than looked at… and sometimes they move us in such a way that we feel included in their world that has been so wonderfully recreated.
Nancy approaches her task with conviction, and accesses places where she feels secure and from there she navigates its canvases, discovering and colonizing territories that few have discovered or dare to travel across. She reinvents herself with each new project.
Nancy arrives and leaves again, and she continues to create, and add more and more. It's a journey where the horizon constantly expands and where she gives irrefutable testimony of her unmatchable originality.
Thank you Nancy, for captivating us on this fantastic journey of your creation, and for always having a place to generously share with those who are passionate about Art.