"dini" Collage

From observation of imagery in contemporary design; consumer society and fashion world I started a series of collages. By appropriating and manipulating images derived from glossy magazines and their super models I transform the copy (reproduction) created by the media into art of collages/into short videos using various materials as support. It is a figurative and surrealistic concept for which I select; modify; copy; enlarge; repeat; alter; make-up and transform all those images to bring out humor and banality. I explore the relation between emptiness and ecstasy by constructing and deconstructing the images to take them to their own limits. It is an attempt to interpret; to conceptualize and to visualize the illusory imaginary and manipulative character of the way society and media present things including women. From this viewpoint I display disconnected female figures; in pieces; divided in parts; in a perspective that is ironically transformed to represent an attitude towards women. Recently in a metamorphose phase insects started to appear into my collages. I considered this invasion of insects on the canvas as nasty; brutal and estrange like the feminine characters I use in my work. Their alienated bodies; space and attitude connected and build up a new series of collages. Previously working with the art of collage, Maria de Fatima Lamounier has now taken up painting, developing a new narrative. One year ago she started to experiment by painting with the typical red soil from her birthplace in Minas Gerais -Brazil, together with acrylic and charcoal. The paintings mostly consist of many hidden layers. In these compositions, the traditional boundary between lyrical abstraction and everyday figuration is challenged. The pictorial space is inhabited by circular shapes, mysterious signs, words, natural motifs and architecture. Figures and spectres coexist on the canvas in a group narrative. The 'G' is one of the signs which often returns in her work, as a symbol teeming with mystery. The works conceal various meanings and influences. Some give us a dystopian feeling, an anxiety towards our future society and inner feelings. Some of the paintings become like blackboards with their scribblings or graffiti we could find in public toilets. At the same time they call to mind the paleolithic, mythical ancient cave drawings and surreal influences.