Liz Ross Photograph

Biography - Paula Portella Mótono was born in São Paulo-Brazil on December 4th, 1981. She began her studies in fine arts at 10 years old, at the Academia Brasileira de Arte (Brazilian Academy of Art). At 14 she began her studies in music and took lessons of singing, guitar, piano, harmonica, music history and choral, at Souza Lima and Jam Escola de Música (Jam Music School) conservatories. With a degree in Tourism and Marketing, the multi-artist gave up everything to devote to what she liked the most, and now divides her time between the stage and the fine arts. In 2010 Paula released her first CD with her own compositions, titled Ciclos Infinitos (Infinite Cycles), moving freely between blues, funk and pop genres with influences of Brazilian music. The album, with musical production signed by Guilherme Chiappetta, also boasts the participation of renowned guitarist Nuno Mindelis. In 2011 she returned to her studies in Fine Arts at the Brazilian Academy of Art in Sao Paulo and in 2014 she devoted herself into artistic specializations at the University of the Arts London, England. In 2015 the artist joined The Art Book Brazil, published by Decorbooks, as an invited artist to join the work along with 29 other artists. This book represents 30 Brazilian contemporary artists and it was released in Miami during the Art Basel 2015 fair, by Artefacto and Galerie Brésil brands. Always active in the fine arts and music, Paula merged these two passions in her last series of fine arts, Black Power Divas and Feaseble Utopian. Series: Black Power Divas - The tuned art of Paula Portella [text by Vanessa de Paula, journalist] - Who already knew the music of the Brazilian singer Paula Portella, can now see how she expresses herself off stage. The artist created the series Black Power Divas, composed of panels named after a mixture of the most famous international and Brazilian voices of black music. With vibrant color combinations, the screens are as strong and expressive as the songs interpreted by the divas of samba, soul, jazz, blues and other rhythms of black origin. Paula has developed her own style through an unusual technique. Besides her brush strokes and other techniques she produces the image shapes using polymer clay. The works are photographed and reproduced in Giclée, using larger scales, thus highlighting the textures.