Interview with Artist Andre Maia

We talked to Portuguese painter Andre Maia about his art life.

–Hi Andre. We would like to get to know you. Can you tell us about yourself?

I´ve born in 1990 and Ilive and work in Lisbon, Portugal. Since very early I became an independent artist with different perspectives of art in his general term.

I am not specialised in painting, everything I have learnt has been through my own initiative, trial and error and a lot of experimentation with mixing techniques.

I have been painting for more than 10 years and still feel that I have a long way to go to reach my best in terms of technique and accomplishment.

It is a constant learning and inspiration from other artists and the world itself.

I will be recognised as an artist of expression.

–When and how did you start painting?

I finally found my soul in the oil and acrylic technique on canvas, With courses in Technical / Artistic drawing at the University Arts of London, graduated in Visual Arts but also connected to the world of Product Design, where he completed the specialization course at the Lisbon School of Design, the goal is to continue to have more training and learning.

–Can you tell us about your work and, what inspires you when painting?

My greatest passion is to capture the perfect ´expression´ through the tones, colors and highlights. The colors, rhythms, movements and the very energy of the photos taken connect with my painting, especially Africa.

Where everything is warmer, lived, experienced and happy,

I love to portray happiness and simplicity.

From 2014 to today, a total of 3 exhibitions of his work, in different techniques, have been held in places like Evidencia Belverde (Seixal), LX Factory (Lisbon), Vila Nova de MIlfontes (Alentejo) . The fourth exhibition was at the international level, at the International Contemporary Art Fair in Luxembourg in 2020.

–What do you do besides painting?

I work in Sales, I’ve actually worked in sales all my life, of different kinds but as I love communication that’s where I’ve stuck with it.

Possibly my future will be a combination of art, teaching and sales.

I also volunteer whenever possible to promote art to disadvantaged children and spend time with them painting and showing them how magical the results can be.

–Do you have any projects that you plan to realize?

Yes, definitely! to give lessons to all kind of people who want to learn more about art, culture, to promote how important and pedagogical it is as well as psychological.

My mission is to pass on that message and to appeal every day to creativity in whatever form.

It is an activity, painting, that unfortunately in my country, Portugal, is not very requested nor sought after.

It is time to do it.