Jade Marra
Jade Marra was born in Cantagalo, Brazil, grew up in Barbacena and learned to paint in Belo Horizonte, where she studied visual arts. For about ten years she painted with only cadmium red, cadmium yellow, phthalo blue, titanium white and Payne's gray. Her palette is much wider today. Marra usually starts from a photograph or a memory from her everyday life. Based in São Paulo, she is represented by Amélie du Chalard in Paris, where she will show new work in spring 2027.
Q: You grew up in Cantagalo and now paint in São Paulo. How did you end up painting?
A: I was born in Cantagalo, grew up in Barbacena, and spent the beginning of my adult life in Belo Horizonte, where I learned to paint. I was never a child who showed an exceptional talent for drawing or painting, or who practiced it constantly. I was, however, always a very creative person, with a strong desire to express myself through whatever means I had in front of me.
I think this desire to express myself is what led me to an art university. I felt I needed to find a tool or a language that could somehow hold everything I wanted, felt, fantasized, imagined, or projected… things that words couldn't quite express.
Among all the different languages I encountered during those very fruitful years at university, I found painting, and recognized in it this broad and subjective possibility of expression.
Q: How do you build a composition?
A: I usually start from an image from my everyday life, either a photograph or something from my memory. Sometimes I also start from an image I imagined, or from a mixture of all these things.
Then I make a drawing, sometimes on paper, sometimes directly on the canvas. Looking at this drawing, I can begin to understand more or less which colors I want to use in the composition. Of course, as I paint, new ideas come up, some things are added and others are taken away.
I think you need some sensitivity to know when to stop in certain parts of the painting, so you can keep the energy and vigor of the first layers of the drawing. Lately, I've been trying to make my forms more and more synthetic, while allowing the lines of the drawing to remain visible.
Q: You've said different textures give each element its own presence. How do you work a surface?
A: I usually start with a canvas prepared in the color of the raw fabric, because when I use white, I like it to be a color within the painting.
As I paint, I try to keep different qualities of painting within the same work. Some areas have more details and layers, with thick, dense paint, or even oil stick. Others are painted alla prima, with a less evident brushstroke, or with the paint so diluted that I have to paint with the canvas lying flat so it doesn't run.
In this way, I create areas where one gives strength to the other precisely because of their dissonance. I think these contrasts create a complex composition that can still work harmoniously as a whole.
Q: What happens to a scene once you start painting it?
A: Once I start painting a scene, it usually stops being exactly the scene I started from. The image becomes a starting point rather than something I want to reproduce.
As I paint, I make decisions intuitively, and the image slowly changes. Some elements become clearer, others disappear, and sometimes something completely unexpected appears.
I like this moment when the painting starts to have its own logic and I feel completely immersed in the flow of painting. I think these are the moments when I've felt closest to having a religious experience.
Q: Color does a lot of the work in your compositions. How do you arrive at a palette?
A: I feel that color plays a very important role in my work, especially in organizing the composition and the spatiality of the painting.
For about ten years, I painted with a very reduced palette of five colors: cadmium red, cadmium yellow, phthalo blue, titanium white, and Payne's gray. It helped me develop a strong perception of tonal relationships and, over time, a very personal palette.
Today I start with many more colors, but that understanding of color is still very present in my work. I usually have an idea of the palette I want to use, but I make the exact colors as I paint, slowly feeling which ones need to be added so they can create a harmonious relationship with each other.
I like combining very saturated, pure colors with quieter areas, which make the saturated ones feel even stronger. In the end, I want the paintings to feel vibrant, dynamic, and joyful, and I think that comes mostly through color.
Q: You've shown in Brazil, France, and Germany, and did a residency in Provence. Where's the work heading for you?
A: At the moment, I'm working on a new group of paintings that I'll be showing in May 2027 at Amélie du Chalard, the gallery that represents me in Paris.
I'm very excited to show again in France, which is a place where my work has been very warmly received. I'm mainly focused on continuing to paint and to understand where the work can go from here and I'm curious to see how this new group of works will come together and what kind of conversation they will create.
