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LEZIMA GOMES
DOHA
Looking at the work of Cristina Albaker, a Portuguese artist, even an uninitiated onlooker is able to appreciate it, for it reflects her contact with nature and environment and everyday objects. Her recent exhibition titled Mystical Art Awakening conveyed that contact, also her cultural roots, clearly.
In her paintings, Albaker lays emphasis on detail and subject through her strokes and colours, while she tries to create the illusion of reality or something that is beyond the human eye."My artworks have a combination of spiritual emotions as well as the environment, the confusion of time organic and inorganic magical places interpreted by me unhindered by any human presence. My artworks propose a new perspective of landscape and some understanding of psychoanalysis. The observers can understand my paintings with their own emotions but one needs to have a deeper and wider sense of time. There is an endless source of radiant energy inside the speechless beauty of nature all around us," said Albaker.
Having grown up in Lisbon, she said she was lucky to have enjoyed immensely, different forms of art. She said"I use to do drawings, photography, collages, sewing, printing, etc, etc. Both my grandmothers were very artistic in their own way. One of them was a natural artist, gifted with enormous creativity in particular reciting poems and also with other artistic skills! The other one loved acting and producing theatrical pieces. They were both very creative beings. So I guess that there is already a predisposition towards art in my family.
"As a teenager and during my exploration through art, I developed an interest in photography. I pursued and developed my inspirations until I did my first individual exhibition in 2005 after finishing my photography degree in IADE, Lisbon. Then I participated in various art courses until I started oil painting in a small group at the atelier of the well known Portuguese artist, Gustavo Fernandes."
Albaker moved to Doha 10 years ago. She said that her travels to different countries have deepened her taste for nature's visual details and symbology."This collection of art works is the result of all that introspection and observation between all these places and experiences I have had," she said.
Speaking about what inspires her, she said,"The colours, the textures, the simple elements of nature, and above all, my inner disposition or state of mind."
Reminiscing what triggered her to take up painting, she said,"It all started in Lisbon, under that amazing palette of colours, the wonderful patterns of our tiles and so many other inspirational natural sites that I began to express my creativity mainly through photography. I remember taking a picture of my sister and cousin when they were still children, against the backdrop of the sun. The rich colours of the sunset and the two little children blended with the landscape remain in my memory until today! That was when I got attached to reproduce beautiful images like that one in various ways."
Albaker dedicates nearly four to five hours each day to her work, and said that she loves to work with oil paint and various colours. She said that she is still developing her style but would like to explore hyperrealism which is a genre of painting and sculpture resembling a high-resolution photograph.
Describing what art means to her, she said,"Art is an extension of my thoughts, ideas, dreams, ideals, etc. It's another window of perceiving our world. It's an essential part of my world."
Speaking about the art scene in Qatar, Albaker said,"It has improved in the last few years. There are good artists in Qatar and I think it can improve in the coming years. The existing museums are beautiful to promote art in general."
Albaker is planning exhibitions in Japan, Portugal and the UK as of now and hopes to continue painting. Advice to budding artists?"Work hard towards what you want and pursue your inspirations," she said.
