Luiza Maia

Artist Statement:

My interest in past cultures led me to create the Nostalgia series, with the intent to showcase antique objects that bring back memories and also invite the viewer to think about times when things were done in a different manner.

Antique stores have been a familiar place to me ever since I was a costume designer in Brazil and used to dive in the hidden stories of dust covered garments. Now, as an artist, these stores are still where my creative process begins. My eyes look for objects that are meaningful to me, objects that I grew up around at my family’s home, or that are aesthetically pleasing.

These objects carry stories from the decades in which they were used. In order to represent the mood of those time periods in my paintings, I develop a background design for each of them inspired by patterns and colors that were popular in clothes and interiors during those moments.

The combination of realistic subjects with graphic backgrounds results in a modern pop look, used as an element to represent the encounter of the old and the new, while paying a tribute to embracing the past as well as the evolution of consumer goods.

Artist Bio:

Luiza Maia is a Brazilian artist currently based in San Francisco, where she received an MFA degree from the Academy of Art University. The artist’s taste for aesthetics dates back to her undergraduate education in fashion design in Rio de Janeiro, where she later worked as a costume designer for television shows. Luiza discovered her passion for fine arts when she spent the summer of 2017 in New York City studying at the School of Visual Arts and The Art Students League of New York, then moved to California the following year.

Over the last three years, Luiza has done private commissions and exhibited in group shows at Chloe Gallery, Ella Walton Richardson Gallery, San Francisco Women Artists, Studio Gallery, Arc Gallery & Studios, and at the Academy of Art Annual Spring Show. The emerging artist has already been featured in Vanity Fair UK, Southwest Art, Juxtapoz, and Artists Magazine. In the latest, she received the first-place award in the still life category of the 38th Annual Art Competition.