Who are you?
My name is João Salazar, I’m 29 years old and I’m from Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul, the last state in the extreme south of Brazil. I have a degree in Visual Arts since 2016 and I also work as an illustrator and songwriter.
When did you start making art?
Since I was little I received many influences from the artistic environment, my father is a musician, and I have an aunt who is a theater actress and another visual artist like me, being inserted in the cultural environment from an early age probably shaped my concerns about the world and the way to expose them. Perhaps the artistic thinking came when I started to reflect on some action of mine related to this field, in my case, I became interested in graffiti around the age of 15, in the public school where I studied it was the predominant artistic language, maybe at this point I “began to make art” because there was a reflection from my reading of the world and my experiences.
How did you first get into the Tezos art scene?
A friend and also artist, Yule Aurêh (@yuleaureh), introduced me to hic et nunc showed me the first steps, I am eternally grateful to him for that.
What would you call your style?
I consider myself a contemporary artist, at this point it doesn’t matter what technique or language I’m using, I usually start from reflections on the current world or situations of my particular daily life.
What is your creative process?
my creative process is a bit chaotic, because I use many different techniques and I really like experimentation. I had to control that a little bit and start focusing my efforts on series, which is great to have control and aesthetic depth. I’m currently trying to manage the time between physical and digital arts, but I’m still trying to find a balance.
You often use plasticine in your works. What made you choose this as a medium?
Plasticine was my favorite toy when I was a child, it was a joy to find this material again and think of it as an element for more “serious” productions. I have rediscovered the qualities of the material, super playful, malleable, plastic, my current research is in the use of modeling clay in the pictorial field, because I think the characteristics of the material fit a lot in this universe, the idea of modeling a painting interests me a lot.
“Beautiful ending” is your most recent work on FxHash. How did this project come to be?
One of the things that modeling clay brought me, due to its characteristics, is the ironic component of using an extremely playful material to deal with sometimes dense subjects. I have been developing a series called A Beautiful Tropical Apocalipse, the work A Beautiful Ending is an extension of the previous one taken to the field of illustration, where I ironically explore the probable path that we are walking as humanity, it is not an ecological sermon, but a “choose which are your favorite disasters”. The only thing left is irony and sarcasm with people who still don’t understand what we’re doing to the planet.
Do you have any works on Tezos that stand out as your favorite?
I recently did a series called The Kingdoms for OBJKT. It is a work that I really enjoyed. And at the moment I’m very attached to the Inside series that I’m releasing on Versum.
What advice would you give to other artists?
Above all, I would like every new artist to be as patient and calm as their needs allow, focus on their art but also pay attention to how the market works, everything happens very quickly in this environment and it is necessary to control anxiety sometimes. I made some mistakes in the beginning because I didn’t understand very well how things worked, so another good idea is to look for artists who have been doing this for a longer time and exchange some ideas.
What do you have planned for 2022?
I’m organizing my first solo exhibition, which is a great challenge as an artist for this year. But I intend to continue my production for all platforms I’ve been working on and we will also have several news for Yo0oNGZ, my PFP project in partnership with Nícolas Alexandrini.
Is there anyone you want to shoutout?
First a great artist and one of my biggest supporters, Rose Jackson @in_cloudlands and also my friend Santiago @neymrqz who has an amazing work.
Anything else?
I really want to thank the entire Brazilian community and all the collectors who support my work.