Cristina Troufa‘s paintings are spiritual, emotional, and psychological self-portraits. She uses simple lines and negative space in her compositions of a woman playing, fighting, questioning herself. Deliberately unrendered backgrounds contrast with the intricate details scattered here and there. The audience starts to ask questions to fill in the blanks: “What is she thinking about?” and “What is the moment that we’ve caught them in?”. The A Paixão tem um Fado (Passion has a destiny) series is so poetic, the unlit and used matchsticks allude to the inherent dangers of passion and our irresistible urge to follow them despite the possible ruin it may leave us in. In her pictures of women, there is no gorgeous hair, doll eyes or saccharine effects as she tries to capture “real life”. In this way her portraits are of every contemporary woman, capturing the nuances of frustration, elation, contemplation and emotional complexity in being human.
Cristina was born in Porto, Portugal. She holds a Masters in Painting from the School of Fine Arts of the University of Porto. She has exhibited throughout Portugal, in solo and group exhibitions since 1995, and internationally in Italy, Spain, France, Australia and Canada.
Desprezar Ouro e Diamantes #3 (Discard Gold and Diamonds #3)
A Paixão tem um Fado #3 (Passion has a destiny #3)
Hibernar (Hibernation)
Êxtase (Ecstasy)
Ghosts
Desprezar Ouro e Diamantes #1 (Discard Gold and Diamonds #1)
A Paixão tem um Fado #2 (Passion has a destiny #2)
Desprezar Ouro e Diamantes #2 (Discard Gold and Diamonds #2)
