Marisa Ferreira Explained

Marisa Ferreira (born 1983) is a Portuguese artist and beauty pageant titleholder who represented her country at Miss Universe 1999. Her works includes both public art and geometric art. Her work is held in several private and public collections in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, France, Portugal, and particularly Norway at the Stavanger Art Museum.^[1]

Life and career

Ferreira was born in Guimarães, in the north of Portugal, where she studied the visual arts the Francisco de Holanda secondary school. From 2002 to 2007, she studied art at the Universidade de Évora and from 2007 to 2008 art and design for public spaces at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Universidade do Porto. She has participated in various short courses and residencies including ones at the Universität der Künste Berlin and the Node Center for Curatorial Studies in Berlin.

She has exhibited regularly since 2005 in both solo and joint exhibitions in Europe, the United States, and Asia. Her first solo exhibition, Space+Form took place in 2010 at the Galleri Sult in Stavanger. She has lived in Oslo, Norway since 2008.^[2]

Artistic style

Ferreira's style is based on a rigid geometric forms and an idiosyncratic color palette often incorporating aluminum surfaces cut into strips.^[3] As curator Joakim Borda-Pedreira pointed out, "Marisa Ferreira makes us aware of our own subjectivity, since two people can see the same painting at the same time and have completely different experiences—where one sees blue, the other sees red."^[4]

Public art projects

• 2015: Rear window, art installation on the facade of the Oslo Central Station in Norway as part of the "Rom for kunst" (Room for Art) initiative^[5]
• 2013: Colour Visions, large scale painting for the main entrance of the oil platform Ekofisk 2/4L, ConocoPhillips;

Solo exhibitions

• 2016: Depth, Space and Colour, Gallerie Messmer, Germany
• 2015: Space, rhythm & movement,, Germany
• 2015: Space, rhythm & movement, Galleri Ask, Horten, Norway
• 2015: Space, rhythm & movement, Galleri Gann, Sandnes, Norway
• 2013: Colour on Colour, Galleri Pushwagner v/ Window Box, Oslo, Norway
• 2012: Colour + Space, Kunstplass -5, Oslo, Norway
• 2012: Colour + Form, Galleri Sult, Stavanger, Norway
• 2009: Two ways of thinking, Galleri F12, Stavanger, Norway

Awards and bursaries

• 2016: Bildende Kunstneres Vederlagsfond bursary, Norway
• 2015: Kulturrådet, Arts Council Norway bursary, Norway
• 2012: Bildende Kunstneres Vederlagsfond bursary, Norway
• 2011: Statens Kunstnerstipend bursary, Norway
• 2011: Special Jury Prize, IX Bienal de Pintura do Eixo Atlântico, Spain/Portugal
• 2006: 1º Prize, Cow Parade Lisbon – GuimarãeShopping, Portugal
• 2006: 1º Prize, Ceranor Competição Jovens Designers, Portugal
• 2005: Honorable Mention, Pintura, Salúquia às Artes, Moura, Portugal

Notes and References

1. Hilton, Natalie (18 June 2014). "Winning Artist Announced for Stavanger Art Project" . Stavanger News
2. [Público (Portugal)|Público]
3. Kurzbach, Gerlinde (20 May 2015). Kunsthalle Messmer -Ausstellung Marisa Ferreira" . RIB Magazine
4. Borda-Pedreira, Joakim, Exhibition text Constructions on Colour, Galleri BOA, Oslo, NO. 2014
5. Rom for kunst. Rear Window