We are joined, from the other side of the world, by Argentinian-based Powerpaola, a talented nomadic artist who combines sketches with photography. Sit back, relax, and let her take you on a journey through South America.
I’m Powerpaola. I’m a nomad. I love to draw and walk, and I love Latin America.
I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I love this city, it’s so alive. There is always something to do. It’s a great mix of European and Latin American culture. You can walk everywhere or take a 24 hour bondi (bus). It’s so alive at night, it’s wonderful! I have great friends here and the “comic culture” is gorgeous.
I was born in Quito, Ecuador, but my family is from Colombia and now I live in Argentina. I studied Visual Arts in Medellin, Colombia, and then I won a residency program at La Cité Internationale in Paris for two years. After that I lived in Sydney studying Bookbinding and Lithography at COFA.
I love dialogues with people and I love to make connections about my life with art.
Everything in my work, in a way, is autobiographical.
I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, but in terms of art, I started consciously painting and drawing in 2000.
During an exhibition I had at FirstDraft Gallery in Sydney, I met a guy who said my work was “Post-Naïve-Social-Expressionist-Latin” art. And I love it.
I love to mix different materials and that depends on what project I’m working on. I love to use cheap materials, such as Bic pens, pencils and newspapers. Sometimes I use oil, acrylics, Gouaches, watercolor, coffee, etc. Most of my work is in sketchbooks.
I run two workshops per year – one at Roseti (Buenos Aires) about Travel Sketchbooks (where we imagine we are travelling around Buenos Aires and sketch all the places we visit) and another at Punc about Autobiographical comics.
I am happiest doing my work anywhere. The problem is not space, but time. I love spending all day working without anxiety or concerns about daily things like doing groceries, paying bills, going to therapy, etc.
Drawing is a lonely action so sometimes we need to talk to other people. We found a great way to see each other and work at the same time. It’s like working and partying.
Ever since I was a teenager, I have been taking pictures, but I never saw myself as a proper photographer.
When I started doing comics, I took photographs as a reference of streets, buildings, graffiti, stores, and people, in order to draw them in my stories.
At some stage, I started to develop a dialogue with my sketchbook and the landscape.
Then, thanks to Instagram, I started to show my pictures, or my obsessions with abandoned cars or things I saw on the streets, that were interesting to me.
My inspiration is life itself. My own dramas. Conversations with friends. The city. Books I read. Music. Other artists. My own mistakes. Absurdities. Travels. And people.
Wander with Paola on Twitter, Instagram and Flickr. You can also check out her comics here and on Tumblr. As if that’s not enough, Paola is also working on an animation movie about her book Virus Tropical. She also runs a collective “chicks on comics” group here and on Tumblr. Another one of her projects with Pablo Besse ‘No tan Parecidos’ can be viewed here.
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