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ESTHER VARELLA
Tell us a little about your background... where are you from ? I was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. I moved to Los Angeles when i was 17 years old to study abroad...with 3 years of general education under my belt, between psychology and arts i realized i wanted to study photography on a deeper level. I've always been fascinated by photography, but before making that decision i was afraid to take it seriously as a career. By 2001, i applied for Photography / Fine Arts at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Fortunately i got accepted and started my studies. Soon i realized i was completely overwhelmed with joy. I felt secure, and knew by then i would not only be a commercial photographer, but use photography to express my feelings undertaking fine arts as well. I finally got my degree in December, 2003 - BFA Photography and i've been working a lot since then.
What/who inspires you ? What would you say are your major influences ? A few of my favorite photographers are Nan Goldin, William Eggleston, Jeff Wall, Phillip-Lorca, Wolfgang Tillmans, Thomas Demand, Katharina Bosse, Uta Barth, Corrine Day, and Larry Sultan. I am sure they all influenced me somehow, but i felt expressing my own feelings without having them as a reference worked better after a while. What inspires me the most is my own life, and life around me. I find beauty in the strangest places...for example, if my heart is aching for whatever reason i go for a walk and find beauty in that by itself. Or suddenly i look around and there is this old lady walking really slow, or a beautiful girl drinking coffee by herself with sad eyes...strange, but when my heart is broken i see beauty around me.
How would you describe your photos for someone who's never seen them ? My most recent work is dark, melancholic, and sweet. A little disturbing at times, but most of all...delicate. It is also very quiet.
How do the public and the critics perceive your work ? I think is the balance between dark/sweet or disturbing/delicate that makes people enjoy it. The viewer doesn't leave feeling depressed. There is always a space for the viewer to fill in with their own feelings or ideas.
What is your view on the current art market and how do you see photography within this? Photography has always been "less" than painting or sculpture or drawing for the art market in my opinion. My opinion only. People enjoy looking at a photograph, but the fact anyone can actually take a photograph opposite of painting or drawing makes it as a more popular art form. I mean, it's an art form that is intended for or suited to the taste, understanding, or means of the general public rather than specialists or intellectuals. Photographing, like any other art form is not as easy as it seems...but it takes a lot for a photographer to conquer the art world, critics, buyers, etc. I could be wrong, but I believe it takes an extra effort and talent to do well as a fine art photographer than a painter.
What's the strangest request you've had ? Nothing shocking...recently i was asked to photograph in movie set for a porn movie.
Any final comments ? As of now i've been living and working between New York and São Paulo. I work commercially as a fashion/portrait photographer for such publications as Nylon, Dazed and Confused and Vogue. My art projects can be seen and bought at Florence Antonio Gallery www.florenceantonio.com a new virtual gallery that actually makes non-virtual expositions as well. Very exciting!
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