S.A : Hi Cristina, first of all, we would like know more about you. Tell us who is Cristina Troufa, tell us something about your life and your childhood in your country.
C.T: I was born in 1974 in Porto, Portugal. I was always very sensitive, this characteristic has made me a child a little introverted and introspective. This feature, made me suffer for things that the majority of children not affected the same way. I always liked a lot animals, and here in Portugal as the animals have never had any rights, this was a reason to be very depressed with some situations that I encountered. I think that is why most of my paintings have animals.
Nevertheless I can say that I have very good mood and I´m a quite optimistic person.
My childhood was normal, the children could play safely in the street in those days, so it was quite fun, because there were many children where I lived.
I remember that the purchasing power of most people was low because my country was still recovering from a revolution that ended the dictatorship in Portugal (1974, year of my birth).
I have a degree in painting at the Faculdade de Belas Artes do Porto. I have a studio in Porto where I give classes in painting and drawing, the rest of the time is to paint.

S.A : What is art for you?
C.T: Art is anything that leaves us in a contemplative way. Anything that leads us to reflect on various subjects by another prism. It is innovation without falling into excesses (where the only objective is to shocking without  no other purpose). It's beautiful (even if that beauty is so subjective), is creativity.

S.A: Have you always been interested in arts? When did you discover that art would be an important part of your life?
C.T: Since I know me that I´m interested in art. I grew up watching my mother painting. This will have had some influence. But I think that is something that is in the blood, I really do not see myself doing anything else. I have always fought hard to make a career in the arts, in Portugal is not easy. Has been the fight of my life. But I have won many battles.


S.A: How did you get started in the art world?
C.T: I think it was after finishing the Faculty of Fine Arts, when I started to exhibit in galleries.

S.A: Your artworks in meseon are paintings, Why do you choose painting as a means of expression?
C.T: Probably because my mother is also painter. If my mother was sculptor, I would probably be a sculptor. It´s always uncertain. I do not put aside the idea of exploring other forms of art but I love painting.

S.A: What concept would you like to show to your viewers?  What would you like say with your artworks?
C.T: My work is always looked upon the world of women in Portugal. This is because each country has its customs even though there is always some resemblances. I paint the popular wisdom of sayings, the conversations I heard as a child among women, the folklore, stories of my life and my family.
In most of my paintings I also paint animals because there is always an animal that represents certain situation or humam character in the folklore. The purpose of my job is to show how I see the mentality and customs of the Portuguese society.
I do not want to do a criticism but rather an exhibition. All the elements that appear in my paintings have always a meaning and a purpose.


S.A: How has society influenced your art? What are the social implications of your art?
C.T: My work is much influenced by what surrounds me, by what is near me, by my experiences, by my community. I like the idea of my paintings suggest topics or stories different from mine. I want that my work generates some discussion about its meaning.
Sometimes I do not like to explain why I paint certain work, because is so very personal, I prefer that each person will interpret its own way. Different elements suggest different situations to different people.

S.A: Discuss one of your pieces. What were you thinking when you created it?
C.T: My most recent whork talk of reincarnation. This topic always interested me. This work has a naked female figure because when we die we do not carry anything with us. She is rising  a wire that  binds us to our true home that awaits us with great joy, this explains the balloons. The title is "The Lesson" because the proposte when we were born again is to learn something new with the new life given. The little chimp is our constant growth with each new reincarnation.
The chimp is on top of a cross and he has a nail in his hand, because every new life that we have we add one more nail in our cross. These nails represent the lives that we had and the difficulties that we suffered to grow to a certain level. The angel represents the spiritual world to which we are all connected, our guardian angel.

S.A: What was your most important exhibition? Could you share that experience?
C.T: My first solo exhibition in a gallery in Lisbon was the most important to me. The critic was good, I sold all the work. I felt that from that moment my life was really changing for the better.


S.A: What are the most important artist that are influence in your life and your works? why?
C.T: Over the years I have had several artists who have influenced my work in different seasons and I learned a lot from them all. For example, Klint, Paula Rego, Júlio Pomar, Toulouse Lautrec, Egon Shiele. Today I learn some lessons with the painting of Francis Bacon and Gauguin. The compositions, the contrasts, the flat and bright paint, the exaggeration and simplification of forms.

S.A: What do you feel when you are finished a artwork?
C.T: I feel an immense relief, although love painting, each work is a struggle, especially in the end, because there is always the question is whether or not finished. I´m very critical about my work.

S.A: Do you have some challenge or goal which you are pursuing?
C.T: An international exhibition in a gallery.


S.A: Some quick questions:
Tell us an artist: Francis Bacon, I love his work since I saw an exhibition of it. It is amazing that he paints compositions so balanced in the midst of the confusion that was his studio.
Tell us a city: Porto, because it was where I was born. It has something mysterious with its narrow and old streets.
Tell us a dream: to make an international career in painting.

S.A: Could you tell us something about you are currently working?
C.T: I´m working on a painting for a collective exhibition. I decided to paint about the legacy of women, motherhood. It is a subject on which I have thought much in recent times.

S.A: Have you got some anecdote that you wish share with meseon community?
C.T: Chester Harding, while painting a portrait of Daniel Boone asked the great frontiersman if he had ever been lost. "No," said Boone, "I can't say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days."


S.A: For finish, why do you create art?
C.T: I was born to create art, I do not imagine being happier doing anything else.

Thanks a lot for your time Cristina. Has been a pleasure know more about you and your work.