Artist Snapshot: Marcelo Daldoce

Exploring the mind and habits of an artist in twenty-five questions.

Marcelo Daldoce interview
Marcelo Daldoce in his studio, 2022

At what age did you decide to become an artist?

My path was different, so it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact age I decided to become an artist. Growing up in a poor neighborhood in Brazil, I lacked artistic ambition and thought I needed a job. When I was thirteen, I worked in a grocery store, and the owner liked my doodles. He asked me to draw vegetables and write their prices. That’s when I naively thought I had a skill to make money, and I focused on that. For twelve years, I was an advertising illustrator. Then, when I was thirty, I quit everything, moved to America, and started focusing on my artistic development. I guess that’s the age I decided to become an artist.

How did your parents react when you told them you wanted to be an artist?

They had a humble background and never understood what I did. For my parents, it was OK if I could support myself, and I’ve been doing that ever since.

Who are your favorite artists?

Sargent is my favorite painter. Dürer, Goya, Caspar David Friedrich, and Van Gogh are my favorite artists.

Who is your favorite artist whose work is unlike your own?

Giuseppe Penone.

Art book you cannot live without?

Right now, Philip Guston by Robert Storr. Every time I buy a new book, I cannot live without it until the next purchase.

What is the quality you most admire in an artist?

Sacrifice—career, family, comfort, style, etc.

Do you keep a sketchbook?

Yes, always, my wallet is a sketchbook.

What’s your favorite museum in all the world?

The Met. Besides the fantastic collection of Western art, the always empty Asian wing is a treat. I have been lucky to see Sargent’s watercolors at the American Wing when I teach. Sargent made his most radical and experimental works in watercolor.

What’s the best exhibition you have ever attended?

Cézanne Drawing at MoMA. The exhibition opened with a quote: “Best known as a painter, Paul Cézanne produced some of his most radically original works on paper.” Indeed, Cézanne’s fragmentations were made possible by immediate media, pencil and watercolor.

If you were not an artist, what would you be?

A cook.

Did you have an artistic cohort that influenced your early creative development?

Painting watercolor was an early passion in my development and helped me escape from advertising. But, there’s no watercolor movement, only watercolor artists.

What is one thing you didn’t learn in art school that you wish you had?

I wish I had learned how important it is to set rules for yourself. To the false idea that you can do everything, I say, No, you can’t. Giorgio Morandi didn’t paint lush roses.

What work of art have you looked at most and why?

A small watercolor landscape from 1495 by Dürer, the first watercolorist, called Landscape near Segonzano in the Cembra Valley. During his trips to Italy, Dürer painted topographical plein-air works, and this particular painting depicts an abstract and expressive unfinished foreground against a small, representational, and tight finished background. I might say that it is the first work of art with figurative and abstract tension. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen this work in person. Hopefully, I will see it one day.

What is your secret visual pleasure outside of art?

A lovely well-presented meal.

Do you listen to music in your studio?

I always have noise in the studio, primarily instrumental music, when I concentrate. Music with lyrics or the news is good when doing something repetitive.

What is the last gallery you visited?

Mendes Wood in Tribeca where I saw the endearing flattened landscape paintings by Patricia Leite.

Who is an underrated artist people should be looking at?

The Canadian painter Franklin Carmichael. He is part of the Group of Seven, artists inspired by the Canadian landscape. Carmichael is responsible for the revival of watercolor, employed not for topographical rendering but rather as an interpretation of spatial form and mood. Even Peter Doig references him in his work.

What art materials can you not live without?

Pencil and paper.

Do you paint/sculpt/create art every day?

I’m in the studio daily—which is most important for me—but not always painting. I also teach via Zoom. Sometimes I just read a book, etc, etc. I’m fine as long I’m in the studio.

What is the longest time you went without creating art?

Maybe six months in 2013.

What do you do when you are feeling uninspired?

I mop the studio floor.

What are the questions that drive your work?

Death and life are the main questions these days. Last year I lost my father, and my daughter was born two days after.

What is the most important quality in an artist?

To pay attention.

What is something you haven’t yet achieved in art?

I haven’t yet finished an artwork that satisfies me completely. Everything else that I want to achieve will come when the work is solid.

What is the best thing about art in the era of social media?

Even though it’s tricky to navigate between lousy art and advertising, you can discover new artists, and I’m happy some are making a living from these new platforms.


MARCELO DALDOCE (Marcelo Daldoce and Watermelon Studio) is an instructor at the Art Students League of New York who teaches an online class, The Figure in Watercolor. Marcelo Daldoce interview

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