Amanda Arruda

Photograph courtesy of Hugh Fanning of The New Bedford Light

2022 Senior Exhibition Artists

Amanda Arruda

Art + Design: Painting

About Amanda Arruda

Amanda Arruda is a Painting Major pursuing a BFA at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Her work explores the relationship between figures and the spaces they occupy, specifically focusing on themes of interior and interior experiences of individuality in relation to an expansive world. She is the recipient of the McGowen, Stephen Donald Scholarship for the Arts, the Canto, Frances A. Art Scholarship and the Myerson, David & Alfrede Scholarship for the Arts.

Statement

In an overwhelmingly uncertain world, the walls we build around ourselves have become havens. They stretch down pathless hallways, quietly perceptive to the passing of time. They are stoic structures that shelter our bodies, our thoughts, and our memories. A quiet room has the uncanny ability to allow one to curl into themselves; to enter a world of inner thought and reflection. Our inner experiences are rich, but, like a room with a closed door, our thoughts and reveries are naturally internalized. It is my instinct that, “…we must also give an exterior destiny to the interior being (Bachelard, 32).”

My work expresses the inner experience of an individual, the essence of memory, and passing of time through the development of space. Windows are visual and metaphorical thresholds, allowing the external world to shine through, illuminating even the deepest corners of an interior space. From a sheltered vantage point, an inner being can peer out into a surrounding expanse. There is a striking contrast between an exterior experience of the world and an interior one; of a life lived loudly, and of one lived softly. And so, the representation of space becomes psychological rather than literal.

Painting perceptually allows me to capture the subtle shifts in the exterior light, weather, and season; allowing the work to develop a sense of time. Being perceptive to the passage of time is a large component of the work. It demands an endless series of adjustments to the subject matter, and, in the process, enriches the surface of the painting. The amount of time required to allow the work to develop naturally is demanding; it requires patience, and it allows me to be present. Observing the same space for so long is a humbling experience, it allows me the ability to live a small part of my life slowly, taking in the quiet change of the world at a natural pace. The act of painting is a haven in a world that is wildly demanding.