Almudena Angoso is the Dubai based Spanish artist we have discovered at World Art Dubai and completely fell in love with. We had a chance to chat to the artist who is known in the art scene as Tres Ases. Read our interview to get to know her art better, her distinctive style as well as the motivation behind her unique collection of soul portraits that serve as a tribute to human being and her feelings.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your creative journey
My name is Almudena, I am an artist from Spain currently living in Dubai. I was painting since my childhood, art and painting, in particular, have been always part of my life. I studied Art in Barcelona, then I moved to Menorca island (Spain) where I established my art studio for six years. I traveled several times to Africa, India, and other parts of Asia, and this was a big part of my inspiration. My interest is the human being manifested in different cultures and through this, I speak about each one of us, our illusions, fears, and desires. I work with realism and expression in my portraits, also with textures and the language of color. All my artworks are part of what I call “portraits of the soul“.
I arrived in Dubai two years ago where I have now my art studio, and I work for art exhibitions, commissions, and above everything my passion.
We saw your tattoo, what is the meaning behind your artistic name “Tres Ases”?
The tattoo I have on my right forearm (next to the hand I use to paint) is AAA. These are the initials of my full name (Almudena Angoso Alvarez) and my sign in my artworks. My artistic name is Tres Ases because in Spanish it means three A, or triple-A.
Which are the main sources of your inspiration?
– When I traveled to Africa for example I realized how its people smile and give you everything even if they don’t have anything and the beautiful energy that they spread around. The brightness in the eyes of the people in India, the contrast of the colors, the delicacy and sensuality of people in Japan… The ethnicities, cultures, why we are what we are, how we feel, and how we behave in this strange passage that we call life. We are the same in different lives, colors, situations, and conditions. This is the motivation in my artworks, and that’s why I am studying Anthropology also, to understand better the human being and to reflect all this world in my paintings.
What you cannot miss before putting yourself in front of the white canvas? Any rituals?
For me is very important to be alone when I work, I need calm and to focus on what I am looking for in my artwork. I also put my special music to create the ambient, as Fatoumatta Diwara or Nouvelle Vague. And time by time I need to stop for a while to separate myself from the painting to look it from different perspectives.
We felt your good vibes as soon as we met, are you transferring your spiritual inner self into your paintings?
I think every artist transfer part of himself to the artwork that is creating since the moment that he starts to think about it, and art is arising from the depths of the person, the experiences, the thoughts, the feelings.. so of course in my case each artwork have pieces of me.
We have seen different ethnicities, races, and contests in your pieces, where is the link between them?
The link between all of them is the human being manifested in the different cultures, the deep part that we all have inside regardless of our race or contest. We all feel, we all have dreams, fears and stories, and we all have to be proud of what we are as part of the same energy in this universe.
Has the facial expressions in your pieces have any relation with feeling and emotion the current situation evokes?
Yes, like any other person I have my own stories and each artwork is speaking about these feelings. The gazes and the expressions in my portraits are the reflection of my inner world and the circumstances that are affecting me around.
What emotions and reactions do you seek to evoke by selecting particular color palettes?
I have different collections and in all of them I speak about different things, for example in ”Anthropo Morphosis” collection (African portraits), I use a lot the gray, black, beige, and white mixed with powerful colors as red, orange, coral or high yellow, electric blue.. to reflect the strong energy and the vitality of Africa and its people, but in the collection of ”The Lightness” I use different tonalities as soft pink, purple, blue, white, ocher.. to speak about the time, femininity and the unconscious world.
Do you want to be represented by an art gallery (if yes, which country and what’s the name) or do you prefer to work solo?
Until now I have worked only as a solo artist and in collaborations also with different art galleries for international art exhibitions and projects, but I don’t discard to work in the future as a represented artist by an art gallery, I don’t know which one and in which country but in that case destiny will say!
Where do you wanna see your pieces hanged?
I remember perfectly my first experience in Museo del Prado in Madrid when I was only 12 years old, it was one of the best feelings of my life. I was floating among all the amazing artworks of some of the best painters in history, filling myself with a genuine joy that I cannot explain. In that moment I would never imagine I was going to really work with my art in this way, but somehow I said to myself I would love to be here one day. So even if it is a great ambition, I will say I want to see mi pieces there one day.
What is the top art fair you would love to participate in?
I would love to participate in ARCO Madrid, in La Biennale of Paris, Art Dubai, Frieze London or TEFAF in New York.
As a first-time exhibition experience in Dubai, what have you felt and how do you think this will boost your career?
In my first art exhibition in Dubai as a solo artist I felt a great answer from the visitors, collectors, gallerists, and curators and it gave me a lot of energy to continue working in my artworks, in the art, and in the topics that I believe in. From this event, I receive many proposals for different projects and it was a big window to show who I am and what I do here in Dubai.
Do you think online exhibitions have the same kind of impact?
I don’t think online exhibitions have the same impact as a physical art exhibition. First of all, in the first ones, you cannot appreciate the real size of the artworks and even if the quality of the pictures is really good, the feelings that can transmit you an artwork in real is different than watching it on a screen.
In order to promote your art, what branding or marketing tools do you use? Are you a big fan of social media?
For my art marketing and promoting purposes I use Instagram, Facebook and online galleries, but to be honest I am not a big fan of social media, I have to do an effort to run the Instagram or Facebook all the time, because of course to do it well you have to update them daily, to post something usually, is the window of your work to the world. By one side we are lucky because it is a free tool to promote yourself, by the other side my work and what I love is to paint and I am not a very technological girl.. I guess I have to work on it or hire someone to do it!
What’s Next? Any last wish or dream project for this year?
Well, my first wish is for this pandemic to end, it is affecting so much the cultural events and of course the art world is part of it, this year is ending now and from March all the art exhibitions and events were cancelled all around the world until now, I really hope that 2021 give us a breath to develop ourselves. Next year, if everything is fine, I will participate in the upcoming World Art Dubai on April and in the Florence Biennale on October. After that my dreams and wishes are from here to the sky !
Follow Tres Ases on Instagram for the latest updates. Enjoy her full collection and buy her artwotk in the webpage.
We are all humans after all.
Marta Garrido.
