Fefe Talavera

Artist

The paintings of monsters from Fefe Talavera are metaphors of the human subconscious strong emotions such as anger, fear, dreams or desires. With fantastic and colorful animals she connects with the "dark side" of your inner self, representing the cultural roots of the artist as well as a primary and powerful energy of her work performed in the streets of various cities around the world. Born in 1979 Fefe was created in the middle of Mexico, and Brazil in São Paulo, where she still lives, plus a second home in Madrid, Spain. Interested in all kinds of movements "underground", the typical and unique stylistic freedom of Street Art, and the internationally renowned Graffiti scene of her hometown, ended up creating an important impression on the artist. Thus, her gross creative energy, found much more correspondence in this tribal environment, like style she developed while working on the streets, aided by studies in fine arts which she finished with a Bachelor at the FAAP in São Paulo. Exhibitions in galleries and accepting certain rules, limits and intolerances of the art market system represent a contradiction for Fefe who is mainly interested in finding public ways to express herself and a common way of communication. As for the other artists of her generation, she realizes São Paulo as a contemporary megalopolis shaken by social, economic and ecological problems that have had a detrimental impact on the urban landscape. Public walls remain a possibility to show what is beautiful "inside" the strong personalities of the people who live there. Street Art and Graffiti in South and Central America may well be understood in the tradition of political and sociological wall art, which certainly reflect contemporary urban life. Fefe, inspired by Maya and Aztec mythologies of his Mexican heritage, is best known for her monsters run with letters cut from popular posters found around the streets. Collages made with letters and numbers, are related to the artist's admiration for typography, books and prints, but also by his will through a "free" way to remove them if its fixed environments, such as words, phrases or texts and books in order to show their formal qualities as well, reminding us that every kind of language is rooted in the direct expression of the human being and not a function to command them. Considering that "MonstrosCarta" became very popular in short time for its originality, Fefe finally felt burdened by having to spend more time producing materials, then working on her art, so she decide to come back primarily for his extensive vocabulary in painting and drawing in recent years. Fefe exhibited and participated in group projects in Moscow, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, Berlin, Lisbon, Ottawa, Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Seville, Basel, Milan, Amsterdam and Sao Paulo.From TED, Fefe decided to give life to her monsters, making a huge sculpture for this huge event. The result can be seen on TED's Open translator Project room.

Art and Design