Milenna Saraiva is a Brazilian visual artist with a studio in São Paulo.

 

Saraiva graduated in Fine Arts in 2004 from Santa Monica College (California, USA). After graduating, she was invited by the institution to join The Mentor Program, a painting specialization where she studied with renowned artists and professors, including Linda Lopes, Nathan Otta, Mark Trujillo, Ron Davis, and Sharon Kagan. Upon returning to Brazil in 2012, she completed a postgraduate course in Contemporary Painting at FAAP (Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado).

 

Although experimentation is a fundamental part of her artistic process, her passion has always been close to the canvas. She chose painting as her primary form of expression. In her most recent body of work, the artist explores concepts related to the construction and destruction of identity — a process that seeks to reconsider the conventions of figurative painting through a continuous pursuit of abstraction.

 

Known for her evocative and reflective works, Saraiva understands that the purpose of a portrait is not to capture a person's external appearance, but to create a portal for an inner journey of self-discovery. To achieve this, she relies mainly on a fluid method of painting, drawing on memory and imagination. Over more than ten years of professional practice, her technique has evolved from the traditional to a much looser and more expressive style. Her quick, almost brutal gestures, made with palette knives, and her interplay of adding and removing layers of paint result in works rich in texture, layers, and color, revealing complexity and raw emotion.

 

Her production dialogues with the tradition of historical and contemporary figurative painting: Matisse, Bacon, and Van Gogh are readily evoked, as are contemporary names such as Jenny Saville and Andrew Salgado.

 

Saraiva has completed hundreds of commissions, both private and corporate, including murals for PayPal, Uber, Nestlé, SENAC, and Rede Globo. Since 2002, she has exhibited consistently in public and private galleries around the world, including: The Bergamot Station (Los Angeles), The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Katzen Arts Centre (Washington DC), The Peach Gallery (Toronto), Tom Cox Gallery (London), Fondazione Campana dei Caduti (Italy), as well as Casa Galeria, Galeria Alma da Rua, and Galeria Lar in São Paulo.

 

The artist has a sharp sense of how other creative manifestations — music, theater, and literature — overlap and overflow into her artistic performance. She has received more than twenty trophies in live painting competitions, including two national titles at Art Battle Brazil, the world's largest live painting competition.