Welcome to our third episode of Y2K GROUP CHAT featuring artist Marcela Flórido. We recorded in late June 2020. We talk with Marcela about her experiences in New York as an artist, the community at her studio building, the affects of COVID-19 on artists, ballet, identity of the figure in her paintings, her experiences as a Brazilian artist and remembering home. Marcela Flórido is an emerging artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Follow us on Instagram: @y2kgroup Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content about contemporary art. Stay up-to-date with our Y2K Blog on our website for more news. Audio timestamps below: 0:00 - Intro music 0:17 - Podcast introduction 0:35 - Marcela Flórido biography and upcoming 2:07 - Beginning 2:41 - Nearby the studio 4:01 - Interacting with people and the studio 4:38 - Marcela’s experience at the studio towards beginning of COVID 5:50 - Community at the studio 6:59 - Living in New York as an artist 8:03 - What have you been working on at home? 8:12 - Exhibitions re-scheduled 9:19 - Exhibition deadlines 10:31 - Freedom to experiment and part-time 11:42 - New York hustle 12:07 - How has your work been affected by the pandemic? 14:33 - What kind of materials do you use for the drawings? 16:43 - Working with scale 18:49 - Growing up practicing ballet 22:26 - Beginning of body awareness and femininity in Marcela’s painting 25:47 - After ballet 26:35 - When did you know you wanted to be an artist? 29:20 - Studio ritual 31:00 - Schedule for studio time 33:32 - Reflecting on silver lining of pandemic 36:16 - Production of work and creation 37:53 - Identity of the figures in Marcela’s paintings 42:58 - The meaning of the paintings 44:57 - Vulnerability in the studio 48:13 - Sharing past studio in London 50:15 - Resetting at studio 51:13 - Have you made night paintings? Experiences at Yale 53:06 - Brazilian museums and the arts growing up 54:46 - Censorship in Brazil 55:21 - São Paulo cultural capital 56:50 - Marcela recent trip back home and the Amazon 57:46 - Painting flora and home environment 59:01 - Brazilian landscape and exoticism 1:01:26 - Integration and relation of plant life with the figures and landscape in Marcela’s paintings 1:02:43 - Being an immigrant and remembering home 1:03:55 - Dreaming about home 1:04:51 - Immigrant story within the work 1:06:18 - Being a Brazilian artist-background in British painting and Latin American art history 1:10:26 - Thank you!