Alexandre Vianna

Alexandre Vianna is a very quiet man. His mellow voice on the phone was the first thing that comes to my mind when I see his photographs. His medium format shots are amazingly beautiful and full of soul. It’s like a mellow jazz song, with a fine and well tuned trumpet… He’s also the editor of the best skateboard magazine from Brasil. Let’s read his kind and wise words. Click on the photo above, sit down and enjoy his jazzy style...

What’s you name and where are you from?
Alexandre Vianna, São Paulo, Brasil.

When did you find out that you would be an artist?
I'm a skateboarder, writer, photographer and I 'm addicted on working with projects that will build some culture, will make a legacy. I started really young, around 14 years old, filming and editing skateboard videos with my neighborhood friends. Since that, I never stopped! ... 24 years producing videos, photos, events, magazines, books, expos, and a lot of crazy stuff, with the goal on developing the skateboard culture in Brazil. Or at least get recognition for the scene. But it was in 1995 that I started making photography with a different perspective. I wanted to make skateboard photography in Brazil more on an art level, and from that point my mind started working on that.

What do you want to show to people when you do you art?
I want to contribute on building a legacy for brazilian skateboarding culture. Something that people will get proud on the future.

What’s skateboarding for you?
It's the way I choose to live my life. A lifestyle that made me sees and feels this world in a different way.

Can you tell us some highlights in your career?
I'm a multidiscipline person. Skated as a professional skateboarder for a decade, became photographer, editor, producer... I write a lot also. It's hard to point highlights in a career that have a lot of different layers, different phases. But there are two things that I like to remember, because they have a lot of meaning to me. I filmed and edited, in the beginning of the 90's, one of the first and important brazilian skateboard videos ever made, called Dirty Money. It was the first video part of skaters like Bob Burnquist and Nilton Neves, when they were amateurs. After 16 years people still consider one of the most important videos made in Brazil, because it changed the scene and showed that a new generation of skaters was ripping. The other moment was the book called "São Paulo in Mouvement" released in France. A french writer called Anne Louyot choose 25 people that she considered really important for São Paulo City, people that in her point of view made a difference in São Paulo for the Culture and Social scene. She chooses people like Os gemeos, Gilberto Dimenstein, Alex Atala, the soccer player Rai with his social organization, some important people. She told a story of each one of them in the book and I had the honor to be one of the 25. She just looked all around São Paulo, made some research, and realized that the skateboard scene was something really big in town. Being part of that was a special moment for me. Being recognized in a higher level, for doing something for the skateboard scene.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word Brasil?
I love this place! People need to have a better education in general, but things have improved. I have faith and I will work, as I can, to help Brazil to be a better country.

How do you feel to be part of an art show over here in Santos city?
It's an honor to be part of this art show in Santos, with Skateboard Photographers like Fabio Bitão and Grant Brittain.

Some words to the people that will see your work.
Don't give up on living your life in your own way! If you love skateboard, do it till the end of days.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexandrevianna/
http://cemporcentoskate.uol.com.br/