In the Spotlight: Santanna Xavier-Wade
“I met Santanna Xavier-Wade at a life drawing class organised by Charlie Gosling, where I was one of the models. At the end of the session we got the chance to buy the works, and I bought Santanna's charcoal portrait she made of me. It has a Picasso-esque intensity that I responded to with affinity, and now hangs on my wall. She is one of a new generation of artists driven by that craving to paint and draw that overrides everything else in life.”
- Bella Freud
Bella Freud has collaborated with the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate the 'Everything is a Portrait' collection, which coincides with the Lucian Freud 'Drawing into Painting' exhibition.
The National Portrait Gallery held a portrait drawing workshop with Bella Freud for young artists within the Gallery space to showcase the collection. Held by Charlie Gosling, artists were invited to take part in a portraiture session where artists sketched Bella and one another, in the tranquil space of the National Portrait Gallery.
The Lucian Freud exhibition will run 12th February - 4th May. The product capsule is available to shop in the Gallery and on https://npgshop.org.uk/
Is there a specific piece of work you feel most connected to?
My most recent piece that I've completed. It's of me being christened as a baby. I've gone through a tangent of old pictures that my family have, all at each of their houses, and I've made it really personal. It took me a week to paint, but it's my favourite thing I've ever done.
Are there any specific moments, memories, or environments that have shaped your ideas or processes?
Sharing a studio with different artists definitely helps in terms of feeling motivated to paint. Also just documenting everything that I experienced, or even looking back at previous moments and environments that my family have documented is a big help in producing work.
Which artists, designers, and thinkers have impacted your work?
It's people that are close to home that help impact me. Slawn, a spray paint artist, who opened up his studio for me to use. I started working for him as a studio assistant two years ago and he fired me so I could elaborate and expand on my creative practice. I would say my mum as well. She doesn't do art, she doesn't understand it, but since childhood she'd always make efforts to take me to galleries and latch on to things that I knew that I was good at, which is art. Also, Teoni, Brandon, Dylan and Jude (whom I also share a space with). They all keep me on track to stay motivated and are always there when I need advice.
Talk us through your rituals and the processes
I start off with finding a reference image that I am fond of, then I go ahead and sketch it out. I can't work in silence, so I invite my friends around to just sit and be there while I paint. It doesn't matter what they're doing in the background as long as I have some background noise. If I don't have anyone there, it's definitely music. I've got my headphones on and I'm listening to music 24/7 because my worst nightmare is creating work in silence.
My main use of texture and feeling is what I want to bring across to a lot of people because I don't paint using brushes, I use a palette knife for the whole thing. I completed a painting of my great grandma and my sister before she passed and it was very sentimental to me. I didn't really think anyone else would feel the same thing, but as soon as I posted it a lot of people personally messaged me and said, “This feels like home.". The fact I was able to capture that, and give people that same feeling that I felt while I was painting was definitely memorable.
Which of the Lucian Freud artworks in the exhibition is your favourite?
It’s hard to pick between the two but it’s out of Bella (1987) or Leigh (Bowery) on a green sofa (1993) (below).
All artwork courtesy of Santanna Xavier-Wade.
Discover Santanna's work here:
