Pedro Portugal, 1963, PT

 

Pedro lived in a rural milieu until the age of 5 on a estate near Spain (Penamacor). He completed a technical course in Civil Construction at Castelo Branco Industrial and Commercial College before moving to Lisbon in 1978. He attended António Arroio Art School and studied painting at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts (1980/85).

He was the co-founder of the artistic post-paradoxological art statement Homeostética (1982) – and in 2004 a retrospective exhibition took place at the Serralves Museum in Oporto.

Pedro was president of the Art School Student Association between 1984 and 1985. He co-founded the neo-Dada group Ases da Paleta (1989), and was a Member of the Commission for the 1st Plastic Artists Meeting at the Ritz, Lisbon (1990).

In 1992 he co-founded the Association for Ethno-Aesthetic Research, the aim of which was to study the public taste parameters in Portugal. Director of the Lisbon Cultural Centre between 1993 and 1994.

Pedro designed the layout of Jorge Sampaio’s campaign website for the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic in 1996 (18th President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006).

In 2001 he directed the election campaign of the artist and musician Manuel João Vieira for the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic.

He was a consultant for the Portugal Telecom Collection of Contemporary Art from 1997 to 2007.

He curated in 2004 the "Pørtugål 30 under 40" exhibition at the Sternesen Museet, Oslo, 2004.

He was co-founder of the art chiasma Explicadismo in 2005 with Pedro Proença to provide a final explanation of what art is so that one does not have to explain what art is and what its definitions are for.

As cultural adviser to the Mayor of Lisbon he designed the imagery for Lisbon’s 2009 commemorations of the 25 April Carnation Revolution.

In 2009 he collaborated with the executive committee for Lisbon's University centenary celebrations.

He was the curator of the Gabinete da Politécnica – The Aesthetoscopic Importantary (2011/2012), Museum of Science and Natural History of the University of Lisbon,an exhibition by way of artistic safari through the museum's collections.

In 2012 he made a PhD on his own work at the University of Évora: The Art that Is. The Causes of the Things That Are Art.

In 2014 he made with Adriana Alcântara the Artmovie (50"), a mashup about how the movies through history see the artists and portrait art (Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon).

The movie Futurpolis (47") was presented in 2017 at MAAT, Lisbon. It's a voyage through all the city's build for sci-fi movies.

With his long time art partners, Manuel Vieira and Pedro Proença he produced the Pandemos movie in 2014, the Zuturismo book/performance in 2017 and the online performance Arthomem in 2018.

In 2018 he lead a group of 400 artists who pressured the Portuguese PM to establish a 10 year state contemporary art acquisition programme.

His artistic creations are renowned for the technical mastery of watercolour, painting, institutional sculpture, evocative monuments, mashup architecture, video art, design and performance.

He is acclaimed for his flexibility, competence and skill with all materials, locations, media and great creative efficiency in handling a wide range of topics.

He is professor at the Department of Visual Arts and Design at the University of Évora.

He regularly publishes opinion articles for magazines and national newspapers in Portugal.

His artwork is featured in the major public and private collections in Portugal and in the private collection of Queen Sonja of Norway.