Tiago Mestre Portuguese, b. 1978

Tiago Mestre's (b. 1978, Portugal) practice revolves around the idea of displacement, both in terms of discipline and territory. Originally trained as an architect, his sculptures and installations reflect his status as a Portuguese artist living and working in Brazil, as well as, the historical associations of human and artistic flows between both countries. 

His work actively resists a singular reading and engages with different symbolic and anthropological registers. Ceramics as sculpture appears in his practice with this aim of displacement, causing a process of redefinition and reframing of its mediums. Using materials such as clay, bronze, plaster, and paint, he establishes a constant negotiation between project and unpredictability. His paintings and sculptures share technical procedures (on production) and modes of display (on reception), presenting themselves more as questioning systems than as fixed genres or statutes. Most recently, his work focuses on the ability to relate critically with the achievements of the project of modernity, its controversial key figures, and its artistic myths and narratives of originality, development, and social organization. Tiago Mestre currently lives and works in Brazil.

Recent solo exhibitions include Grotta, SESC Pompeia, São Paulo, Brazil (2024); Sun, Sun, Sun!, LAMB, London (2023); Empire (text by Pollyana Quintella), LAMB, London (2020); Boa tarde às coisas aqui em baixo (with Dudi Maia Rosa), Olhão, São Paulo, Brazil (2019); Smog, Espaço Cultural Porto Seguro, São Paulo, Brazil (2019) and Tiger, tiger, Festival de Cultura Inglesa, São Paulo, Brazil (2019).