FRANCISCO MENDES MOREIRA. Pena miga
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Francisco Mendes Moreira (Coimbra, 1979) is often described as a self-taught artist, when actually it is his determination to forge his own path free from generational influence —exploring media, solutions, and images to convey to his worldview— that is more remarkable. He paints on found cardboard, tablecloths, fabrics, and quilts; he creates papier-mâché objects, engaging in a dialogue with his surroundings. He starts with things close at hand and sprinkles them with allusions to a culture so broad and diverse that he is able to interconnect Brueghel, Piero, classical painting, Picasso, Surrealism, Philip Guston, comics, traditional music, the blues, Kerouac, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Neil Young, allusions to films and song lyrics, verses and titles.
Direct yet mysterious, his work initially provokes a strong sense of unease, prompting us to ask: where did such an unconventional and free-spirited artist come from? Undoubtedly, from the need to express himself. He works by trying to make it happen, starting with his chosen media as a canvas, and then the paint suggests where to go next. Nothing is homogeneous or staid; everything emerges and is decided in the process. The painting progresses in layers and is defined by the dialogue between characters, forms, and action. And there is something unsettling about the scale, and in the way he shifts the colors toward grays… Things that happen when painting is free and visceral, and when it possesses humor and rigor.
His paintings contain a striking interplay of reflections, views and directions, as well as a strong use of masks. Bodies are sometimes equipped with articulations verging on the mechanical; each character is separate, in stylistic terms, but the scene is integrated, uniform, and dynamic; in the end, the works relate to each other, creating a kind of narrative story, another additional invention.
Miguel Fernández-Cid / Pilar Souto Soto, curators of the exhibition
GENERAL INFORMATION / DOCUMENTATION / ACTIVITIES
School programme
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Until June 25
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Information and guided tours
Museum staff in the exhibition galleries are available to answer visitors’ queries and provide information. In addition to the usual guided tours: 'À la carte' tours for groups, by appointment every day at 18:00.
Artists
FRANCISCO MENDES MOREIRA
Francisco Mendes Moreira (Coimbra, Portugal, 1979) lives and works in Algés, Lisbon. In recent years, his extensive body of work has gained significant visibility and recognition, both in Europe and in international exhibitions in North America and Australia.
Mendes Moreira works with recycled materials and in a variety of techniques, primarily oil painting, oil pastels, wood, collage, and papier-mâché. He strives to make the most of the materials he has on hand, relying on an intuitive working process in which the daily routine, along with other circumstances, determines the process and the final result. Halfway between figuration and abstraction, his drawings and paintings explore universal themes related to the human condition and experience.
Solo exhibitions: Flock (Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, 2025); At the Golden Lion (Masurel Gallery, Lyon, 2025); Backpack almanac (Everyday Gallery, Antwerp, 2024); Caniggia (Slika Gallery, Lyon, 2023); 50 ways to leave your lover (Trinta Gallery, Santiago de Compostela, 2023); Pony (Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, 2022); Someone to talk to and a new hiding place (NBB Gallery, Berlin, 2021); Bring a friend to the end (with Fernão Cruz, SADE Gallery, Los Angeles, 2020); Milonga sentimental (Trinta Gallery, Santiago de Compostela, 2019); The primordial soup shuffle (Public Gallery, London, 2019); Três elefantes (Lisbon, 2007).
A selection of group exhibitions: Art Verona (Annarumma Gallery,2019); Deep down above the sea (Lisbon, 2019); Divergent motion (Delphian Gallery, London, 2019); The island show (Kant Galleri, Denmark, 2019); Smuggling Vanilla - with Jordy Kerwick, 42b Gallery, Paris, 2019); A take on paper (Kant Gallery, Copenhagen, 2019); Cola cuspo (Espaço AZ, Lisbon, 2018); Ghosts of electricity (Smoke the moon, Los Angeles, 2018); Return of polite (New York, 2018); Depict the mask (CGK Gallery, Copenhagen, 2018); Like no other (Annarumma Gallery, Naples, 2018); Got it for cheap (Barcelona, 2018); Rude assembly (Sydney, 2018); Paper cuts (London, 2017); Casa da Dona Laura (Lisbon, 2017); We are the ones (CGK Gallery, Copenhagen, 2017); Got it for cheap (touring exhibition, 2017); New slang (DenHolm Studios, Melbourne, 2016).
