Pedro Proença
Born in Lubango, Angola, in 1962, Pedro Proença graduated in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon in 1986 and is considered one of the most notable artists in Portuguese contemporary art.
Alternately playful and mysterious – even esoteric, his prolific work is characterized by a true encyclopedic vocation and the nostalgia for memory. Hence, his impish and poetic perception of the world is embodied in compositions that are often full of erudite references borrowed from history.
Pedro´s carnivorous plants´ watercolor paintings result from a naturalistic approach joyfully combined with an exercise of pure imagination and realized with a tendency to seek combinations that look natural or not to him.
With a deep conscience of being a tiny part of Nature, and as one of its most fervent observers, he tries to understand how “every single piece of nature has a particular way of connecting.“
While still a student, Pedro began to intervene in his university space with Pedro Portugal, founding the project of a magazine entitled “Homeostética”, from which he would later form the Homeostético movement – together with Manuel João Vieira, Pedro Portugal, Ivo and Xana – that undeniably marked the Portuguese artistic scene after the 25th of April.
With a first exhibition held in 1983, the Homeostético movement was characterized by its Dadaist influences and the use of humor as a way of criticizing the art market system.
Exhibiting individually since 1984, Pedro´s career has maintained a creative constant that ranges from painting, drawing, and installation to poetry, narrative, and essayist prose.
His impressive record of exhibitions includes Galeria Fucares, Madrid (1987), Frith Gallery, London (1889), Pallazo Ruspoli, Rome (1994), Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1994), Kunstwerein in Frankfurt (1998), the Camargo Vilaça Gallery, S. Paulo (1988), CCB, etc. He was as well present at the Venice Biennale Aperto in 1988.
Pedro published his own books of essays, poetry, fiction, typography, etc. He also illustrated the Bible and the Lusíadas, Pessoa, Saramago, as well as children’s and erotic literature.
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