Hélio Luís (b. 1980, Portugal) is a Lisbon-based painter whose large format-paintings depict a space between reality and the imagination. Sourcing from literature, photography, and archival cinema, Luís confronts fraught and complex legacies such as the presence of colonialism and the “exotic” within European art and Art History, contextualizing them within the contemporary world. Luís’ gestural handling of paint ranges from the subdued to the boldly expressionistic, the technical application and materiality taking a foreground in his practice. Vibrant hues and discernible layers are juxtaposed with a refined, traditional figurativism— a collision of the past and present on the canvas.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Beyond Taprobana, Kutlesa, Goldau, Switzerland
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 “Multiple Realities” , AUC Art, London, UK (Online exhibition)
2019 “Palimpsestos” with Sara Maia, Jorge Abade, Monica Mindelis, Patrícia Oliveira e Ricardo de Campos, ZET Gallery, Braga, curated by Helena Mendes Pereira
www.youtube.com/watch?v=As1osRtFcy8
2018 XX Bienal Internacional de Arte de Cerveira, V.N. de Cerveira, curated by Cabral Pinto
2016 “Utopia, hoje” with Cláudio Garrudo, Joanna Latka, Marta Ubach, Pauliana Valente Pimentel, Teresa Gonçalves Lobo, Paula Almozara, Rui Soares Costa, Tiago Casanova, Museu Abílio de Mattos e Silva, Óbidos, FOLIO festival, curated by Ana Matos (Galeria Salgadeiras)
2014 Valbom Gallery, Lisbon
Other
2019 Film Poster for “3 anos depois”, directed by Marco Amaral (Locarno Film Festival Official Competition)
2014 Album Cover for “Outra coisa qualquer”, by João e a Sombra
Publications
2019 Catalog “Palimpsestos”, September
2018 Catalog XX Bienal Internacional de Arte de Cerveira, August
Press
https://observador.pt/especiais/eles-tem-dois-lavores-e-a-isto-chama-se-slash-career/