José Damasceno gave up studying Architecture at Santa Úrsula University in his home city of Rio de Janeiro to focus on art full time in 1990. Damasceno considers himself to be self-taught, despite taking some courses at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts in Rio. Damasceno is a child of the dynamic artistic scene in Brazil, with a genealogy that can be traced back to Helio Oiticica, Lygia Clark and Cildo Meireles, but also further back to the cannibalistic artists and their surrealistic connections.
Damasceno explores in a multidisciplinary way the limits of the sculptural form in space, drawing on the infinite possibilities of materials – burlap, wood, concrete, cement, aluminium, thread, fabric, paper, etc. –, and he does so by intervening in the specific sphere of exhibition. In that regard, he analyses the characteristics of the space in its surface or depth (Durante o caminho vertical, Venice Biennial, 2005) and flips it over by questioning its gravity (intervention at the Holborn Library, London, 2014). In this way he changes viewers’ perception, based on their past experience, by proposing new physical experiences. Damasceno seeks to undermine the rigid thinking that arises from preestablished structures.
He has staged solo shows at the Museu de Arte Moderna (Río de Janeiro, Brazil, 2011); the Palais de Tokyo (Paris, 2003); the Culturgest (Porto, Portugal, 2003); the Georges Pompidou Centre (Paris, 2007); the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2008); and the São Paulo Cultural Centre (2012). He has also exhibited at the biennials of Pontevedra (2000); Mercosur (Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2003); Venice (2005 and 2007); and São Paulo (2002). In 1995, he received the UNESCO Prize for Promotion of the Arts in Paris.
José Damasceno gave up studying Architecture at Santa Úrsula University in his home city of Rio de Janeiro to focus on art full time in 1990. Damasceno considers himself to be self-taught, despite taking some courses at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts in Rio. Damasceno is a child of the dynamic artistic scene in Brazil, with a genealogy that can be traced back to Helio Oiticica, Lygia Clark and Cildo Meireles, but also further back to the cannibalistic artists and their surrealistic connections.
Damasceno explores in a multidisciplinary way the limits of the sculptural form in space, drawing on the infinite possibilities of materials – burlap, wood, concrete, cement, aluminium, thread, fabric, paper, etc. –, and he does so by intervening in the specific sphere of exhibition. In that regard, he analyses the characteristics of the space in its surface or depth (Durante o caminho vertical, Venice Biennial, 2005) and flips it over by questioning its gravity (intervention at the Holborn Library, London, 2014). In this way he changes viewers’ perception, based on their past experience, by proposing new physical experiences. Damasceno seeks to undermine the rigid thinking that arises from preestablished structures.
He has staged solo shows at the Museu de Arte Moderna (Río de Janeiro, Brazil, 2011); the Palais de Tokyo (Paris, 2003); the Culturgest (Porto, Portugal, 2003); the Georges Pompidou Centre (Paris, 2007); the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2008); and the São Paulo Cultural Centre (2012). He has also exhibited at the biennials of Pontevedra (2000); Mercosur (Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2003); Venice (2005 and 2007); and São Paulo (2002). In 1995, he received the UNESCO Prize for Promotion of the Arts in Paris.