Images and text courteously supplied by the Centro Português de Serigrafia.

Pedro Calapez

Born in Lisbon in 1953, this artist currently resides and works in the city. Initially studying civil engineering, they later transferred to the School of Fine Arts in Lisbon in 1976. They also attended the Artistic Training Course at the National Society of Fine Arts. While studying at the Faculty of Fine Arts, they worked as a professional photographer and began focusing more intensely on painting starting in 1985. From 1986 to 1998, they taught at Ar.Co. in Lisbon, where they were responsible for the drawing and painting departments. They began participating in exhibitions in the 1970s and held their first solo exhibition in 1982.

On a national level, this artist is one of the most recognized names in the art scene. They emerged during the “return to painting” movement in the 1980s, alongside artists such as Pedro Cabrita Reis, José Pedro Croft, Rui Sanches, Rosa Carvalho, and Ana Léon.

Their work has been showcased in various galleries and museums both in Portugal and abroad. Notable solo exhibitions include “Campo de Sombras” at the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Mallorca (1997), “Madre Agua” at the MEIAC Museum in Badajoz and the Andalusian Center of Contemporary Art in Seville (2002), “Selected Works” at the CAM- Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon (2004), and “piso zero” at the CGAC- Galician Center of Contemporary Art in Santiago de Compostela. They have also participated in the Venice Biennale (1986) and the São Paulo Biennial (1987 and 1991), as well as exhibitions such as “10 Contemporaries” at the Serralves Museum in Porto (1992), “After Tomorrow” at the Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon (1994), “Days of Darkness and Light” at the Kunstmuseum Bonn (1999), “EDP.ARTE” at the Serralves Museum in Porto (2001), “Beaufort Inside-Outside” at the PMMK Museum in Ostend for the Triennial of Contemporary Art (2006), “The Collection” at the Serralves Museum in Porto (2009), and “It’s Not My Fault, Works from the António Cachola Collection” at the Berardo Museum in Lisbon (2010