Francisco Mendes Moreira

About

Lives and works in Algés, Portugal

Francisco Mendes Moreira’s work emerges from an intuitive dialogue between form, material, and circumstance. His practice is rooted in improvisation and experimentation, transforming the contingencies of daily life into painterly expression. Working primarily with repurposed materials such as cardboard, wood, and other found surfaces, Moreira employs oil paint, pastels, collage, and papier-mâché to construct images that oscillate between figuration and abstraction. His compositions possess an immediacy and a raw emotional charge, where gestures, textures, and fragments of imagery become vehicles for broader reflections on the human condition. The works often inhabit a space of ambiguity: familiar yet estranged, humorous yet melancholic. Through vivid color and spontaneous mark-making, Moreira evokes the rhythm of lived experience, its repetitions, interruptions, and quiet revelations. Drawing from a wide range of cultural references, from Western cinema to everyday ritual, his paintings and sculptures propose a world where memory, imagination, and observation coexist freely. What begins as problem-solving becomes poetics; each piece, a visual note from an ongoing conversation with existence itself.

Francisco Mendes Moreira is a self-taught artist who lives and works in Algés, near Lisbon. Since beginning to paint in 2003, he has developed an international career with solo exhibitions at Alzueta Gallery (Barcelona, Madrid), Everyday Gallery (Antwerp), Galería Trinta (Santiago de Compostela), Kers Gallery (Amsterdam), and NBB Gallery (Berlin), among others. His works have also been shown in group exhibitions and art fairs across Europe, North America, and Asia, including presentations at Art Paris, KIAF Seoul, Urvanity (Madrid), NADA Miami, and Drawing Room (Lisbon). Over the past decade, Moreira has gained a significant following for his distinctive approach to painting, at once instinctive and reflective, establishing himself as one of the most singular voices in contemporary Portuguese art.

CV

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SOLO & DUO EXHIBITIONS
Flock, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2025)
Backpack almanac, Everyday Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (2024)
Caniggia, Everyday Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (2023)
50 ways to leave your lover, Galeria Trinta, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2023)
Pony, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2022)
Dreamland – with Spencer Shakespear, Kers Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2022)
Someone to talk to and a new hiding place, NBB Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2021)
Bring a friend to the end – with Fernão Cruz, Sade gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2020)
Milonga sentimental, Galeria Trinta, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2019)
The primordial soup shuffle, Public Gallery, London, UK (2019)
Smuggling Vanilla – with Jordy Kerwick, Galerie 42b, Paris, France (2019)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
13-a-dozen, Better go south, Stuttgart, Germany (2024)
Dream paper 3, Galerie Slika, Lyon, France (2024)
Dream paper 2, Galerie Slika, Lyon, France (2023)
Nuevos Paisajes, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2023)
New Landscapes, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2023)
Don’t give a damns 2, Volery Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2023)
Paperworks vol. 3, NBB Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2022)
In motion, Enari Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2022)
Thin places, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardes, Penzance, Cornwall, UK (2022)
Dream paper, Galerie Slika, Lyon, France (2022)
Floralia, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2022)
FUN GAL GRO UP SHO, Sade gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2022)
Paperworks vol. 2, NBB Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2021)
Room Service, Litz Art and NBB Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden (2021)
4 year anniversary, Delphian Gallery, London, UK (2021)
High desert, high!, Smoke the moon, Santa Fe, USA (2021)
The island show, Kant Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark (2021)
Small diamonds and big gems, Kant Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark (2020)
Paperworks vol. 1, NBB Gallery, Berlin Germany (2020)
Nur Bomben I, NBB Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2020)
The island show, Kant Galleri, Copehnagen, Denmark (2020)
No time like the present, Public Gallery, London, UK (2020)
Verhandlungbasis, Palmer Galerienhaus, Stuttgart, Germany (2020)
Deep down above the sea, Memoria Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal (2019)
Divergent motion, Delphian Gallery, London, UK (2019)
The island show, Kant Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark (2019)
Take on a paper, Kant Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark (2019)
Rude assembly, Burton Projects, Sydney, Australia (2019)
Cola cuspo, Espaço AZ, Lisbon, Portugal (2018)
Ghosts of electricity, Smoke the moon, Los Angeles Return of polite, New York, USA (2018)
Depict the mask, cgk Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark (2018)
Like no other, Annarumma Gallery, Naples, Italy (2018)
Got it for cheap, curated by Michael Swaney, Emma Pardos Studio, Barcelona, Spain (2018)
Paper cuts, Tripp Gallery, London, UK (2017)
3, Casa da Dona Laura, Lisbon, Portugal (2017)
We are the ones, cgk Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark (2017)
New slang, Den-holm studios, Melbourne, Australia (2017)

ART FAIRS
DRAWING ROOM LISBOA, Galería Trinta, Lisbon, Portugal (2024)
URVANITY ART FAIR, Galeria Trinta, Madrid, Spain (2024)
KIAF, Alzueta Gallery, Seoul, Korea (2023)
ART PARIS, Alzueta Gallery, Paris, France (2023)
URVANITY ART FAIR, Alzueta Gallery/Galeria Trinita, Madrid, Spain (2023)
NADA MIAMI, Smoke the Moon, Miami, USA (2022)
DRAWING ROOM LISBON, Galeria Trinita, Lisbon, Portugal (2022)
KIAF, Alzueta Gallery, Seoul, Korea (2022)
DRAWING ROOM MADRID, Exhibit Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2022)
ART MADRID, Arena Martinez Projects, Madrid, Spain (2022)
JUSTMAD FAIR, Galeria Trinita, Madrid, Spain (2022)
DRAWING ROOM LISBOA, Galeria Trinita, Lisbon, Portugal (2021)
DRAWING ROOM LISBOA, Galeria Trinita, Lisbon, Portugal (2020)
JUSTMAD FAIR, Galeria Trinita, Madrid, Spain (2020)
ART VERONA, Annarumma Gallery, Verona, Italy (2019)

ART RESIDENCIES
Bridgepoint Rye, Rye, UK (2019)