Ricardo Passaporte

About

Lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal

Ricardo Passaporte’s work navigates the space between mass culture and personal gesture, where the immediacy of graffiti meets the reflective depth of painting. Drawing imagery from advertising, consumer symbols, and the everyday vernacular, he transforms these familiar icons into raw, hand painted meditations on authorship, authenticity, and repetition. Referencing Outsider Art and infused with the spontaneity of street practice, his paintings bear the trace of instinct and imperfection, evidence of a process both deliberate and impulsive. Passaporte’s compositions often unfold through rhythmic motifs and emblematic figures: dogs, birds, tigers, or corporate logos distilled to their essential forms until they become something strange, tender, and poetic. His practice challenges the dichotomy between the mass produced and the singular, revealing how even the most ubiquitous images can hold personal and emotional resonance when filtered through the hand of the artist.

Ricardo Passaporte (b. 1987) lives and works in Lisbon. Trained in Fashion Design at Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Passaporte developed his artistic language outside traditional academic frameworks, emerging from Lisbon’s graffiti scene with an instinctive and independent approach to
painting. His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions and galleries such as Câmara Municipal do Porto (Porto), L21 (Palma de Mallorca), Steve Turner (Los Angeles), Ruttkowski68 (Paris) and the Michael Horbach Foundation (Cologne), among others. He has also collaborated with Germes Gang and Stolen Books Publications on several curatorial and editorial projects. Moving freely between street and studio, Passaporte continues to explore the symbolic and emotional power of images within
contemporary visual culture.

CV

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SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS
Elementary (duo exhibition with Martin Paaskesen), Valerius Gallery, Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2025)
Say no to the dolphin show, General Expenses, Mexico City, Mexico (2024)
Nostalgic for something that never happened, Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Seoul, Soth Korea (2024)
Off leash, OMNI, London, UK (2023)
Baby cries, Mama buys, Ruttkowski;68, Paris, France (2022)
Car Wash Animals, Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Braga, Portugal (2021)
Best in show, Steve Turner, Los Angeles, US (2021)
If dogs don’t go to heaven, I want to go where they go, L21 Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, Spain (2020)
Exciting love, Ruttkowski68, Paris, France (2018)
It was a very good day, Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Florence, Italy (2018)
Employee of the month, Ruttkowski;68, Cologne, Germany (2017)
Every little helps, Annarumma Gallery, Naples, Italy (2017)
Being there done that, Ultrastudio, Pescara, Italy (2016)
Where quality is cheaper, Galeria Alegria, Madrid, Spain (2016)

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Bestiari, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2026)
Nice to see you/Hope to see you again, Tuesday to Friday, Valencia, Spain (2025)
Dream Paper 4, Galerie Masurel, Lyon, France (2025)
Vitrine, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montreal, Canada (2024)
Silvers in the void, Mamoth, London, UK (2023)
Contingency pt.1, Des Baines, London, UK (2023)
A Symphony of untold depths, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montreal, Canada (2023)
Rendezvous with destiny, Good Mother Gallery, Los Angeles, US (2022)
Mixed by pickles 12, Ruttkowski;68, New York, US (2022)
In bed with a mosquito, Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Braga, Portugal (2021)
(Re)Birth of Venus, Pulpo Gallery, Murnau am Staffelsee, Germany (2021)
Deflatable Aesthetics, Balcony Contemporary Art Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal (2020)
Unlearn, Relearn.. Repeat, TWFINEART, Brisbane, Australia (2019)
B.T.S (Back to school), Travessa da Ermida, Lisbon, Portugal (2018)
Mixed pickles 4, Michael Horbach Foundation, Cologne, Germany (2018)
Grand Opening, Ruttkowski;68, Paris, France (2018)

ART FAIRS
UNTITLED ART FAIR, Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Miami, US (2023)
ART BUSAN, Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Busan, South Korea (2023)
KIAF, Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2022)
ART BUSAN, Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Busan, South Korea (2020) (Online)

PUBLICATIONS
“Back to School” with Pedro Matos, published by Stolen Books (2020)
“YOU COULD FEEL THE PLASTIC”, published by Stolen Books (2017)