Abel Mota
Abel Mota uses painting as an activation of an almost inexhaustible curiosity. He assimilates references from the most diverse origins with the same intensity and articulates them spontaneously. He combines diverse elements from Portuguese, Brazilian or Nordic folklore,Eastern European cinema or his private collection of popular ceramics and other objects, creating a vocabulary that becomes increasingly complex.
Abel Mota (Portugal, 1999) is a painter and visual artist who works between Porto and Braga. He attended the painting course at the Faculty of Fine Arts of University of Porto and Tim Eitel’s studio at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris, standing out in the first year with the Incentive Prize/Merit Prize. Since 2017 he participated in several artistic residencies, group and solo shows, in Portugal and abroad.
Highlights include projects in Chã das Caldeiras, CapeVerde and Conceição das Crioulas, Brazil, with the ID_CAI - Identidades group and at the Encontrarte Art Biennial. He has exhibited his work at the Palto Gallery, Swab Barcelona, the Soares dos Reis National Museum, the Meng Tak Building Gallery, China, the Encontrarte Biennial, Amares, the FBAUP Museum and at the 21st Cerveira International Art Biennial.
In 2021 he cofounded his studio and cultural space O Bueiro, in Porto, inaugurating it as an open-studio with the exhibition ‘Sorry, Mum’. That same year, he won the Millennium BCP Foundation's Young Art prize and was invited to create the Herdade do Esporão Artist Labels.
Since 2019, he has collaborated with the design studio Gémeo Luís and Eduardo Aires Studio.
EDUCATION
2020 École National Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Tim Eitel Studio, Paris (FR)
2017-2021 Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Faculty of Fine Arts - University of Porto, specialization in Painting (Grade: 18 out of 20) Porto (PT)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 (TBA) Forum Braga Gallery (PT)
2025 (TBA) Plato Gallery Porto (PT)
2024 Queridas Bestas, Plato Gallery, Evora (PT)
2022 Esporão, Long time exhibition at Herdade do Esporão, Évora (PT)
2022 Landscape at a glance, VII Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Dyonisia, Plato Gallery, SWAB Contemporary Art Fair, Barcelona (ES)
2024 Um múltiplo é um múltiplo é um múltiplo, Carpe Diem, Stolen Books, curated by Jente Diepstraten, Lisboa (PT)
2024 Obra-dádiva, Camões institute - Maputo, curated by Paulo Almeida, Mozambique (MZ)
2024 Equine Fair, Pop-up, curated by Felipa Almeida, Lisbon (PT)
2023 El Paisage que Habla, FBAUP Exhibition Pavilion, Porto (PT)
2023 Maia Art Biennial, Maia Forum, Porto (PT)
2023 From the Confluence, VII Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
2023 Fruit Bowl Market, Pop-up, curated by Felipa Almeida, Lisbon (PT)
2022 El Paisage que Habla, Universidad de Guanajuato (MX),
2022 Gerador - National show of Young Artists (PT)
2022 El Paisage que Habla, Archivo del Sonido y de la Imagen del Consell de Mallorca (ES)
2022 Corrente de Ar, Vol. II, curated by Mariana Baião Santos, Lisbon (PT)
2022 Projeções, Lugar do Desenho, Julio Resende Fondation, Porto (PT)
2022 logs and other woodcuts landscapes, Fig Bilbao. Festival Internacional de grabado y Obra sobre Papel, Bilbao (ES)
2022 8 paintings and 5 drawings, Drawing Club Space, Porto (PT)
2022 The hedgehog's dilemma, Proyecto MAP, oMuseu FBAUP, Porto (PT)
2021 Exhibition of the prize AJ Millenium BCP, curated by Lourenço Egreja, Pavilion 31, Júlio de Matos Hospital, Lisbon (PT)
2021 Sorry, Mom, O Bueiro, Porto (PT)
2021 The hedgehog's dilemma, Proyecto MAP, Facultad de Bellas Artes de Murcia (ES)
2021 The hedgehog's dilemma, Proyecto MAP, Universidad Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires (AR)
2021 Ao Postigo, oMuseu FBAUP, Porto (PT)
2021 VI Espinho International Art Biennale, Amadeu Sousa Cardoso Galleries, Espinho (PT)
2020 XXI Cerveira International Art Biennale, Vila Nova de Cerveira (PT)
2020 Drawing Chã, Alternativa Gallery, S.Vicente Island (CPV)
2020 Opening exhibition, Drawing Club Space, Porto (PT)
2020 Desenhar a incerteza, oMuseu FBAUP, Porto (PT)
2019 Transparent Body, Leões Gallery, University of Porto Rectorate Builing, Porto (PT)
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2023 VIII Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
2022 Mnemonic Pavillion, Viana do Castelo (PT)
2022 Ground Lab - White Varnish, FBAUP Engraving Workshops, Porto e Amares (PT)
2021 Artist Labels 2022, resident artist at Herdade do Esporão, Évora (PT)
2021 Resident artist at Museu da Pesca, organized by Leão Lopes, S.Nicolau Island (CPV)
2021 Drawing S.Filipe, organized by Leão Lopes, Fogo Island (CPV)
2021 João Abel Mota, Casa da Botica, VII Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
2019 Do ver a seis mãos, VI Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
2018 Desenhar Chã, Artistic residency and collaboration with Chã das Caldeiras in Fogo Island, M_EIA and Atelier-Mar, (CPV)
2017 Aquarium, V Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
2023 Production grant, Maia Biennial, Porto (PT)
2021 Award Arte Jovem Millenium BCP, Lisbon (PT)
2021 Production grant, Encontrarte Art Biennial, Amares (PT)
2020 Scholarship by Merit for the 2019/2020 Academic Year, attributed by DGES - Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior, Porto (PT)
2020 Erasmus+ Scholarship to ENSBA, Paris (FR)
2018 Scholarship by Merit for the 2017/2018 Academic Year, attributed by DGES - Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior, Porto (PT)
2018 Award Incentivo UP - grant by merit for being the student with the highest score in the academic year, Porto (PT)
