Bruno Pedrosa

Bruno Pedrosa was born in 1950 in Ceará, Brazil, with the name Raimundo Pinheiro Pedroza XIV, as his grandfather wished. He is descended from an aristocratic Portuguese family that owned Sesmarias in Brazil.

From a very young age he showed a strong interest in drawing and the visual arts; in 1967 he held his first exhibition at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Olinda. In 1968 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, receiving the bronze and silver medals of the Salão Nacional de Belas Artes.

In 1974 he graduated in Archaeology, and in 1975 in Philosophy and Fine Arts, at the UFRJ. He travelled widely in Latin America, with a strong interest in Incan and pre-Incan civilisations. He devoted himself to monastic life from 1976 to 1981 at the Mosteiro de São Bento in Rio de Janeiro, but continued his artistic activity. In those years he became a friend of intellectuals such as Rachel de Queiróz, Jorge Amado and Roberto Burle-Marx.

In 1979 Pietro Maria Bardi, director of the MASP and his mentor, organised his exhibition and the launch of the album of drawings of the Mosteiro de São Bento at the MASP. In 1980 he made the portrait of Pope John Paul II, today in the collection of the Vatican Museums. In 1986 he published the album of drawings Retratos do Rio, with a poem by Carlos Drummond de Andrade.

In 1990, with a career already established in South America and the U.S.A., he moved with his family to Italy, broadening his activity in Europe with exhibitions in museums and public institutions and collaborations with galleries. His work began to change, leaving figurative expressionism behind to become an abstraction that is not entirely informal.

In 2011 he took part in the 54th Venice Biennale. From 2011 to 2013 he carried out a cycle of touring exhibitions between Brazil and Italy, Projeto Presságios, with the curator Maurizio Vanni. In 2018 he celebrated 50 years of his career.