Bio
Ana Pais Oliveira
Ana Pais Oliveira (1982, Vila Nova de Gaia) lives and works in Espinho.
She holds a degree in Fine Arts, Painting, from the Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade do Porto (2005) and a PhD in Art and Design, Painting, from the same faculty (2015), with the project A cor entre o espaço pictórico e o espaço arquitetónico: processos relacionais nas práticas artísticas contemporâneas.
She received the Certificate of Merit for obtaining the highest mark in the third-cycle course in Art and Design in the 2015/2016 academic year. She has been a resident artist at FACE (Fórum de Arte e Cultura de Espinho), where she has her studio and collaborates on various initiatives, since April 2016.
She is a collaborating member of the Art and Design research group at the Instituto de Investigação em Arte, Design e Sociedade and was part of the research project Bases Conceptuais da Investigação em Pintura (2014-2019).
She held a grant from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) between 2011 and 2015. She is also a member of the AIC Study Group on Environmental Colour Design and of APcor (Associação Portuguesa da Cor).
She was part of the Portuguese selection for the Bienal Jovem Criação Europeia 2013/2015, which toured nine European countries, was selected for the XV Convocatória of Galeria Luis Adelantado in Valencia (2013) and won the Kunstpreis Young Art Award <33 [colour] of Galeria Art Forum Ute Barth in Zurich, Switzerland, where she held a solo exhibition in the summer of 2014. She was also selected for the longlist of the Solo Award 2016 / London Art Fair 2017, promoted by the Wilson Williams Contemporary Art Gallery, London, for the Premio de Pintura Fundação Focus-Abengoa 2017, Seville, and for the longlist of the well-known Jackson’s Painting Prize 2021 (400 out of 8,674 entries worldwide). Her painting Ar livre #2 was selected for printing and presentation at the Munsell Centennial Color Symposium at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston (10-15 June 2018) and in the special issue of the Journal Color Research and Applications.
She was also invited by the Desistart group to design a collection of luxury rugs, Perspectives Collection, which was presented for the first time at Maison & Objet 2019 in Paris, and at The Hotel Show Dubai, at the Dubai World Trade Centre, in May 2021. She was invited by the Vinha Boutique Hotel, a luxury hotel in Porto, to create a site-specific work measuring 200x500cm, installed in its main lobby. She was one of the 25 finalists of the BBA Artist Prize 2022 in Berlin, among artists of 12 nationalities, where she exhibited in June 2022 at the Kühlhaus Berlin.
She won 1st Prize at the XLIX Concurso Internacional de Pintura Homenaje a Rafael Zabaleta, Quesada, Jaén, Spain. She received the Acquisition Prize of the Amigos da Biblioteca-Museu de Amarante at the 9th edition of the Prémio Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (2013), 1st Prize at Aveiro Jovem Criador (2009), 1st Prize at Engenho e Arte (2009), 3rd Prize at the 1º Prémio Jovem de Artes Plásticas da Figueira da Foz (2009), 1st Prize at Arte XXI 10 (2009) and the 1º Prémio Eixo Atlântico at the VIII Bienal Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular (2008), among other prizes and honourable mentions in painting and the fine arts. She has exhibited in solo and group shows since 2003, in Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Brazil, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Hungary.
She takes part regularly in conferences and seminars, having recently presented her work at conferences in Genoa, Newcastle, Valencia, Lisbon, Monção and Porto. She was a member of the jury of the IX Bienal Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular (2010), of the XXI Encontro Internacional de Estátuas Vivas, Espinho (2017), of the Short Animation and Experimental Film section of the FEST New Directors, New Films Festival, Espinho, 2018, and of a master’s examination at the Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade do Porto. She was invited to curate two group exhibitions within the programme of the 6º Bienal Internacional de Arte de Espinho: Show me your face, at the Centro Multimeios de Espinho, and Paperwork, at the Galeria da Junta de Freguesia de Espinho (April 2021).
Her work is represented in the Norlinda e José Lima and S&A collections, Porto, the Museo Zabaleta, Quesada (Jaén, Spain), the Fundação Focus-Abengoa (Seville), Banco BPI, Eixo Atlântico, Casa da Cultura/Casa Barbot, the Museu Municipal de Espinho, the Museu Municipal de Amarante and several private collections.
