raul mourão

Working across various media such as installation, sculpture, photography, video, drawing and performance, Raul Mourão (b. 1967, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is part of a generation that marked Rio’s artistic scene in the 1990s. Commenting on subjects as everyday life, politics or social constructs, frequently permeated by a critical sense of humour, one of the main concerns in Mourão's work is the urban space. His visual vocabulary proposes displacements and redefinitions of familiar symbols and forms in contemporary society as a means of stimulating thought on the matters of place, urbanism and human interactions.  

Mourão began his career in the second half of the 1980s. At the end of that decade he started to investigate the visual symbology of architectonic safety devices in the urban landscape of Rio de Janeiro with structures such as window railings and security fences. This process resulted in a series titled Grades, which includes works in photography, video, sculptures, and installations. Since 2010, the artist has expanded his research on security systems while deconstructing visual structures present in these forbidding apparatus, leading him to create his first audience-activated kinetic sculptures. In these large-format pieces, the artist establishes formal strategies that comment on urban violence while also seeking structural balance.

Raul Mourão lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Main recent solo exhibitions and projects include: Empty Head, at Nara Roesler (2021), in New York, USA; Fora/Dentro, at Museu da República (2018), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Você está aqui, at Museu Brasileiro de Ecologia e Escultura (MuBE) (2016), in São Paulo, Brazil; Please Touch, at Bronx Museum (2015), in New York City, USA; Tração animal, at Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio) (2012), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Toque devagar, at Praça Tiradentes (2012), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Main recent group exhibitions include: Utopias e distopias, at Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia (MAM-BA) (2022), in Salvador, Brazil; Coleções no MuBE: Dulce e João Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz – Construções e geometrias, at Museu de Ecologia e Escultura (MuBE) (2019), in São Paulo, Brazil; Modos de ver o Brasil: Itaú Cultural 30 anos, at Oca (2017), in São Paulo, Brazil; Mana Seven, at Mana Contemporary (2016), in Miami, USA; Brasil, Beleza?! Contemporary Brazilian Sculpture, at Museum Beelden Aan Zee (2016), in Hague, The Netherlands; Vancouver Biennial 2014-2016, Canadá (2014). His works are in important permanent collections such as: ASU Art Museum, Tempe, USA; Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (MAC-Niterói), Niterói, Brazil; Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.