andré griffo

The research of André Griffo (b. 1979, Barra Mansa, Brazil) is centered on painting and its historical relationships with the representation of architecture. Far from overtly polemical or propagandistic discourses, his images reflect the many forms of violence that give shape to narratives surrounding the histories of Brazil and its ruins. Griffo’s work is oriented toward a critique of power structures, including the persistence of the effects of the slave-based economy in Brazilian historical formation, as well as the mechanisms of religious institutions in the construction of imaginaries. By appropriating visual repertoires from art history to address contemporary socio-historical issues, Griffo’s spaces ultimately become vehicles for a discourse that understands the juxtaposition of anachronistic objects as a strategy for addressing the endurance of power structures in the formation of present-day Brazil.

Griffo uses his background in architecture to create spaces where references to both historical and contemporary settings coexist. These spaces, usually deserted, are inhabited by traces, symbols, and signs, that highlight the permanence and influence of the past in current sociocultural issues. His production intertwines the factual and the fictional, exploring connections between the History of Art and Architecture and social issues, both Brazilian and international. By overlapping different temporalities and their complex realities, Griffo's work denounces constitutive elements of society, and testifies to the immutability of things.

André Griffo lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Recent solo exhibitions include: Alto Barroco, at Paço Imperial (2025), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Exploded View, at Nara Roesler (2024), in New York, USA; Voarei com as asas que os urubus me deram, at Nara Roesler (2022), in São Paulo, Brazil; Objetos sobre arquitetura gasta, at Centro Cultural São Paulo (CCSP) (2017), in São Paulo, Brazil; Intervenções pendentes em estruturas mistas, at Palácio das Artes (2015), in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Predileção pela alegoria, at Galeria Athena (2015), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Main group shows are: Sobre os ombros de gigantes, at Nara Roesler (2021), in São Paulo, Brazil; 21ª Bienal de Arte Contemporânea SESC VídeoBrasil (2019), in São Paulo, Brazil; Intervenções, at Museu da República (2016), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Ao amor do público, at Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) (2015), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Aparições, at Caixa Cultural (2015), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Instabilidade estável, at Paço das Artes (2013), in São Paulo, Brazil. His works are including in important institutional collections, such as: Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA; Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil; Instituto PIPA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.