thiago barbalho

As a writer and visual artist, Thiago Barbalho (b. 1984, Natal, Brazil) found in drawing a means of expression that allowed him to overcome a writer's block. Working in different dimensions and with different materials (colored pencils, graphite, spray, oil, oil pastel, and marker on paper), his compositions propose intricate universes of form, where shapes, references and colors intertwine to form somewhat psychedelic narratives that challenge the relation between figure and background. Barbalho understands drawing as an ancestral technology, which spans ages and cultures. The artist's visual research seeks to understand drawing as the sign of a presence and the relationship between the mind—imagination—and the body—gesture—, between consciousness and reality.

According to critic and curator Kiki Mazzucchelli, ‘working essentially in drawing, Barbalho produces extremely intricate, but unplanned compositions, where the multiplicity of images, symbols and color fields merge to create uninterrupted vibrant surfaces.' The apparent chaos of his images arises from his gestures, which resist any formal logic. In fact, we encounter in his work an array of fragments, of references from different spheres that intertwine popular culture from the Brazilian Northeast, characters and cartoons, as well as signs and symbols of the consumerism and mass culture. Together with Barbalho’s research and interpretations within the fields of philosophy, anthropology and the mysticism underlying relations between matter and thought, his drawings establish a visual universe that is in constant revolution.

Thiago Barbalho lives and works in São Roque, Brazil. Recent solo exhibitions include: Depois que entra ninguém sai, at Nara Roesler (2022), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2022); Correspondência, at Galeria Marília Razuk (2019), in São Paulo, Brazil; Thiago Barbalho, at Kupfer Project Space (2018), in London, United Kingdom (2018). Main group shows are: Mapa da estrada: Novas obras no acervo da Pinacoteca de São Paulo, at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (2022), in São Paulo, Brazil; Electric Dreams, at Nara Roesler (2021), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; AVAF, at Casa Triângulo (2018), in São Paulo, Brazil; Rocambole, at Pivô (2018), in São Paulo, Brazil, and at Kunsthalle Lissabon (2019), in Lisbon, Portugal; Voyage, at Galeira Bergamin & Gomide (2017), in São Paulo, Brazil; Shadows & Monsters, at Gasworks (2017), in London, United Kingdom. His works are part of institutional collections such as Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.