Nelo Teixeira Angola, b. 1975

Overview
Nelo Teixeira
Nelo Teixeira creates unique paintings and installations based on various materials, such as paper, wood, fabric, and other found objects that constitute the waste of contemporary society’s consumer culture. The reuse of such materials functions as a direct reference to the culture and tradition of his own country - where is common to see the incorporation of objects found in uncertain places - but also to new cultural rhythms and dissonant social voices. In this context, scrapyards, beaches, and streets are understood as environments to be researched and explored, and simultaneously, as a source of raw materials, where artists foster and develop a concept of “frame” that "desacralizes" the art object.
 
Drawing from this understanding of urban landscape as a visual and conceptual framework, Nelo Teixeira critically explores the concept of borders - physical and psychological - between Chicala (urban ghetto) and the city under construction, questioning its development.
 
Nelo Teixeira is a self-taught artist. At a very young age, he was introduced to the visuality and materiality of sculpture by his uncle, who was a sculptor himself. He then worked as a carpenter and scenographer during his 20s, having participated in the production of several movie and theatre sets, such as “Na Cidade Vazia”, “O Herói”, “Ponto de Encontro” and “As Bondosas.” Highly influenced by these experiences working closely with painting and other visual artists, Nelo decided to pursue a career as an artist and, in 1993, completed Angola’s National Union of Artists’ (UNAP) painting and sculpture workshops. 
 
Exhibiting regularly since 2000, Nelo’s work was presented in relevant spaces, such as the Museum of Natural History (Luanda, Angola), the Galeria Banco Económico (Luanda, Angola) and Not a Museum (Lisbon, Portugal). Furthermore, his work was featured in the Angolan Pavillon at the 2015 Venice Biennale.
 
Exhibitions and Projects include Discourses of Decoloniality, Not a Museum, Lisbon (2020), Intersections – Within the Global South, Galeria Banco Económico, Luanda (2019), Intersections by This is Not a White Cube and Banco Economico, Spaces In Between, Old Palace, Lisbon (2019), Nelo Teixeira: NotBok – Conglomeration in Space and Memories, Galeria Banco Económico, Luanda (2016), Venice Biennale, Angolan Pavilion, Venice, Italy (2015), JAANGO – Jovens Artistas Angolanos, 2nd edition, Museum of Natural History, Luanda (2013), Ponte Cultural Angola – Israel, project and group show (2013).
 
 
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