Mario Henrique

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"Painting should not be loved. Only the next artwork deserves full devotion and interest. " | Mario Henrique

Mario Henrique is a portuguese designer and painter. He graduated in Communication Design from Lisbon’s University of Fine Arts and started his career as a designer of e-learning systems, digital marketing platforms and websites. During this time he won design efficiency awards and was invited to collaborate as an assistant teacher of arts and multimedia. Later, as a creative director, he recruited and led teams of designers and developers working on various online projects in Portugal, Spain and Brazil.

While at BestTables, as partner and head of design, he worked towards growing the company from startup status to international expansion, up until its acquisition by the TripAdvisor group.

In all of his projects, drawing and photography were always kept as the main foundations - this is clear in his paintings, which are parallel to his work as a designer.

Listed in private collections in Portugal, Spain, Italy, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil and USA, he has exhibited in galleries both locally and abroad, and was awarded an Honourable Mention for his participation in the Brasília Biennial of Contemporary Arts 2016. Mario owns a studio/gallery in Cascais Marina (Portugal), where some of his paintings are in permanent exhibition.

The vultus Collection

The Vultus collection by Mario Henrique is based on the concept of hypernormalisation - a term first coined by the Russian anthropologist Alexei Yurchak to portray a “fake world” created by corporations and kept stable by politicians, due to their inability do deal with the complex aspects of the “real world”. The British filmmaker Adam Curtis would later use the term as the main subject for his 2016 documentary, elaborating on how this fake and simplified world is designed to manipulate the general population, thus mining the overall perception of reality. "Vultus" means faces, as in appearance or look. These paintings depict victims of this warped reality in which we are immersed, namely refugees and migrants. The purpose of it is to bring those faces out of obscurity and consequently offer some resistance to the hypernormalisation of the world.

artist statement

It’s not a profession nor a hobby, from which I may be able to conveniently disconnect myself, in accordance to my state of mind. Painting cannot depend on motivation. It is more important to be aware in the right place, at the right time. The act of laying paint on a canvas is just a mere consequence of this awareness.

artist BIO

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
Art Village Gallery, Memphis, TN

2017
Vultus, Grace Denker Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2016
Icon, Casino Lisboa Art Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
Impulsus, Verney Gallery, Oeiras, Portugal

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
Forming Arts, District, Porto, Portugal

2016
Biennial of Contemporary Art 2016, Pontão do Lago Sul, Brasília, Brazil

COLLECTIONS
InLoco - Cascais, Portugal
Flores do Cabo - Sintra, Portugal
Mario Henrique Studio/Gallery - Cascais, Portugal
Listed in private collections in Portugal, Spain, Italy, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Brazil and USA.

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