Galeria Inox

Antonio Manuel da Silva Oliveira (Avelãs de Caminho, Portugal, 1947). Sculptor, painter, printmaker, and draftsperson. He arrived in Brazil in 1953 and settled with his family in Rio de Janeiro. In the mid-1960s, he studied at the Escolinha de Arte do Brasil (EAB) under Augusto Rodrigues (1913–1993) and attended Ivan Serpa’s (1923–1973) studio. During this period, he also audited courses at the National School of Fine Arts (Enba). Initially, he used newspapers and their printing matrices, the flongs, as supports for his works, making interventions and fabricating news stories that addressed political themes and aesthetic debates.

In 1968, at the exhibition “Apocalipopótese”, organized by Hélio Oiticica (1937–1980) and Rogério Duarte (1939), he presented “Urnas Quentes” (Hot Urns), sealed wooden boxes meant to be smashed open by the public. In 1970, Antonio Manuel proposed his own body as an artwork at the Salon of Modern Art held at the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM/RJ). He later produced several short films, including “Loucura & Cultura” (Madness & Culture), 1973 and “Semi-ótica” (Semi-optics, 1975). Beginning in the 1980s, he created abstract-geometric paintings exploring orthogonal lines and the suggestion of labyrinths. In 1994, he presented the first version of the installation “Fantasma” (“Phantom”), which, like other works by the artist, invites reflection on the Brazilian social and political context.