Paulo Mendes
www.paulomendes.org
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, 1966. He works in Lisbon and Oporto.
Graduated in Arts, Paulo Mendes is a visual artist, curator of exhibitions and producer of cultural projects. Founder and member of the cultural association PLANO 21 (www.plano21.net).
He has been exhibiting his artwork, both individually and collectively, since the early nineties, having curated several independent and institutional exhibitions in the last twenty years that promote the development of a new generation of Portuguese creators. His work is characterized by the contamination between several fields – cinema, design, architecture, music, theatre, dance -, and by the diversity of media which each project determines – painting, drawing, photography, video, installation and performance. He also engages in work in the editorial and graphic design areas. His production takes on strong contours of political affirmation, generating resistance to the normalized models of reception. By addressing social reality, the author takes on a deceptive and interventional stance and thwarts the expectations of the spectator. Art, in Paulo Mendes’ view, should be characterized by its criticism and through forms of comprehension capable of generating discussion and resistance to the systems of power: “Art should be a space for discussion, not for exclusion.â€