Portuguese sculptor born in S. Mamede de Coronado. From 1947 until 1958 he worked at a religious imagery workshop in his birthplace where he learned the art of carving wood, stone and ivory. He received a degree in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts of Oporto and a post-graduate at Saint Martin's School of Art, London. He was professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Oporto. He has organised, participated and run courses, debates and seminars on body dynamics, art and pedagogy. Body, life and nature were always his first and essential references - his main conceptual guidelines, connected with Eastern philosophy. His manifestations of ecological art, registered in photography, Operação estética em Vilar de Paraíso (1973), Os sete rituais estéticos sobre um feixe de vimes na paisagem (1975), Trajecto de um corpo (1976-77), Floresta (1978), establish a relationship between the artist's body, landscape and natural elements. Writing is a component of his work process, as seen in the Black Notebook (1968-71) and Notes for a Manifesto on ecological art de Arte Ecológica (1968-72). In the 80's, he revisited his work on wood (topiary, cedar). Mântrica (1987-88) revealed contact points with Carneiro's earlier creations. Mântrica constitutes, as well, a mystical exercise, in his attempt "to re-find himself in his own roots". The veins that run through it are the memory of the artist's body in relation with the natural elements. Solo exhibitions (selection) 1967 Gal. Divulgação, Oporto, 1971 and 1973, Gal.Quadrante, Lisbon, CAPC, Coimbra, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1983 Gal. Quadrum, 1976 F.C. Gulbenkian CAM-JAP, Museu Nac. Soares dos Reis, Oporto, Venice Biennal, Venice, Italy, 1977 Gal. Gaëtan, Geneve, Switzerland; 1988, 1991 Gal. EMI Valentim de Carvalho, Lisbon, 1978 Galeria Módulo, Oporto, 1993 Gal. Pedro Oliveira, Oporto. Group shows: (selection): 1969 VI Bienale de Paris; 1976 Arte Portoghese Contemporanea, Roma; 1984 Le XXème au Portugal, CAB, Brussels; 1986 Forma Viva Simposia, Kostanjevica, Yugoslavia; 1986/7 Il Sculpteurs Européens, Europália, Florence, Italy; 1988 Imagens do Sagrado, F.C.Gulbenkian CAM, Lisbon, 1992 Casa da Alfândega no Porto. Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, and Serralves Foundation, Oporto have shown retrospectives of his work in 1991.
