MONASTÉRIO by Vasco Maio

The individual exhibition MONASTÉRIO by Vasco Maio will open on October 10, from 6 pm. to 8.30 pm.
The exhibition will be on display until November 1 and the admission is free.

The word monastery comes from the Greek μοναστήριον (monasterion), formed by the root monos — “alone” — and the suffix terion — “place intended for a practice.”

To think about artistic practice in light of this etymology is to recognize the studio as a space of productive isolation, where distance does not mean a break with the world, but, paradoxically, an opening to it. It is in the studio that subjectivity and sensitivity meet with the presence of matter, establishing a field of experimentation where interiority and the world intertwine.

In essence, it is always the artist, alone, facing his practice, who elaborates a proposal — a sensitive reflection that projects beyond the walls of the studio — offering the world a gesture of this encounter.

In this set of works, the artist dwells on the idea of place and the vibration of an atmosphere. The firmament, always present, is drawn on the horizon line, while in the center a space impregnated with silence opens up. It is the image of a suspended moment, charged with tension—the breath that precedes the event. A metaphor for the times of uncertainty that surround us today.

BIOGRAPHY

Vasco Maio (b. 1983) is a visual artist based in Almada, Portugal. He works in painting, drawing, illustration, and graphic design.

He has a degree in Communication Design from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon (FBAUL) and started out in graffiti in 1998, developing a relationship with public space and a particular way of thinking about the city.

In 2008, he began working as a graphic designer, having worked on several projects, mostly in the field of culture. Since 2016, he has a studio in Almada where he works in the visual arts and illustration.

Vasco has participated in several urban art projects and has exhibited his work individually and collectively since 2001.