Joana Vasconcelos
Born in 1971, Joana Vasconcelos is a Portuguese contemporary visual artist with a 30 year’s practice, renowned for her monumental sculptures. Drawing inspiration from everyday life, pop references, Portuguese traditions and the opulence of the Baroque, Joana Vasconcelos also establishes a dialogue with artists who preceded her, such as Bernini, Duchamp or Louise Bourgeois
Her work explores a wide variety of media and materials, channelling old techniques by embedding then into contemporary practice. Her thought-provoking yet colourful and uplifting art reaches publics from all ages and walks of life. Challenging the status quo, Joana Vasconcelos creates a bridge between the domestic and public. With her site-specific installations and sculptures, Joana subverts and questions the status of women, consumerism, and collective identity with irony and humour.
Joana emerged to international acclaim through her participation in the first Venice Biennale ever curated by women with The Bride in 2005, followed by Trafaria Praia in 2013, the first floating pavilion at the Biennale, where she participated seven times so far. The youngest artist and the only woman ever exhibiting at Versailles Palace, Joana was also the first Portuguese to grace the Guggenheim Bilbao with a major retrospective. Her work is included in major museums and collections such as the Palazzo Grassi, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Royal Academy of Arts, São Paulo’s CCBB, La Monnaie Paris, Palais de Tokyo, the Hermitage. Calouste Gulbenkian, Coleção Berardo, François Pinault and Louis Vuitton’s Foundations, among others.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Flow, La Patinoire Royale, Galerie Valerie Bach, Brussels, Belgium
Joana Vasconcelos' Valkyries, Norte Shopping, Porto, Portugal
2020 Beyond, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, United Kingdom
Valkyrie Rán, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
Valkyrie Mumbet, MAAM - MassArt Art Museum, Boston, USA
Tea-Chai, National Museum, New Delhi, India
2019 Lar Doce Lar, Edifício dos Leões, Santander Totta headquarters, Lisbon
Joana Vasconcelos: I'm Your Mirror, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands
What are you hiding? May you find what you're looking for, San Clemente Palace Kempinski, Isola
di San Clemente, Venice
Petit Gâteau, Porto Airport, Maia
Maximal, Max Ernst Museum, Brühl, Germany [cat.]
Joana Vasconcelos: I'm Your Mirror, Serralves Museum and Park, Porto [cat.]
Glacée dorée, Gowen Contemporay, Geneva, Switzerland
White Light, Le Bon Marché, Paris, France [cat.]
2018 I Want to Break Free, Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, France [cat.]
Joana Vasconcelos: Exagérer pour Inventer, Hôtel des Arts, Toulon, France [cat.]
Joana Vasconcelos: I'm Your Mirror, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain [cat.]
Joana Vasconcelos: Gateway, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
2017 Joana Vasconcelos at Peyrassol, Commanderie de Peyrassol, Flassans-sur-Issole, France
Red Independent Heart, Centennial of the Apparitions of Fatima, Cathédrale de Notre-Dame,
Luxembourg
Joana Vasconcelos, Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg, Germany [cat.]
2016 De Fil(s) en Aiguille(s), La Patinoire Royale, Brussels, Belgium [cat.]
Joana Vasconcelos - Textures of Life, ARoS Aahrus Kunstmuseum, Aahrus, Denmark [cat.]
Joana Vasconcelos, Patricia Low Contemporary, Gstaad, Switzerland
Trafaria Praia, Doca do Espanhol, Lisbon
2015 Material World, Phillips, London, United Kingdom [cat.]
Giardino dell'Eden: Swatch Faces 2015 - Pavilion at Giardini, 56th International Art Exhibition
- la Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy [cat.]
Joana Vasconcelos at MGM Macau, MGM Macau, Macau, China [cat.]
2014 Valkyrie Marina Rinaldi, Palazzo Bocconi, Milan, Italy
Red Independent Heart #3, Centro Cultural de Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo
Valkyrie Trousseau, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art & The George Bernard Shaw Theatre,
Carlow, Ireland
Casarão, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Time Machine, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom [cat.]
2013 Lusitana, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel [cat.]
Red Independent Heart #3, Paços do Concelho, Lisbon
Joana Vasconcelos, Galería Horrach Moya, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Joana Vasconcelos, Gucci Museo, Florence, Italy
Trafaria Praia, Portuguese Pavilion, 55th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di
Venezia, Venice, Italy [cat.]
Joana Vasconcelos, Palácio Nacional da Ajuda, Lisbon [cat.]
2012 Joana Vasconcelos, Haunch of Venison, London, United Kingdom
The Bride, Centquatre, Paris, France
Petit Gâteau, Centre Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris, France
Joana Vasconcelos Versailles, Château de Versailles, Versailles, France [cat.]
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017 Stage of Being, Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, Netherlands [cat.]
Im kleinen Format, Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg, Germany
Reflection, Fashion and Lace Museum, Brussels, Belgium
Women House, Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France [cat.]
SerpentiForm, ArtScience Museum, Singapore; Mori Arts Center Gallery, Tokyo, Japan [cat.]
One Collection = One Museum | 2007-2017, Elvas Museum of Contemporary Art, Elvas
À la Lumière de Matisse, Musée de Vence, Vence, France [cat.]
Revival, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, United States of America
[cat.]
Blickachsen 11. Contemporary Sculpture in Bad Homburg and Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Blickachsen
Foundation, Bad Homburg, Germany [cat.]
Love. Contemporary Art Meets Amour, Museo della Permanente, Milan, Italy [cat.]
Glastress Boca Raton, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, United States of America
Entangled: Threads and Making, Turner Contemporary, Margate, United Kingdom [cat.]
2016 Im kleinen Format, Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg, Germany
The Colors of the Sun: the Light of Fatima in the Contemporary World, Shrine of Fatima, Fatima
Love. Contemporary Art Meets Amour, Chiostro del Bramante, Rome, Italy [cat.]
Beyond Limits, Chatsworth, Derbyshire, United Kingdom [cat.]
Portugal Portugueses - Contemporary Art, Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil [cat.]
Below Borders! Vivam o Design e as Artes, Sala do Risco, Pátio da Galé, Lisbon [cat.]
Jakobshallen, Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg, Germany
Sculpture en Partage, Villa Datris, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France
Glassfever - Contemporary Art in Glass, DordtYart, Dordrecht, The Netherlands
P. - A Tribute to Paulo Cunha e Silva, por Extenso, Galeria Municipal do Porto, Porto
[cat.]
SerpentiForm, Museo di Roma- Palazzo Braschi, Rome, Italy [cat.]
Transitory Materials - Sculpture nucleus from the PLMJ Foundation Collection, Sociedade
Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon [cat.]
2015 Im kleinen Format, Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg, Germany.
The Trick in the Smile, ARTIUM, Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, Victoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Les Mondes Inversés, BPS 22, Musée d'Art de la Province de Hainaut, Charleroi, Belgium
Strangers in the Night, XIII Portuguese Exhibition, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Spain
Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft and Design, Midcentury and Today, National Museum of
Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, United States of America
The Violet Crab at DRAF, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, United Kingdom
Blickachsen 10. Contemporary Sculpture in Bad Homburg and Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Blickachsen
Foundation Bad Homburg, Germany [cat.]
O Olhar do Colecionador / The Collector's Eye, Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon
Glasstress 2015 Gotika, Collateral Event of the 56th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale
di Venezia, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, Venice, Italy
Works from the António Cachola Collection, Graça Morais Contemporary Art Center, Bragança
Heartbreak Hotel, Vanhaerents Art Collection, Zuecca Project Space, Venice, Italy
Cycle, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasília, Brazil
2014 Topazio - 140 Years of Silver, MUDE - Museum of Design and Fashion, Lisbon
Beyond Painting, Manuel de Brito Art Center, Algés
Reigning Cats and Dogs, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, United States of America
Chapeaux !, Hommage à Robert Filliou, La vitrine am, Paris, France [cat.]
Expérience Pommery #12 : Bleu Brut, Domaine Pommery, Reims, France
Made By... Feito por Brasileiros, Cidade Matarazzo, São Paulo, Brazil [cat.]
Cycle, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil
Piano Dentelle #2, 1st Biennial Jorge Lima Barreto - Art is Life and Life is Art!, Cultural Center
Counts of Vinhais Manor House, Vinhais
Miss Dior, Shanghai Sculpture Space, Shanghai, China [cat.]
Genius Loci, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, Venice, Italy
Boom Bang, NN Contemporary Art, Northampton, United Kingdom
The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt, various locations, New York, United States of America
Barockt, Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm, Sweden [cat.]
Triangle House at the Pivot, Copan Building, São Paulo, Brazil
Tiempos Abiertos: Fondos de la coléccion ARTIUM de Álava, Domus Artium 2002 (DA2),
Salamanca; Tomás y Valiente Art Center (CEART), Fuenlabrada, Spain
Works from the António Cachola Collection, MACE - Museum of Contemporary Art of Elvas, Elvas
2013 Miss Dior, Grand Palais, Paris, France [cat.]
Art Wars, Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Abecedário Ar.Co 40 Years, National Museum of Contemporary Art - Museu do Chiado, Lisbon
[cat.]
Something Old Something New, Cheongju International Craft Biennale 2013, Old Tobacco
Processing Plant, Cheongju, South Korea [cat.]
Sincronías: Artistas Portugueses en la Colección António Cachola, MEIAC - Museo Extremeño e
Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo, Badajoz, Spain
2020 Officier de Les Artes et Les Lettres, Ministry of Culture, France
The Women Together Art Award 2020, The Women Together Foundation, United States of
America
2019 Most Influential Women in Portugal Award 2019, Executive Magazine, Portugal
2019 Best Artist of the Year 2019, Revista Interiores, Spain
Most Influential Women of Portugal Award 2018, Revista Executiva, Portugal
2018 The Loth Sculpture Area Prize 2018, L-BankWilhelm Loth, Germany
Most Influential Women in Portugal Prize 2017, Executiva Magazine, Portugal
Five Stars Prize - Personality 2018 Fine Arts, Five Stars, Portugal
2017 Most Influential Women of Portugal Award 2016, Executiva Magazine, Portugal
Five Stars Award - Personality 2017 Plastic Arts, Five stars, Portugal
