Osvaldo Ferreira
Osvaldo Ferreira (b. 1980, Angola) explores themes associated with the everyday life of Angolan society, evidencing an intergenerational continuity/discontinuity concerning social experiences.
His work, primarily constituted of paintings, often integrates chromatic and material elements that refer to the African textile tradition of exuberant colours. With this, he aims to emphasize the presence of Africa’s cultural and social heritage – a continent that, through colonization and globalisation, witnessed successive processes of appropriation and cultural manipulation, triggering involuntary miscegenation and the imposition of a system that degenerates the continent’s identity.
In 2019, Osvaldo was one of the first artists to complete a higher education in Visual Arts within the Angolan territory (Instituto Superior de Artes - ISARTES). Since 2020, his work has been represented by the gallery THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE in Luanda, Lisbon, and internationally. His paintings were integrated into several collections worldwide (Portugal, Angola, United Kingdom, Italy, Israel, United States, Spain, France, Romania, and India, among others) such as the collection of Carla & Pieter Schulting and The Rockefeller Foundation collection (New York, USA). Furthermore, he was awarded one of Angola's most relevant distinctions in visual arts - the ENSA Art 2020 Painting Grand Prize – and held a solo exhibition (2021) at one of Luanda's most important exhibition spaces - Galeria Banco Económico.
Since 2005, he has been an employee of Luanda’s Ministry of Culture and a member of the National Union of Plastic Artists. He lectured the Visual Arts Course at the Art Schools Complex (CEART), and was part of the jury in several editions of the Carnival – one of the most prominent cultural manifestations of Angola – in the categories of panel analysis (2019) and allegory (2020).
Furthermore, he was awarded one of Angola's most relevant distinctions in visual arts - the ENSA Art 2020 Painting Grand Prize – and held a solo exhibition (2021) at one of Luanda's most important exhibition spaces - Galeria Banco Económico. In 2021, Osvaldo was invited to be part of the first artistic residency of the NESR Art Foundation.
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