Juliao Sarmento Biography
Julião Sarmento (1948 - 2021) was born in Lisbon, Portugal. From 1967 to 1970 he studied painting and architecture at the Escola Superior de Belas Artes in Lisbon.
Sarmento has developed a multimedia visual language, combining film, video, sound, painting, sculpture and installations. Sarmento's work often deals with issues of complex interpersonal relationships; through his works he addresses themes such as psychological interaction, sensuality, voyeurism and transgression.
Sarmento is known for his thick, textured canvases, in which the color field forms a base from which he extrapolates his graphite images, inverting the traditional basis of painting. His images are often partially erased, fragmented and layered.
He represented Portugal in two Venice Biennials. His work has been exhibited in public and private collections around the world such as: the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Musée National d'Art Moderne Center Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Holland; the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; and the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico.
In 2012, Sarmento was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition, titled “White Nights,” at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, Portugal. The exhibition was accompanied by an important monographic publication on Sarmento's work, co-published by the museum and Hatje Cantz.
