Artur Barrio

Artur Barrio (Artur Alipio Barrio de Sousa Lopes, Porto, 1945) is a visual artist of Portuguese birth who is mainly associated with Brazil. He began painting in 1965 in Rio de Janeiro and then enrolled at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He became known for ephemeral works that invite the public to take part.

In 1969 he created his Situações, assemblages of rubbish, organic matter and unconventional objects. The following year he issued a manifesto against art categories and against the political and social conditions of the Third World. His best-known work, Situation T/T1, placed bloody bundles in urban spaces during the Brazilian military dictatorship. After 1974 he lived in Portugal and then in Paris, where the Centre Georges Pompidou acquired his notebooks and books. In 1982 he returned to painting with the Africana series. In 1987 he showed Experiência nº 1, starting a series of interventions made directly on gallery walls.

His legacy lies in widening what counts as art, using perishable materials and a direct relationship with the viewer. In 2011 he received the Velázquez Prize for Visual Arts.