ABOUT THE ARTIST

The artist is represented by the following galleries:


Dengler und Dengler Gallery
Stuttgart Germany
www.denglerunddengler.de

Gaby Indio da Costa Contemporary Art
Rio de Janeiro RJ
www.gabyindiodacosta.com

Introduction

Throughout his work as a visual artist, the connections between art and science were always present, both as in conceptual aspects as in practical/constructive ones. Through painting and photography, the artist explores the notions of space and time, generating new relations and intersections between their forms of representation in both fields, which led him to constant contact with physicists and mathematicians from several countries, culminating recently in the creation of an international collaboration platform, funded by the National Science Foundation (USA) and the Isaac Newton Institute (Cambridge, England), with the artist being a member of its management committee.

His work has been shown in important institutions and galleries, in Brazil and abroad, with emphasis on the exhibition “Cartographies of nonexistent worlds”, a large anthological exhibition of his career that presented a selection of the last 15 years of work, made by curator Heloisa Espada (from 10/2022 to 03/2023). The show also included an international seminar on art and science and a book launch. The newspaper Folha de São Paulo listed the exhibition among the 15 best of 2022.

Three books have been published about his work, one by the Spanish Dardo Editions in 2017 (Manoel Veiga), another by Editora Barléu in Rio de Janeiro in 2019 (Dark Matter) and the third by Ipsis Pub in São Paulo in 2023 (Cartographies of nonexistent worlds). The artist's work and career can also be appreciated in documentaries films made by Bravo Magazine, by the Arte1 channel and others, all accessible through this website.


Biography

Brazilian artist Manoel Veiga was born in August 1966, in Recife. The following year, his family moves to Boa Viagem, on the seashore, now a district of Recife, one of the largest cities in Brazil. He is the first of his parents’ three children. From an early age his interest in Literature shows, and as soon as he learns to read, he becomes an avid reader. He starts drawing quite early, in a most spontaneous and precocious way, and this activity eventually plays an important role in his childhood.

The boy is interested in science and mathematics as well, and consequently Manoel Veiga becomes a student who is well acquainted with computers and their functioning. He starts reading about Art in his teens, and even though he had stopped drawing when he was 12, he keeps an intellectual interest on the subject, something which makes him visit museums and art galleries wherever he goes. (Veiga will be 28 when he starts drawing again.)

In 1985, he attends the Federal University of Pernambuco as a student of Electronic Engineering; soon after, he is awarded a research grant to work in the Physics Department, and this has a huge impact on him. That is when he takes on photography as a hobby. Once he graduates as an Electronic Engineer, he starts working with industrial automation for a French organization, where he goes through management-skills training. Four years later, Veiga pursues drawing again, this time with formal instruction, at Renato Valle’s studio – where he starts painting as well. Some months after that, he puts an end to his life as an Engineer, and this is when artist Gil Vicente starts supervising Veiga’s drawing and painting.

Although essentially self-taught, Veiga attends some important art courses, for instance at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, in Paris. At the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation, in Recife, he meets art critic Agnaldo Farias, who will encourage Veiga to move to Sao Paulo and work there. This change of address takes place later on, and Veiga lives and works in Sao Paulo to this day.

Over the years, Veiga has kept in touch with artists like Eduardo Frota, Gil Vicente, and Marcelo Silveira, as well as with art critics and curators like Agnaldo Farias and Moacir dos Anjos – and all of them have influenced his career. Veiga has shown his work in exhibitions both in Brazil and abroad, has worked as assistant curator, and has been asked by organizations such as Bienal de Sao Paulo and Instituto Tomie Ohtake to carry out various types of research work.