ABOUT THE ARTIST

The artist is represented by the following galleries:

Dan Gallery
São Paulo SP
www.dangaleria.com.br

Dengler und Dengler Gallery
Stuttgart Germany
www.denglerunddengler.de

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

Arte Plural Gallery
Recife PE
www.artepluralgaleria.com.br

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.