Henrique Oliveira

Henrique Oliveira

When Henrique Oliveira returned to his home in Ourinhos, Brazil, after graduating from college in 1997 with a degree in social communication, he found the resolve to change course and dedicate himself to painting. A year later, he installed his first show in a bar in São Paulo and within a few short months was enrolled in the prestigious fine arts program at the University of São Paulo. His emphasis shifted over the course of his studies from pictorial illusion to experiments with surface. He began to layer canvas on canvas like a collage, or rub sand into his paint to add texture. As he worked, he watched the wood fencing--known as tapumes--around a construction site across from his studio weather and deteriorate. A week before the end-of-year student exhibition, the fences came down. He gathered the wood and set to work on his first installation.