MARCELO MONTEIRO
Marcelo Monteiro (1981, Maringá – PR) is a brazilian visual artist. In his practice, shaped by his lived experiences, he addresses power relations within the world of labor. Matter and materiality are, supposedly, elements that move together in his poetic propositions. In his sculptures, installations, site-specifics, and drawings—predominantly in wood and steel—Marcelo subverts the supposed functionalities of tools and instruments used in industrial and factory environments, taking advantage of an illusory condition produced through his direct intervention in the materials.
He has participated in important group exhibitions in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and has held solo exhibitions in Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, including: “Sobre Prumos?” (Paço Imperial, RJ, 2023), curated by Fernando Cocchiarale. Between 2023 and 2024, he took part in the group exhibition “A quarta geração construtiva” at FGV Arte, curated by Paulo Herkenhoff. In 2025, he presented “Trabalho” (Galeria Candido Portinari – UERJ – Maracanã) and “Pendular” (OMA Galeria – SP). Also in 2025, he was selected through the SESC Pulsar open call to develop the exhibition “Tripalium” at SESC Copacabana.
Monteiro, who also holds a degree in History, worked (between 2018 and 2022) as an assistant professor in the History and Art Theory courses taught by Anna Bella Geiger and Fernando Cocchiarale at EAV/Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.
Marcelo Monteiro (1981, Maringá – PR) is a brazilian visual artist. In his practice, shaped by his lived experiences, he addresses power relations within the world of labor. Matter and materiality are, supposedly, elements that move together in his poetic propositions. In his sculptures, installations, site-specifics, and drawings—predominantly in wood and steel—Marcelo subverts the supposed functionalities of tools and instruments used in industrial and factory environments, taking advantage of an illusory condition produced through his direct intervention in the materials.
He has participated in important group exhibitions in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and has held solo exhibitions in Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, including: “Sobre Prumos?” (Paço Imperial, RJ, 2023), curated by Fernando Cocchiarale. Between 2023 and 2024, he took part in the group exhibition “A quarta geração construtiva” at FGV Arte, curated by Paulo Herkenhoff. In 2025, he presented “Trabalho” (Galeria Candido Portinari – UERJ – Maracanã) and “Pendular” (OMA Galeria – SP). Also in 2025, he was selected through the SESC Pulsar open call to develop the exhibition “Tripalium” at SESC Copacabana.
Monteiro, who also holds a degree in History, worked (between 2018 and 2022) as an assistant professor in the History and Art Theory courses taught by Anna Bella Geiger and Fernando Cocchiarale at EAV/Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.
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(...) His works make use of the condition of illusion produced by his meticulous craftsmanship. The simulation of work instruments—objects that exist only through Marcelo’s creation and his direct action on the material—challenges us to decipher the meaning of these tools without workers, whose specific function is impossible to define precisely, since their supposed functionality has been subverted.
(...)
Since they are not articulated according to the productive logic of a technical mechanism, their folds simultaneously reveal the metaphorical dimension of the means and tools used by the artist. Rather than representing reality, they create a tension with it, as they are grounded above all in poetic articulations. His works establish analogies with the conditions of power expressed through the tension between the materials from which they are made."
Fernando Cocchiarale, in the curatorial text for the exhibition “Sobre Prumos?”.
"Marcelo Monteiro combines the articulation of wood—his sculptural matrix—with expansive forms imbued with a restlessness that seem to be in disarray or to suggest unexpected contradictions. By placing things among other things, he sets our perception at a crossroads; our gaze tightens and acquires a split visibility. He explores instability, threshold situations, the delicate balance that situates us in a troubled territory, yet he reaffirms his visual field of force."
Vanda Klabin, in the curatorial text for the exhibition "No limite do possível".
(...)
Since they are not articulated according to the productive logic of a technical mechanism, their folds simultaneously reveal the metaphorical dimension of the means and tools used by the artist. Rather than representing reality, they create a tension with it, as they are grounded above all in poetic articulations. His works establish analogies with the conditions of power expressed through the tension between the materials from which they are made."
Fernando Cocchiarale, in the curatorial text for the exhibition “Sobre Prumos?”.
"Marcelo Monteiro combines the articulation of wood—his sculptural matrix—with expansive forms imbued with a restlessness that seem to be in disarray or to suggest unexpected contradictions. By placing things among other things, he sets our perception at a crossroads; our gaze tightens and acquires a split visibility. He explores instability, threshold situations, the delicate balance that situates us in a troubled territory, yet he reaffirms his visual field of force."
Vanda Klabin, in the curatorial text for the exhibition "No limite do possível".
"Although there may be a possible anthropomorphic relation in some objects, what interests him is to reveal that matter and Time follow structures we can only approach through a dedicated habit of working them, remembering them, embroidering them, folding them, sculpting them—as the artist does daily in his studio.
(...)
And although we may fall into the mistake of believing this to be the natural becoming of every studio, it is essential to emphasize that, in this artist’s case, beyond a most natural simplicity in relation to his craft, there is a rare dedication to process and an urgent reconnection of thought to manual making. This makes possible a certain structural historical reencounter that, both in a macro narrative of Art History and in a Brazilian micronarrative, has been losing ground. There is something of an unromantic devotion in the artist’s gesture that reveals a genuine understanding of the material effort of existence and of the transcendence of the creative act, consolidated in his reclaimed noble woods, suited to the formal precision that here finds its proper measure."
Alexandre Sá, in the curatorial text for the exhibition "Trabalho".
(...)
And although we may fall into the mistake of believing this to be the natural becoming of every studio, it is essential to emphasize that, in this artist’s case, beyond a most natural simplicity in relation to his craft, there is a rare dedication to process and an urgent reconnection of thought to manual making. This makes possible a certain structural historical reencounter that, both in a macro narrative of Art History and in a Brazilian micronarrative, has been losing ground. There is something of an unromantic devotion in the artist’s gesture that reveals a genuine understanding of the material effort of existence and of the transcendence of the creative act, consolidated in his reclaimed noble woods, suited to the formal precision that here finds its proper measure."
Alexandre Sá, in the curatorial text for the exhibition "Trabalho".
Marcelo Monteiro (1981, Maringá – PR) s a brazilian visual artist. In his practice, shaped by his lived experiences, he addresses power relations within the world of labor. Matter and materiality are, supposedly, elements that move together in his poetic propositions. In his sculptures, installations, site-specifics, and drawings—predominantly in wood and steel—Marcelo subverts the supposed functionalities of tools and instruments used in industrial and factory environments, taking advantage of an illusory condition produced through his direct intervention in the materials.