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Abel Mota uses drawing and painting as tools to spark an almost inexhaustible curiosity. His visual research blends a wide range of references, from Iberian and South American folklore to Eastern European cinema, traditional ceramics and “borrowed” imagery from the digital everyday. His works inhabit a space that is both narrative and intimate, confronting us with subtle humour and an enigmatic emotional ambiguity. His practice builds a shared mythology, one that feels at once strange and familiar, where memory, affection and imagination intersect.
Abel Mota (Portugal, 1999) is a visual artist living and working between Porto and Braga. He studied Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and attended Tim Eitel’s studio at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Since 2017, he has taken part in artist residencies in Cape Verde and Brazil, and has shown his work in several solo and group exhibitions both in Portugal and abroad.
Notable solo exhibitions include A Whale of a Time, Fórum Arte Braga, 2025; Queridas Bestas, Galeria Plato, 2024; and group shows/art fairs such as the Encontrarte Biennial (2017–2025), Bienal de Cerveira, 2020, and Swab Barcelona, 2025.
In 2021, he received the Millennium BCP Youth Art Prize and collaborated with Esporão on visual identity work.
He is co-founder of the studio and cultural space O Bueiro and regularly collaborates with the design studios of Gémeo Luís and Eduardo Aires.
Exhibitions
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
(TBA) Forum Braga Gallery (PT)
A Whale of a Time, curated by Diogo Ramalho, Fórum Arte Braga, Braga (PT)
Bicho de Seis Cabeças, curated by Frederico Vicente, Plato Gallery Porto (PT)
From Afar, curated by Fernando Almeida, Aquário, IX Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
Queridas Bestas, curated by Diogo Ramalho, Plato Gallery, Évora (PT)
Esporão, Permanent exhibition at Herdade do Esporão, Évora (PT)
Landscape at a glance, curated by Fernando Almeida, VII Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
A Casa de Francisca Dumont, curated by Raquel Guerra, Perspective Gallery / Palacete Severo, Porto (PT)
São ou Não, São Mamede Gallery, Lisboa, (PT)
Tangled Narratives, curated by Joana Astolfi, Lisbon Design Week, Lisboa (PT)
Desfoque, Municipal Gallery of Lourinhã, Lourinhã (PT)
Dyonisia, Plato Gallery, SWAB Contemporary Art Fair, Barcelona (ES)
Um múltiplo é um múltiplo é um múltiplo, Carpe Diem, Stolen Books, curated by Jente Diepstraten, Lisboa(PT)
Obra-dádiva, Camões institute -Maputo, curated by Paulo Almeida, Mozambique(MZ)
Equine Fair, Pop-up, curated by Felipa Almeida, Lisbon (PT)
El Paisage que Habla, FBAUP Exhibition Pavilion,Porto (PT)
Maia Art Biennial, Maia Forum, Porto (PT)
Da Confluência, VII Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
El Paisage que Habla,Universidad de Guanajuato (MX)
Gerador - National Show of Young Artists (PT)
El Paisage que Habla, Archivo del Sonido y de la Imagen del Consell de Mallorca (ES)
Corrente de Ar, Vol.II, curated by Mariana Baião Santos, Lisbon (PT)
Projeções, Lugar do Desenho, Julio Resende Foundation, Porto (PT)
8 pinturas e 5 desenhos, Drawing Club Space, Porto (PT)
Exhibition of the prize AJ Millenium BCP, curated by Lourenço Egreja, Pavilion 31, Júlio de Matos Hospital, Lisbon (PT)
Sorry, Mom, O Bueiro, Porto (PT)
The hedgehog's dilemma, Proyecto MAP, Facultad de Bellas Artes de Murcia (ES)
The hedgehog's dilemma, Proyecto MAP, Universidad Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires (AR)
VI Espinho International Art Biennale, Amadeu Sousa Cardoso Galleries, Espinho (PT)
XXI Cerveira International Art Biennale, Vila Nova de Cerveira (PT)
Drawing Chã, Alternativa Gallery, S. Vicente Island (CPV)
Opening exhibition, Drawing Club Space, Porto (PT)
Desenhar a incerteza, oMuseu FBAUP, Porto (PT)
Transparent Body, Leões Gallery, University of Porto Rectorate Building,Porto (PT)
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
VIII Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
Mnemonic Pavillion, Viana do Castelo (PT)
Artist Labels 2022, resident artist at Herdade do Esporão, Évora (PT)
Drawing Museu da Pesca, organized by Leão Lopes, S.Nicolau Island (CPV)
Drawing S.Filipe, organized by Leão Lopes, Fogo Island (CPV)
João Abel Mota, Casada Botica, VII Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
Dover a seis mãos, VI Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
Desenhar Chã, Artistic residency and collaboration with Chã das Caldeiras in Fogo Island, M_EIA and Atelier-Mar, (CPV)
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Production grant, Fórum Art Braga, Porto (PT)
Production grant, Maia Biennial, Porto (PT)
Award Arte Jovem Millenium BCP, Lisbon (PT)
Production grant, Encontrarte Art Biennial, Amares (PT)
Scholarship by Merit for the 2019/2020 Academic Year, attributed by DGES -Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior, Porto (PT)
Erasmus+ Scholarship to ENSBA, Paris (FR)
Scholarship by Merit for the 2017/2018 Academic Year, attributed by DGES -Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior, Porto (PT)
Award Incentivo UP - grant by merit for being the student with the highest score in the academic year, Porto (PT)
PUBLICATIONS
Partilha de Reflexões sobre as Artes, as Lutas, os Sabores e os Saberes da Comunnidade de Conceição das Crioulas - livro II; ed. Paiva, José Carlos; i2ADS+ AQCC, Porto (PT)
1 / 12 Interviews, 2025 Plato Editions, Porto (PT)
Artsin Square Magazine, Edition 6, London (UK)
Bienal da Maia 23, Catalog, Camara Municipal da Maia, Porto (PT)
"Ritmos de S.Filipe" in “DESENHAR S.FILIPE" ed. Lopes, Leão; i2ADS + Atelier Mar,Porto (PT and CVP)
(TBA) Illustrations for "Capitão Farel" by Leão Lopes, (reissue) (CPV)
Silo, Fanzine no. 1, Encontrarte Amares Art Biennale
“O que o tempo ainda não roubou: Memórias e reflexões sobre Conceição das Crioulas”. In Partilha de Reflexões sobre as Artes, as Lutas,os Sabores e os Saberes da Comunidade de Conceição das Crioulas- livro II; ed. Paiva, José Carlos; i2ADS + AQCC, Porto (PT)
“Esquissos de um vulcão”, in “DESENHAR CHÃ" ed. Paiva, José Carlos & Simões, Sílvia; i2ADS + Ponto e Vírgula Editions,
PRESS
(articles and interviews)
Article Bicho de Seis Cabeças, de Abel Mota, by Débora Valeixo Rana, Umbigo Magazine, 07 - 10 - 2025 (PT)
News Article Fórum Arte Braga mostra obras de Abel Mota, 'A Whale of a Time, by Rui Serapicos, Correio do Minho, 24-08-2025 (PT)
News Article Forum Arte Braga acolhe exposição ‘A Whale of a Time’ do amarense Abel Mota, Redação, O Amarense 17-07-2025 (PT)
News Article “A Casa de Francisca Dumont” em exibição na Perspective Galerie Porto, Ensaio.pt 21/07/2025 (PT)
Interview Oficio da Solitude, with Rui Reininho, directed by Fernando Rocha,Porto (PT)
Plato interviews, (digital version) Plato Gallery, Porto (PT)
Interview Bienaldamaia23: Abel Mota, by João Brojo. Porto (PT)
O Amarense, "Inside & Outside". Casa da Botica hosts painting exhibition by João Abel Mota from 3, December, Pedro Nuno Sousa, 29.11.2022, Portugal
Público, Abel Mota is the newest artist to paint Esporão labels, Luís Octávio Costa, 27.7.2022, Portugal
O Amarense,
The "en-plein-ar" painting that gives "newlife" to the Esporão wine label, 31.07.2022, Portugal
Esporao.com,
Interview: Esporão Reserva white 2021: a excuse for painting, Afonso Sousa, 30.06.2022, Portugal
Esporao.com,
THE STORIES OF A LABEL: ABEL MOTA, Viviana Martins, Portugal
Expresso das ilhas and Balai Cape Verde, M_EIA and Faculdades de Belas Artes do Porto team involved in the Desenhar São Filipe project,
Infopress, 12.07.2021,
Cape Verde
Jornal de Notícias, Apologies are served with irony, Sara Magalhães, 22.11.2021,Portugal
O Amarense, Interview with João Abel Mota, Through the eyes and hands of someone who sees his taste for the world in art, Pedro Nuno Sousa,
13.10.2019,Portugal
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE, WORKSHOPS AND COLLABORATIONS
/2021
Cofounder and active member of O Bueiro Studio, Porto (PT)
/2018
Active member of the Identidades Project ID_CAI do I2ADS (PT)
Collaboration with the Eduardo Aires Studio with the new lables for Quinta dos Murças, Esporão, Porto(PT)
Drawing workshop with the schools of the Quilombola Community of Conceição dasCrioulas, Pernambuco (BR)
Creation of the Artist Label Esporão in collaboration with Herdade do Esporão and Eduardo Aires Studio, Évora (PT)
Contribution to the seminars about the project "Desenhar Chã"(CPV)
Drawing workshop with the schools of the Quilombola Community of Conceição das Crioulas, Pernambuco (BR)
Collaboration with the Eduardo Aires Studio with the new lable for Bico Amarelo Esporão,Porto (PT)
Collaboration with the Gémeo Luís Studio with the illustration for the collection José Gourmet, Porto (PT)
Organization member of the drawing meeting at Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)