Abel Mota uses painting as an activation of an almost inexhaustible curiosity. He assimilates references from the most diverse origins with the same intensity and articulates them spontaneously. He combines diverse elements from Portuguese, Brazilian or Nordic folklore,Eastern European cinema or his private collection of popular ceramics and other objects, creating a vocabulary that becomes increasingly complex.
Abel Mota (Portugal, 1999) is a painter and visual artist who works between Porto and Braga. He attended the painting course at the Faculty of Fine Arts of University of Porto and Tim Eitel’s studio at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris, standing out in the first year with the Incentive Prize/Merit Prize. Since 2017 he participated in several artistic residencies, group and solo shows, in Portugal and abroad.
Highlights include projects in Chã das Caldeiras, CapeVerde and Conceição das Crioulas, Brazil, with the ID_CAI - Identidades group and at the Encontrarte Art Biennial. He has exhibited his work at the Palto Gallery, Swab Barcelona, the Soares dos Reis National Museum, the Meng Tak Building Gallery, China, the Encontrarte Biennial, Amares, the FBAUP Museum and at the 21st Cerveira International Art Biennial.
In 2021 he cofounded his studio and cultural space O Bueiro, in Porto, inaugurating it as an open-studio with the exhibition ‘Sorry, Mum’. That same year, he won the Millennium BCP Foundation's Young Art prize and was invited to create the Herdade do Esporão Artist Labels.
Since 2019, he has collaborated with the design studio Gémeo Luís and Eduardo Aires Studio.

Exhibitions
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
(TBA) Forum Braga Gallery (PT)
(TBA) Plato Gallery Porto (PT)
Queridas Bestas, Plato Gallery, Évora (PT)
Esporão, Permanent exhibition at Herdade do Esporão, Évora (PT)
Landscape at a glance, VII Encontrarte Art Biennale, Amares (PT)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
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, 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
(TBA) 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)
(TBA) Plato Interviews, 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)
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 andEduardo 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 dasCrioulas, 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)