Thó Simões

Visual artist | Angola / Brazil

Thó Simões (1973), visual artist, did his art education at the National Institute of Art and Culture (INFAC) in Luanda / Angola and is a graffiti artist working in various art disciplines, including painting, spraying, photography, film, installations and performances.

“I like to observe and expose urban life around me in Africa, particularly Angola, and mix in my works modern art, graffiti, street art as well as traditional and ethnic Herero and Tchokwé heritage.”

Portrait

Thó Simões works from his base at the bustling Angolan capital city of Luanda, where he derives his inspiration from. He works mostly with reclycled materials and combines in his work the symbolism of old African traditions with the graffiti language from the streets of Sao Paulo and creates with this his vision on life in African inner cities.

As such, his world is populated with ordinary people from the street, whom he considers with great warmth and compassion. He sees a world around him, which is in disenchantment in many respects. In the inability of people to deal with diversity and inclusion. In how they interact in societies full of inequalities, conflicts and corruptions, destroying their natural environment. His works show this vulnerable side of life with strength and determination, worth protecting, worth a humane life in sustainable harmony with nature.

His works and performances call for social transformation, embracing the otherness, embracing the environment, the vulnerable part of life and celebrating its diversity.   

 

Thó Simões (1973), contemporary visual artist, did his art education at the National Institute of Art and Culture (INFAC) in Luanda / Angola and is a street artist working in various art disciplines, including painting, spraying, photography, film, installations and performances.  

In his own country Simões belongs to the national top and is one of the key artists in the international Leba Murals project in which 6000 m2 of murals are realized in the provinces of Namibe and Huila. As one of the drivers behind the Fuckin’ Global collective in Luanda, he is synonymous with regular high-profile street art murals, installations, videos and performances.

He has participated since 2001 in many solo and group exhibitions in various countries, including Angola, Brazil, South Africa, Ghana, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. 

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Credentials

Solo exhibitions

2021

Entre Monstros e Homens, Galeria Banco Economico/Gallery MOVART, Luanda Angola

2017

Senhores do Vento, Gallery Movart, Luanda Angola

From the South, from the people, incl. performance Papâ Kitumba, gallery Tamar Golan, Luanda, Angola 

Lords of Wind, Galery Mov’Art, Luanda, Angola 

Na’ Jibo –  Mgt Solutions, incl. Papâ Kitumba performance, Luanda, Angola 

Group exhibitions

2021

Fuckin’Globo VII, Hotel Globo, Luanda, Angola

Nachtbroetchen Art Drive-In via OpenArtExchange, Airport Cologne, Germany

World Art Day, Galeria Banco Economico, Luanda, Angola

2020

African Galleries Now online fair via Gallery MOVART, AGAA/Artsy

MAD: New era for Humanity, gallery MOVART, Luanda, Angola

ARCO Lisboa online via Gallery MOVART/Artsy 

2015-2020

International ‘Leba Murals -Angola 40 years”-project (> 6000 m2), Angolese government, Namib and Huila provinces, Angola 

2019

Untitled02, Galeria Bano Ecnómico, Luanda, Angola 

ArtUp! Lille art fair, via OpenArtExchange, Lille, France 

Hello 2019!, OpenArtExchange, Schiedam (Rotterdam region), Netherlands 

2018

Luxembourg Art Fair, via OpenArtExchange, Luxembourg

Fuckin’ Globo V, Hotel Globo, Luanda, Angola 

#Exchange (duo), OpenArtExchange, Schiedam (Rotterdam-region), Netherlands 

25 in 7 tones, incl. Sound installation  #Registo_09172013_purgatorio, Purgatorio, Luanda, Angola 

Fuckin’Globo IV, incl. Performance Congolandia, Mausoleum Dr. António, Agostonho Neto (MAAN), Luanda, Angola 

2017

Black november, The colors of Snake street Art Festival, Salvador, Brazil 

Kaluandando, Luanda, Angola 

FNB, Johannesburg Art Fair, Gallery MOVART, Johannesburg, South-Africa  

Chale Wote Street Art Festival, Accra, Ghana 

Fuckin’Globo III, Luanda, Angola 

Artistic residency

2021   

Fuckin’Globo VII, Hotel Globo, Luanda, Angola  

2020   

Vila Sul, Goethe Institute, Salvador, Brazil  

2018    

OpenArtExchange, Schiedam, The Netherlands 

Awards

Nominee Angolan government for International Biennale Beijing 2019