Everything You Need To Know About Jos Pedro Croft: Portugal's Biennale Artist

Who is representing Portugal in Venice’s 15th Architecture Bienniale and 57th Arts Biennale? That would be the Portuguese artist and sculptor José Pedro Croft. His specialty is architectural art, although José has decades of experience experimenting with various artistic styles. During these events, José is also collaborating with Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira.

Born in Porto in 1957, José Pedro Croft moved to Lisbon as a teenager and studied painting at the Escola Superior de Belas Artes de Lisboa. Today, he focuses his energies on sculpting and drawing, and recently showcased pieces in Barcelona, in an exhibit titled ‘Novos Trabalhos, Velhos Territórios‘ (‘New Work, Old Territories’). This was his fourth exhibition in Barcelona’s Galer í a Senda art gallery. He has also shown his work at Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Madrid’s Galería Helga de Alvear, Paris’s Galerie Bernard Bouche, and Portugal’s Galeria Mário Sequeira (located in the city of Braga, in the northern part of the country), in addition to other galleries and museums across Europe.

José also has showcased work in Brazil’s Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro and Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo.

Shapes, colors, and dimensions are the focus of many of his works. He also plays with different materials to create mechanical and conceptual art, often using wood, metals, glass, and mirrors.

The Venice Arts Biennale, organized by the Biennale Foundation, has taken place since the late 19th century, running every other year (falling on odd-numbered years). The focus of this Italian international exhibition has always been the visual arts, with the addition of an architectural arm in 1980.

José Pedro Croft will represent Portugal as a country, Lisbon’s Pavilion of Portugal, and the building’s architect Álvaro Siza Vieira. The Pavilion’s exhibit, titled ‘Medida Incerta’ (‘Uncertain Measure’), will focus on space and perception through the use of six outdoor sculptures made of glass and metal suspended in the air. They will occupy space in the gardens of the exhibition’s location at Venice’s Villa Hériot.

Lisbon’s Álvaro Siza Vieira-designed Pavilion of Portugal I

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