Hélio Luis

Born 1980, Portugal

Lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal

Hélio Luís is a self-taught artist from Lisbon, whose large-format paintings depict a space between reality and the imagination. Sourcing from literature, photography, and archival cinema, Luís confronts fraught and complex legacies such as the presence of colonialism and the “exotic” within European art and art history, contextualising them within the contemporary world. Luís’ gestural handling of paint ranges from the subdued to the boldly expressionistic, the technical application and materiality taking a foreground in his practice. Vibrant hues and discernible layers are juxtaposed with a refined, traditional figurativism—a collision of the past and present on the canvas.

EDUCATION

2013 PhD, Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics, NOVA Lisbon, Portugal

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2026 Upcoming, Kutlesa, New York City, New York, USA (Solo)

2026 Upcoming, Kutlesa, New York City, New York, USA (Group)

2025 ‘Painterly (In)Definition,’ Ambar Quijano, Mexico City, Mexico (Group)

2024 ART021 Shanghai, Kutlesa, Shanghai, China (Group)

2024 ‘Prophetic Dreams,’ Kutlesa, Switzerland (Group)

2023-2024 ‘Fantasma,’ Kutlesa, Switzerland (Solo)

2023 ‘Fresh Nature,’ Kutlesa, Switzerland (Group)

2022 ‘Beyond Taprobana,’ Kutlesa, Switzerland (Solo)

2021 ‘Multiple Realities,’ AUC Art (Virtual), London, UK (Group)

2019 ‘Palimpsestos,’ ZET Gallery, Braga, Portugal (Group)

2018 XX Bienal Internacional de Arte de Cerveira, Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal (Group)

2016 ‘Utopia, hoje,’ Museu Abílio de Mattos e Silva, Óbidos, Portugal (Group)

2014 Valbom Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal (Group)