ORLANDO RAFAEL
Visual artist
Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Orlando Rafael is a Brazilian visual artist whose practice spans painting, installation and socially engaged projects developed over five decades. He studied painting at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage (EAV) under Luiz Áquila and received guidance from Edson Motta at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro. Since the late 1970s, his work has been presented in institutions including Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, SESC, IBEU and the World Trade Center Gallery in Amsterdam.
Practice
Rafael’s work investigates territory as both material and symbolic ground. Through pigment, colour and spatial construction, he transforms soil into image, addressing themes of belonging, extraction, memory and geopolitical tension.
Alongside his studio practice, he has developed long-term art and education programmes with communities and young people in socio-educational contexts in Brazil, positioning art as a field of social and cultural articulation.
Selected Exhibitions & Highlights
Art Takes Times Square, New York
World Trade Center Gallery, Amsterdam
Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro
Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte
II Bienal Nacional de SantosRecipient of the Cultural Merit Medal, Nova Iguaçu (2024)
Acquisition Prize — Salão da Ferrovia (1983)