Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA)

Alexandre Farto (AKA Vhils) has developed a unique visual language to emphasize the interdependence between people and the contemporary urban environment, highlighting the impact of development, the passage of time, and material transformation as it relates to society. Through the employ of unconventional tools and techniques such as drills, chisels, or bleach, he creates subtractive images where the surface layers of walls or other types of media are removed to reveal the image, often portraiture, in a way that intertwines both painting and sculpture.

Currently dividing his time between Lisbon and Hong Kong, Vhils was born in 1987 in Lisbon and attended the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London. From his studio, Vhils works in a plurality of media, from stencil painting to metal etching, pyrotechnic explosions and video, to sculptural installations. In addition to creating site-specific art interventions and projects around the globe, he has been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions including at the China Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, the EDP Foundation, Lisbon, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. His works can be found in notable public and private collections including the Hyundai Art Collection, Seoul, the Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, Berlin and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.