Emanuel de Carvalho
Present Tense
27 January – 28 April 2024
Somerset
About the Artist
Emanuel de Carvalho is a Portuguese-Canadian visual artist. He holds an MA degree in Fine Art Painting from The Royal College of Art in London, and a Doctorate Degree (PhD) in Medicine from the University of Amsterdam. He has completed postgraduate studies in neuro-ophthalmology at University College London and in painting at Turps Art School in London and Slade School of Fine Art. He lives and works in London.
His practice reflects on moral and societal codes and how these relate to psychophysical perceptive responses. Drawing from an academic background in visual processing studies and the phenomenological interpretation of imagery and sound, De Carvalho uses painting, sculpture, installation, and sound to examine our ways of seeing and perceiving in the current zeitgeist.
Through his work, he aims to challenge and question the structures of vision, presenting an alternative perspective that extends beyond conventional notions of representation. His work is deeply rooted in engagement with philosophical texts on sexuality and gender, medicalization, institutional power, disidentification, anarchy and human consciousness, with particular emphasis on the works of Michel Foucault, José Esteban Muñoz, Catherine Malabou, António Damásio and Kathy Acker.
De Carvalho’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Gathering, London, UK (2023); Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Braga, Portugal (2023); Guts Gallery, London, UK (2022); Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai, China (2022); The Sunday Painter, London, UK (2022); Grove, Berlin, Germany (2022); V.O. Curations, London, UK (2022); and Osnova, London, UK and Moscow, Russia (2021). His work has been featured in Artforum, Shadowplay, Altered States, Bottega Veneta x LN-CC, Expresso and It’s Nice That. De Carvalho was a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation award (2022 – 2023).
