BIO
GRA
PHY
Daniel Mattar was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1971. From early on, Mattar realized that photography offered a possibility for artistic expression, leading him to pursue a course in Art & Design at PUC-Rio, where he immersed himself in photography.
In the early 1990s, he spent some time in Japan, where he began researching Zen Buddhism and Japanese calligraphy, incorporating them into his photographic work.
Mattar discovered a personal path in portrait photography, launching a highly successful career that lasted nearly 30 years. It is worth noting that Daniel belongs to the last generation of photographers who experienced their art as manual work, without the many post-production technologies available today. He dedicated himself profoundly to studying technique and found his greatest curiosity and talent in lighting.
In 2018, Daniel exchanged the luminous Rio de Janeiro for the luminous Paris , where he expanded his artistic research, working with different scales, from micro to macro, photographing pigments on small surfaces, creating three-dimensional compositions, and contemplating light and shadow.
Mattar rethinks the relationship between photography, painting and sculpture, playing with the interstice spaces that infiltrate between each of the media. To transition from a pictorial image to a photograph and then to an object, Daniel Mattar deploys a range of diverse techniques, generally starting from found materials, on which he uses a painting gesture, before photographing the result to reprint it then in large format. He thus recycles everyday images and materials which he covers with a thick layer of oil paint before photographing the result and then producing a large format photograph.
Mattar has held solo and group exhibitions since 1988, including the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM-RJ), the Banco do Brasil Cultural Centre (CCBB), the Sergio Porto Cultural Space and the Deji Art Museum, which acquired the Photographic Drawings series for its collection. His works are in important private collections in Brazil, the USA, Europe and Asia.
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Flowing Forms, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
2022
SP-Arte, Art Fair, Galeria Marcia Barrozo do Amaral, São Paulo, Brazil
2021
ArtRio, Art Fair, Galeria Marcia Barrozo do Amaral, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Polaroids, Artsy – digital platform
2020
Vista Aérea, Artsy – digital platform
2019
Photographic Drawings, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
2018
Pigmento, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
RISE, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
2012
Simulacro, Centro Cultural Sérgio Porto, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Janela Glacial, Shopping Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1996
Inventário#01, Centro Cultural Oduvaldo Vianna Filho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1991
TOKYO, Espaço Mario Quintana, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Homenagem a Márcio Mattar, Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Longe do Cais, Iate Clube, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
TOKYO, Manch Café Galeria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Group
Exhibitons
2025
Brisa in Rio, Brisa Galeria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
RETRATOS, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
Arte Vivo, Polanco Secc, Mexico City, Mexico
The Surface Holds No Secrets, Tale Gallery, Belgium - Belgium
Echo Nest, A4 Residency Art Center, Chengdu, China
(COL)ORATOR, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
2024
Atlantic Betweens Us, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
Arte Vivo, Museo Kaluz, Mexico City, Mexico
LINHATRAVELAMINA, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
Passage: a mode of recostruction, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
2023
Arte Vivo, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico
Umbra Natural, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
Samsara, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
Organic – As Time Awakens, Deji Art Museum, Nanjing, China
2022
Forever Is Made Up of Many Nows, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
Hiperfície, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
Arte Vivo, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Planícies Ressonantes, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
What’s in a Tale, Tale Art Gallery, Vlierzeledorp, Belgium
Hakanai, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
2021
An Era in Jinling, Deji Art Museum, Nanjing, China
Pedágio de Mim, “Not A Museum” Artspace, Lisbon, Portugal
Terra Estrangeira, Tryzy Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
Entre a Água e a Terra, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
2020
Natureza Alterada, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
Arte Brasileira, Galeria Sá da Costa, Lisbon, Portugal
2019
PRAIA, Galeria da Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Imprecisão Azul, Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
Galaxies, Espace_L Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
UQ Editions, Release of the artist book "4 centimetres", Brisa Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
2016
Arte Core, Simulacro series, Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2014
Velt Gallery Project, Cirúrgicos series, Fábrica Bhering, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Atemporal, Cirúrgicos series, Espaço Atemporal, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2008
Nippon, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), Rio de Janeiro/Brasília, Brazil
1991
III Bienal de Santos, São Paulo, Brazil
1988
New paintings, Tríade Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Books
2023
Flowing Forms, Essay by Martha Kirszenbaum, Published by Aguirre Edições
2019
4CM, Published by UQ! Editions