Emanuel de Carvalho

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.

De Carvalho works in narrative sequences that reflect on perceptive responses to social constructs. His work incorporates research into neurophysiological principles of human perception in relation to the philosophical concepts of medicalisation and institutional control.

His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Gathering, London (2023 and upcoming solo in 2024): Duarte Sequeira Gallery (2023, solo); Guts Gallery, London (2022, solo); Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai (2022); The Sunday Painter, London (2022); Grove, Berlin (2022); V.O. Curations, London (2022); Osnova, London and Moscow (2021). His work has been featured in Shadowplay, Altered States, Bottega Veneta x LN-CC, Expresso and It’s Nice That. De Carvalho has been shortlisted for the Abbey Fellowship Programme at The British School at Rome and is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation award (2022 - 2023).

education

2022 - 2023 MA Fine Art Painting, Royal College of Art, London, UK 

2020 - 2022 Turps Art School Studio Programme – Painting, London, UK

​2018 – 2019 Painting Modules 1 and 2, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK

​2013 – 2019 PhD in Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

selected exhibitions:

new state / guard, Gathering, London, UK (upcoming, March 2024)

new state / transfer, Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (upcoming, September 2023)

KIAF with Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (September 2023)

new state / interim, Royal College of Art MA Fine Art Painting, London, UK (June 2023)

Support Structures, Gathering, London, UK (June 2023)

Art Busan with Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Busan, South Korea (May 2023)

RAW, Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai, China (December 2022)

Crush, Grove Berlin, Berlin, Germany (December 2022)

Between the bridge and the door, Pictorum Gallery, London, UK (February 2023)

new state, Guts Gallery, London, UK (solo show - September 2022)

Queer augmented, VO Curations x Snap, London, UK (July 2022)

And this skin of mine, to live again a second time, Guts Gallery, London, UK (June 2022)

Salon, The Sunday Painter, London, UK (January 2022)

De nos jours, Osnova Gallery (Moscow, Russia) Off-site programme during Frieze, London, UK (2021)

awards 

Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation

British School at Rome, Abbey Fellowship - shortlisted

Emanuel de Carvalho's practice reflects on perceptive constructs, in particular pertaining to medicalisation, gender-identity, and institutional power structures. Drawing from an academic background in visual processing studies and the phenomenological interpretation of imagery and sound, de Carvalho weaves together various artistic mediums, including painting, 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 compositions incorporate two fundamental elements—flesh and chiasm—derived from the insights of phenomenologist Merleau-Ponty. The intersection of bodies and objects, symbolised by "flesh," prompts individual responses that directly reflect our ideological perceptions. This exploration delves into the complex dynamics between perception and societal frameworks, encouraging viewers to critically reflect on their own preconceived notions and biases. In addition to phenomenology, his practice is deeply rooted in engagement with philosophical texts on power, gender, disidentification and neuroscience, with particular emphasis on the works of Michel Foucault, José Esteban Muñoz, Catherine Malabou, and António Damásio.

At the core of his practice lies a commitment to disrupt and disidentify the viewer’s anticipatory responses. According to the queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz, in order to disidentify, one must “work on, with, and against [the operation of] a cultural form.” In de Carvalho's view, identity and culture should be regarded as a series of loose fragments that resist the conception of power as a dogmatic discourse. By continuously attempting to subvert expectations, he highlights the malleability of perception as a learned and constructed phenomenon, which can be subjected to self-reflection. Through these deliberate disruptions, he prompts viewers to critically examine their own perceptual frameworks and consider the possibility of change and reinterpretation.