“Echo and Narcissus”

Gustavo Prado studied Philosophy and Industrial Design and received his artistic training at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts in Rio de Janeiro.

Using sculpture, performance, photography and video, he examines shifts in perspective in order to produce works that investigate different conceptions of reality. He focuses on elements such as light, location and context to create a body of work that dissects the need to constantly negotiate with inhabited space in order to understand personal identity. Exploring the complexities inherent in the act of contemplation, Prado investigates a range of notions that are both intrinsic and eccentric to the field of art, such as surveillance, appropriation, voyeurism, artificial intelligence, narcissism, information overload and the right to privacy. He uses ready-made materials that he alters slightly, allowing viewers to recognize them in their original form, while also understanding the deviations from their original use.

Through processes of combining seemingly disparate materials and subjects, Prado tests cultural assumptions about how these two elements should combine to create meaning.

His work has recently been featured in group exhibitions such as the BRIC Biennial, the Bronx Museum Biennial and the Spring Break Art Show, all in New York; and the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro and Itaú Cultural in São Paulo; in solo shows at Galeria Lurixs in Rio, Galeria Nara Roesler in São Paulo; and Galerie Richard in New York. He has works in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro (MAM-Rio); presented a large installation at the 2017 Coachella Music Festival in California and created a permanent public installation at the Instituto Casa Firjan in Rio.

Prado received a Public Art Grant from the Prêmio de Arte 10 and is the winner of the Prêmio Projéteis de Arte Contemporânea from the National Foundation of Brazil for the Arts (Funarte). He has participated in several public panels, such as "An Attempt to Become Modern" at the Americas Society, has critical essays in Brazilian art publications, such as the Instituto Moreira Salles, and is the editor and co-founder of Revista Jacaranda.