Paulo Nimer Pjota: "A Lua e Eu"

A Lua e Eu (The Moon and I) — Paulo Nimer Pjota

This richly illustrated monograph accompanies Paulo Nimer Pjota’s first institutional solo exhibition A Lua e Eu (The Moon and I), presented at Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam (May–September 2025).

Over the past five years, Pjota has developed an expansive visual language that merges painting on raw canvas and metal sheets with imagery drawn from archaeology, street culture, music, mythology, and memory. His works unfold like visual constellations: symbols drift, overlap, and transform, allowing unexpected relationships to emerge between the ancient and the contemporary.

The publication documents this latest body of work, where Pjota shifts from the urban iconography of his earlier practice toward more introspective explorations of rural life, domestic spaces, plants, animals, and dreamlike figures. Anchored in recollection and imagination, these paintings embody what the artist calls a “fantastical and spiritual thought drawn from fables and myths.”

With contributions by writer Mateus Nunes and Gabi Ngcobo (Director of Kunstinstituut Melly), as well as an in-depth conversation between the artist and Hans Ulrich Obrist, the book offers a multifaceted insight into Pjota’s montage practice and the resonant poetics of his imagery.

Published by DISTANZ Verlag, A Lua e Eu is an essential resource for anyone interested in contemporary painting, visual sampling, and the intersections of art, music, and mythology.

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