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Vasco Mourão




hello@mistermourao.com

Photo by
Brian Scott Peterson
Tokyo, 2019

Vasco Mourão works on the perception, texture and memory of the urban landscape. Only with a pen and time, his practice obsessively focuses on the representation of cities through drawings.

Inhabiting a place between fine art and illustration, Vasco Mourão creates bespoke artworks and large scale murals for various private collectors, galleries and institutions, while working also on selected editorial commissions. Originally from Portugal, now based in Barcelona (when not on the yearly work & travel walkabout).

Represented in France by Galerie Porte B.



Selected Clients & Collaborators

Apple, The New Yorker, The New Yorker Festival, The Washington Post, Fundação Bissaya Barreto, Museu Picasso Barcelona, UnderDogs Gallery, Established & Sons, Architectural Review, Espacio 88, Ogilvy, Domus, Gestalten, El País, etc.




Exhibitions

Tokyo Surface 
Embassy of Portugal
11-12/2023. Tokyo, Japan

Soul of the City
Galerie Porte B
6-9/2023 . Paris, France

No Man’s Land
Galerie Porte B
10-11/2022 . Paris, France

Portuguese
Sovereign Art Prize

04-06/2022
Lisbon, Porto & Estremoz Portugal


ImageText 
Mirus Gallery
11/202 . Denver, USA

Arquivo 
Underdogs Gallery12/2021 . Lisbon, Portugal

Right Now - group show
Underdogs Gallery05/2020 . Online

Variations 
Underdogs Gallery12/2020 . Lisbon, Portugal

Elipse

CONCRETA fair
10/2019 . Porto, Portugal

Vasco Mourão e Cassiano Branco
Júlio Dinis Museum2019 . Ovar, Portugal

Breathing Line
Fundació La Caixa
09.2019 . Barcelona, Spain

Remember Tokyo
Almost Perfect05/2019 . Tokyo, Japan

Remember Hong Kong
ACO gallery03/2019 . Hong Kong, China

Fragments . Drawings on Stone
Oitavo Gallery02/2019 . Porto, Portugal



Face Plastic
Espacio 88
01/2019 . Barcelona, Spain

Ouroborus . Drawings on Wood
Uivo 8 - Centr'Arte 01/ 2019 . Matosinhos, Portugal

Portugal Múltiplo
Bissaya Barreto Foundation2018 . Coimbra, Portugal

Urban Fragments
Ilustração à vista Festival 2018 . Ílhavo, Portugal

Ouroborus . Drawings on Brass
Underdogs Art Store 2017 . Lisbon, Portugal

Ouroborus . Drawings on Wood
Espacio 882016 . Barcelona, Spain

Matsudo Perceptions
Paradise AIR2016 . Matsudo, Japan

Drawing Poble Nou
Espacio 882015 . Barcelona, Spain

New York Perceptions
The Invisible Dog 2014 . New York, USA

Drawings for The New Yorker
Mitte Gallery2014 . Barcelona, Spain

Daily Drawings
Minho University2010 . Guimarães, Portugal

Obsession
Casa Portuguesa2008 . Barcelona, Spain
Selected talks

PechaKucha 2019 . Tokyo, Japan

TheCreativeFest
2017 . Barcelona, Spain

PechaKucha 2016 . Tokyo, Japan

Apple Headquarters2016 . Tokyo,  Japan

Apple Stores2016 . Tokyo, Osaka & Nagoya,  Japan

Walk&Talk Art Festival 2015 . Ponta Delgada, Portugal

Get Set Festival2015 . Oporto, Portugal

Barcelona Design Week 2013 . Barcelona, Spain

Creative Camp 1802012 . Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal






The Visible Cities

by Jorge Carrión



The artist Vasco Mourão comes from the world of architecture and travels. This double genealogy brings him closer to those who imagined and designed the iconic buildings of the world as well to those who described it in their books, sketches or photographs.

But Vasco’s work does not focus on the detail but rather to the whole. From his point of view what matters most is not the architecture per se but the urban landscape, not so much the singular route but rather the labyrinth of networks weaved by the traveler or the driver when circulating in the contemporary metropolis.

Because the greater narrative and conceptual theme of Vasco’s work is the city. The urban landscape as multiplication and as a succession of mirrors. Although a drawing may speak of New York, Lisbon, Tokyo or Barcelona, in a simultaneous and inclusive plane it is also representing the invisible cities of Italo Calvino.

Like those of the Italian writer, the ones drawn by the Portuguese artist are made of illusion (optical and sentimental) and desire (of possession and order), counting on a memory shared by all human beings.


The city as transversal home, as a shared horizon. The city also as geometry, pattern and infinite combinations.No matter where you live you’ll recognise aspects of your own city in these visible cities in black and white.

The medium where Vasco draws on are also in tune with the urban history. On paper refers to the labor of recollection of data and events; on wood it connects the rural with the urban space, it recalls the beam that supports the building and the everyday furniture, work and rest: on metal is present the modern metropolis, its iron architecture, its infatuation with precious metals to underline luxury and stainless steel to claim technological advances. 

These materials are superimposed on the stone of a wall. Because his work is always mural. A second skin that covers the epidermis of the cities of the world that he, obsessively, is copying, imagining, collecting.

Read / Watch


Things that grabbed my attention
●  liked it 
●●  loved it




2024

Books


The Discovery of Pasta (2023) ●●Luca Cesari
Patos Desalinhados Não Voam  (2023) ●●Hugo Mendes e Frederico Pinheiro

Stand-Up


On the Road (2024)  Dan Soder
Get on your Knees (2023) ●● Jacqueline Novak
Queef Week  (2023)  Carmen Lynch


Movies


Dune Part II (2023)   Denis Villeneuve
Nimona (2023)  ●●  Nick Bruno & Troy Quane
The Holdovers (2023) Alexander Payne
Poor Things (2023) Yorgos Lanthimos
Anatomie d'une Chute (2023)  ●● Justine Triet
La Passion de Dodin Bouffant (2023) ●● Anh Hung Tran
Saltburn (2023)  Emerald Fennell
Perfect Days (2023) ●● Wim Wenders

Shows


True Detective I (2019) ●● Nic Pizzolatto
Chernobyl (2019) ●● Craig Mazin
Tokyo Vice I & II (2022-) ●● J.T. Rogers
Primal (2019) ●● Genndy Tartakovsky
White House Plumbers (2023) Alex Gregory & Peter Huyck

Live


La Leona ●● Olga Pericet, Barcelona





2023

Books


Gun, Germs and Steel (1997)Jared Diamond
Ways of Curating (2015) Hans Ulrich Obrist
1984 (1949) George Orwell
Second Place (2021)Rachel Cusk

Stand-Up


Trying to Get better ●●Dan Cummings
Top Gus Gus Tate
Domestic Shorthair Todd Barry
Soup to Nuts Mark Normand
Dark Pale Jim Gaffigan
Quality Time ●●Jim Gaffigan
One in a Billion Zarna Garg
Hello World Nate Bargatze
The Attractives Mike Vecchione
The Salesman Greg Warren
Where the Field Corn Grows Greg Warren
Hair Plugs & Heartache Matteo Lane
Lucky Lefty  Nimesh Patel
Son of a Gary  Dan Soder
The Intruder ●● Atsuko Okatsuka
Razzle Dazzle  Bert Kreischer
41 Minutes of Stand-up  Drew Michael
Four Nights in NYC  Stavros Halkias
Matthew Steven Riffe  Matt Riffe
Only Fans  Matt Riffe
The Advice Special  Matteo Lane
I Would Like to Get Married Before I Get Herpes  Jessi Klein
Landing  Vir Das
Middle Classy  Cristela Alonzo
Live at Bimbo's  Natasha Leggero
Cheeseburguer  Andrew Santino
What a Day!  Tom Pappa


Movies


Ice Merchants (2023)   João Gonzalez
The Boy and the Heron (2023)   Hayao Miyazaki
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) ●●  Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin, K. Thompson
Oppenheimer (2023)   Christopher Nolan
Asteroid City (2023)  Wes Anderson
Jojo Rabbit (2019) Taika Waititi
Paper & Glue (2021) ●● JR
Emily The Criminal (2022) John Patton Ford
Cocaine Bear (2023)  Elizabeth Banks
Triangle of Sadness (2022)  Ruben Östlund
Babylon (2022) Damien Chazelle
RRR (2022)  S.S. Rajamouli
Decision to Leave (2022)Park Chan-wook
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) ●●Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Tokyo-Ga (1985)Wim Wenders
Fire of Love (2022) ●●Sarah Dosa
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) ●●Martin McDonagh
Tár (2022) ●●Todd Field
The Menu (2022)Mark Mylod
White Noise (2022)Noah Baumbach

Shows

Slow Horses I, II & III ●● Mick Herron
The Morning Show I & II Jay Carson & Kerry Ehrin
The Bear II ●● Christopher Storer
Sucession I-IV Jesse Armstrong
The Idol Sam Levison
Poker Face Rian Johnson
Welcome to Chippendales Robert Siegel
Gilly and Keeves I ●● John McKeever & Shane Gillis

Live


Ya Don't Say Tour Mark Normand, Lisboa
La mort i la donna Asun Noales, Barcelona
French Kiss Tour Vidura B.R, Barcelona




2022

Books


Dans la tête de Xi Jinping  François Bougon
The Vegetarian  Han Kang
Contra Amazon Jorge Carrión 
The Friend   Sigrid Nunez
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage  Haruki Murakami
Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong ●● Louisa Lim
A Doença, o Sofrimento e a Morte entram num Bar  Ricardo Araújo Pereira
The Twilight World ●●Werner Herzog & Michael Hofmann
Samarkand Amin Maalouf
The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life   Boyd Varty
Líbano, Labirinto  ●●  Alexandra Lucas Coelho

Stand-Up


The Advice Special  Matteo Lane
Blocks  Neal Brennan 
Jew  Ari Shaffier
Little Big Boy ●● Nick Kroll
Ooh La La  Phil Hanley
Live at Red Rocks  Bill Burr
The King's Jester Hasan Minhaj
Chad Daniels Chad Daniels
The Vagabond  Mo Amer
Bring the Pain ●● Chris Rock
Mohammed in Texas  Mo Amer
Sweet and Juicy  Sheng Wang
Same Time Tomorrow  Sam Morril
Look at You  Taylor Tomlinson
Hat Trick  Fahim Anwar
Mom Love  Yannis Pappas
Thank You China  Nimesh Patel
Live at the Lodge Room  Stavros Halkias
Speshy Weshy ●● Chris DiStefano
This Year's Material Joe List
Speakeasy Ronny Chieng
The Dying Of A Last Breed Doug Standhope
Lubricant Russel Howard
Don Wong  Ali Wong
Growing Shame Ian Lara
His Dark Material  Jimmy Carr
Comedy Monster  Jim Gaffigan

Movies


Glass Onion  Rian Johnson
Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle  Arthur Harari
Bullet Train  David Leitch
Athena ●● Romain Gavras
The Price of Everything  Nathaniel Kahn
Windfall Charlie McDowell
World War Z Marc Forster
Buzz Lightyear Angus MacLane
Koolhaas Houselife ●● Bêka & Lemoine
The Batman Matt Reeves
The Windshield Wiper ●● Alberto Mielgo
Drive My Car  Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
The Worst Person in the World  Joachim Trier
The Matrix Resurrections Lana Wachowski 
A Hero ●● Asghar Farhadi
Las Madres Paralelas  Pedro Almodóvar
Le Doulos  Jean-Pierre Melville
Boiling Point  Philip Barantini
È stata la mano di Dio  Paolo Sorrentino
Captain Fantastic  Matt Ross
The French Dispatch  Wes Anderson
Don't Look Up  Adam Mckay

Shows


The White Lotus II 
Mike White
The Last Man on Earth
Will Forte
Andor
Tony Gilroy
The Bear
Christopher Storer
The House of the Dragon I 
George R.R. Martin & Ryan Condal
Mo ●●
Mohammed Amer & Ramy Youssef
Russian Doll II ●●
Natasha Lyonn, Leslye Headland & Amy Poehler
Love, Death and Robots III 
(Various)
Ozarks IV 
Bill Dubuque & Mark Williams
Seinfeld I-IX Jerry Seinfeld & Larry David

Live


Terribily Funny 2.0 
Jimmy Carr, Newcastle
Early Music 
Francesco Tristano, Barcelona
Festival Mil·lenni 
Jose Gonzalez, Barcelona





2021

Books


Idiotas Úteis e Inúteis  Ricardo Araújo Pereira
First Person Singular: Stories Haruki Murakami
The Elephant Vanishes Haruki Murakami
Caderno Afegão ●●Alexandra Lucas Coelho
Coventry Rachel Cusk
Kitchen ConfidentialAnthony Bourdain
The Death of Ivan IlychLeo Tolstoi
Wrong about JapanPeter Carey
The Outlaw Ocean Ian Urbina
How Music Works David Byrne

Shows 


Get Back ●●  Peter Jackson
Arcane ●● Pascal Charrue, Arnaud Delord & Jérôme Combe
For All Mankind I & II  Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedivi
Foundation I David S. Goyer & Josh Friedman
La Casa de Papel IV Álex Pina
The ChairAmanda Peet & Annie Julia Wyman
Mare of Easttown Brad Ingelsby
The White Lotus I Mike White
Ted Lasso II 
Jason Sudeikis & Bill Lawrence
Invincible ●●Robert Kirkman
The Good Place 
Michael Schur

Stand-Up


The Closer  Dave Chapelle
Live in Austin  Shane Gillis
Ice Thickners  Emily Heller
Whiskey Fists  Rosebud Baker
The Greatest Average American ●● Nate Bargatze
To Catch a D*ck London Hughes
Total Blackout Chris Rock
Upon on the Roof Sam Morril

Movies


Chungking Express  Wong Kar-Wai
Le Sommet des Dieux  Patrick Imbert
Finch Miguel Sapochnik
Lamb Valdimar Jóhannsson
No Time to Die Cary Joji Fukunaga
The Card CounterPaul Schrader
DuneDenis Villeneuve
The Truffle Hunters Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw
The Green Knight David Lowery
Free Guy  Shawn Levy
The Sound of Metal Darius Marder
Druk ●●Thomas Vinterberg
Cruella Craig Gillespie
To Rome with Love Woody Allen
Malcom & Marie Sam Levinson
A Family Michihito Fujii
Minamata Andrew Levitas
À bras ouverts Philippe de Chauveron
Tenet Christopher Nolan
Nobody Ilya Naishuller
Sorry to Bother You Boots Riley
Night in Paradise ●●Park Hoon-jung
Made You Look Barry Avrich
I Care a Lot J Blakeson
Voyage to Greenland Sébastien Betbeder
Minari Lee Isaac Chung
The White Tiger Ramin Bahrani
Soul Pete Docter
Ghost in the Shell ●●Mamoru Oshii
Lupin III : The Castle of Cagliostro Hayao Miyazaki

Documentaries 


Full Capacity Sam Morril
Shiny_Flakes Eva Müller
AlphaGo Greg Kohs




2020

Books


Earthlings ●●  Sayaka Murata
Kissa by Kissa   Craig Mod
What I Talk about When I Talk about Running: A Memoir  Haruki Murakami
Exciting Times  Naoise Dolan
Almost Transparent Blue Ryu Murakami
In The Miso Soup Ryu Murakami
The Night Manager John Le Carré
Convenience Store Woman ●●Sayaka Murata
Utopia for Realists Rutger Bregman
Men without Women Haruki Murakami
Transit ●●Rachel Cusk
Outline Rachel Cusk
The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism Kyle Chayka
Kudos  Rachel Cusk
Weather Jenny Offil
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the WorldHaruki Murakami
Last Things ●●Jenny Offil
Dept. of Speculation ●●Jenny Offil
Killing Commendatore Haruki Murakami
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli
Sapiens ●●Yuval Noah Harari
Agent Running in The FieldJohn le Carré 

Shows


Song Exploder 
Hrishikesh Hirway
Fargo IV 
Noah Hawley
Ted Lasso I 
Jason Sudeikis & Bill Lawrence
Raised by Wolves 
Aaron Guzikowski
The Boys I
Eric Kripke
Ozarks I, II, III 
Bill Dubuque & Mark Williams
The Eddy 
Jack Thorne
The Kominsky Method I & II
Chuck Lorre
Westworld III
Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy
La Casa de Papel IV
Álex Pina
After Life Ricky Gervais
10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki Kaku Arakawa
Giri/Haji Joe Barton
Fleabag I & II ●●Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Stand-Up


Out to Lunch ●●
Mark Normand
I Got This 
Sam Morril 
Middleditch & Schwartz ●● Ryan Polito
Double Negative Ari Shaffir
Ball HogTom Segura
Hey Big BoyBurt Kreischeir
Quarter-Life CrisisTaylor Tomlinson
You’re Doing Great Tom Papa
Equanimity Dave Chapelle
Overthinker ●●Demetri Martin
Sweet & Salty Fortune Feimster
A Speak of Dust Sarah Silverman
Joke Show Michele Wolf
Asian Comedian Destroys America! Ronny Chieng
The New One Mike Burbuglia

Movies


On The Rocks Sofia Coppola
Divines Houda Benyamina
Shoplifters Hirokazu Koreeda
Das 5 BloodsSpike Jonze
The King of Comedy ●●Martin Scorcese
This Magnificent Cake!Emma de Swaef & Marc James Roel
Elisa & Marcela Isabel Coixet
Dick Tracy Warren Beauty
In the Mood for Love ●●Wong Kar-Wai
Lovebirds Michael Showalter
Ya no estoy aqui Fernando Frías de la Parra
 Zimna Wojna Pawel Pawlikowski
Marie AntoinetteSofia Coppola
Mon Oncle d’Amérique Alain Resnais
Blue Jasmine Woddy Allen
My Happy Family Nana Ekvtimishvili & Simon Gross
La Verité ●●Hirokazu Koreeda
Basquiat Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel : A Private Portrait ●●Pappi Corsicato
The Wind risesHayao Miyazaki
J’AccuseRoman Polanski
Motherless BrooklynEdward Norton
Shirkers Sandi Tan
Holmes & WatsonEtan Cohen
Tigertail Alan Yang
Heart of Sky Jenny Moussallem
Pom Poko  Isao Takahata
Ponyo ●●Hayao Miyazaki
Matrimonio all’Italiana Vittorio di Sicca
NausicaäHayao Miyazaki
The Gentlemen Guy Ritchie
OnwardDan Scanlon
Whale ValleyGudmundur Arnar Gudmunsson
Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu ●●Céline Sciamma
Mudbound Dee Rees
The Drug King Woo Min-ho
Call me Dolemite Craig Brewer
Mononoke Princess  Hayao Miyazaki
Queen & Slim Melina Matsoukas
Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki
Little WomenGreta Gerwig
Porco Rosso Hayao Miyazaki
37 SecondsHikaru
Where’d you go BernardetteRichard Linklater
Uncut Gems ●● Josh & Ben Safdie
1917 Sam Mendes
HustlersLorene Scafaria
Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang Kevin MacDonald
2001: A Space Odyssey ●● Standley Kubrick
Knives OutRian Johnson
Two Popes Fernando Meirelles
The Irishman Martin Scorcese
Parasite ●● Bong Joon Ho
Ad Astra James Gray
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Quentin Tarantino
Joker Todd Phillips
The Art of Self-Defence Riley Stearns
Dolor y Gloria ●●Pedro Almodóvar



2019

Books


1Q84 ●●Haruki Murakami
A Wild Sheep Chase ●● Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami
Kafka on the ShoreHaruki Murakami
A Perfect Spy John le Carré
The Little Drummer Girl ●●John le Carré
The Russia HouseJohn le Carré
The Looking Glass War John le Carré
Smiley’s PeopleJohn le Carré
Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic PracticeFrancesco Careri
Shark Drunk Morten Stroksnes
Tokyo Totem ●●Gardner & Fruneaux

Shows


La Casa de Papel I, II & III Álex Pina
Russian Doll ●●Leslye Headland (& others)
Game of TronesBenioff & Weiss
The Night Manager ●● Susanne Bier
The Bodyguard Jed Mercurio
Escape at Dannemora ●●Ben Stiller

Glow ●●
Flahive & Mensch

Stand-Up


Fire in the Maternity Ward  Anthony Jeselnick
Thank God for Jokes  Mike Burbuglia
Tamborine ●●Chris Rock
Sticks and Stones Dave Chapelle
Paper TigerBill Burr
Disgraceful Tom Segura
Mostly StoriesTom Segura
Kid Gorgeous ●●John Mulhaney
Comeback Kid ●●John Mulhaney

Movies


The Marriage Story Noah Baumbach
The Meyerowitz Stories Noah Baumbach
Dunkirk Christopher Nolan
Blade Runner 2047 Denis Villeneuve
Blade Runner ●●Ridley Scott
Bohemian RhapsodyGraham King
Always Be my Maybe Nahnatchka Khan
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Bob Persichetti
The Green BookPeter Farrelly
Black Panther Kevin Feige
Logan Lucky Steven Soderbergh
BlacKkKlansmanSpike Lee
The Death of StalinArmando Iannucci
Roma Alfonso Cuarón
Toy Story 4Josh Cooley
The Killing of a Sacred Deer Yorgos Lanthimos
Incredibles 2Brad Bird
Isle of Dogs Wes Anderson
The Lobster ●●Yorgos Lanthimos
Paterson ●●Jim Jarmush


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