Antonio Tarsis

Antonio Tarsis (born 1995, Salvador, Bahia) lives and works in his home city, drawing on the visual texture of Brazil’s street economy. Working across relief-like collage, wall-based assemblage and freestanding sculpture, he painstakingly collects discarded matchboxes, soap wrappers and sweet packets from Salvador’s markets, recoding these humble materials into vivid, abstract grids. The motif speaks to histories of labour, Afro-Brazilian identity and the politics of informal commerce, while the burnt edges of some works allude to urban violence and erasure. Tarsis has shown at institutions such as Pivô, São Paulo; Instituto Tomie Ohtake; and the New Museum’s 2021 Triennial Soft Water Hard Stone in New York, and his pieces have entered public holdings including Pinacoteca de São Paulo and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, alongside a growing base of international private collectors. Short-listed for the PIPA Prize in 2020, he is represented by Mendes Wood DM; auction appearances remain occasional, but primary-market demand is steady and strengthening, suggesting increasing liquidity.