The Group · Vhils Studio — Exhibitions

The exhibition record

From a first Lisbon solo in 2006 to museum takeovers in Beijing, Hong Kong, Paris and Brazil — the shows that carried the carving practice indoors.

Imprint — CAFA Art Museum, Beijing · 2017 · José Pando Lucas

The same gesture, brought indoors — onto doors, billboards, vehicles and the gallery walls themselves.

Two decades of shows

A first solo in Lisbon, December 2006; the 2009 London show that named the carving method. Then institutional solos across Brazil, a city-scale takeover in Hong Kong, a first Beijing museum solo at CAFA, and large-scale shows in Paris and Los Angeles.

The current museum run — MAAT Lisbon, MIMA Brussels, MUCA Munich, the Ulsan Art Museum — sits with the signature works. This page holds the rest: the landmark exhibitions of the first two decades and the gallery circuit that ran alongside them.

Landmark exhibitions

Bas-relief carved-portrait columns and panels in the CAFA gallery interior, with visitors, Beijing

Imprint — CAFA Beijing

CAFA Art Museum · Beijing · 2017

Incisão — wide hall view of the carved Guarani-portrait doors, CAIXA Cultural Recife

Incisão — 54 Guarani Doors

Caixa Cultural · Curitiba 2014 · Recife 2015 · Brasília 2019

Carved neon installation on the Hong Kong waterfront at night — Debris

Debris — Hong Kong

HOCA Foundation · Pier 4 · 2016

Fragments Urbains

Le Centquatre-Paris · 2018

Annihilation — Los Angeles

Over the Influence · 2018

Vitrine detail with layered acrylic edition — Selected Editions at MUDE, Lisbon

Selected Editions — MUDE

MUDE — Museu do Design · Lisbon · 2025

Imprint — inside CAFA

Children running past the carved panels at CAFA Art Museum, Beijing — Imprint · CAFA Art Museum, Beijing · 2017

Overhead view of the Imprint production warehouse — Imprint — production at museum scale · Beijing · 2017

Incisão — three Brazilian editions

Carved Guarani-portrait doors among plain doors, night install view, CAIXA Cultural Recife — Incisão · CAIXA Cultural Recife · 2015 · Vhils Studio archive

Corridor of carved-portrait doors on dark blue walls, CAIXA Cultural Brasília — Incisão · CAIXA Cultural Brasília · 2019 · ©Alexander Silva

Blue and orange carved Guarani-portrait doors with visitors in motion blur, Brasília — Incisão · CAIXA Cultural Brasília · 2019 · ©Alexander Silva

Installation of carved Guarani-portrait doors, CAIXA Cultural Curitiba — Incisão · CAIXA Cultural Curitiba · 2014 · Vhils Studio archive

Debris — the Hong Kong takeover

The Vhils-carved tram running through Central, Hong Kong — Debris — the carved tram through Central · Hong Kong · 2016 · Fernando Guerra

Pier 4 exhibition exterior in the fog, Central Harbourfront, Hong Kong — Debris · Pier 4, Central Harbourfront · 2016

Carved poster wall above a street crowd, Hong Kong — Debris — street intervention · Hong Kong · 2016

Fragments Urbains — Le Centquatre

Crowd before a video projection and carved car at Le Centquatre-Paris — Fragments Urbains · Le Centquatre-Paris · 2018

Aerial view of the carved styrofoam vehicles at Le Centquatre-Paris — Fragments Urbains — carved vehicles · Paris · 2018

White styrofoam installation at Fragments Urbains, Le Centquatre-Paris — Fragments Urbains · Le Centquatre-Paris · 2018

Annihilation — Los Angeles

Carved portrait mural detail at Annihilation, Over the Influence Los Angeles — Annihilation · Over the Influence, Los Angeles · 2018

Opening-night crowd outside Over the Influence, Los Angeles — Annihilation — opening night · Los Angeles · 2018

Museums and the gallery circuit

Haze

Contemporary Arts Center · Cincinnati · 2020

Diafragma

Galeria Vera Cortês · Lisbon · 2024

Alquimia

Usina Luis Maluf · São Paulo · 2023

Fractal

Delimbo Gallery · Seville · 2022

Momentum

Danysz Gallery · Paris · 2020

Dissonance

Lazarides Gallery · London · 2015

Vestiges

Magda Danysz Gallery · Paris · 2014

Entropy

Magda Danysz Gallery · Paris · 2012

Devoid

Lazarides Gallery · London · 2012

Exhibitions — a selected chronology

2006First solo — Building 3 Steps, Part I, Galeria Promontório Arquitectos, Lisbon (Vera Cortês Art Agency).

2008International breakthrough — carved portraits at Banksy's Cans Festival, London.

2009Scratching the Surface, Lazarides, London — the show that named the signature carving method.

2012Entropy at Magda Danysz, Paris · Devoid at Lazarides, London.

2014Vestiges, Magda Danysz, Paris · Incisão opens at CAIXA Cultural Curitiba.

2015Dissonance, Lazarides, London · Incisão travels to CAIXA Cultural Recife.

2016Debris — city-scale Hong Kong takeover with the HOCA Foundation.

2017Imprint — first Beijing museum solo at the CAFA Art Museum · Debris / Destroços at the Macau Contemporary Art Center.

2018Fragments Urbains at Le Centquatre-Paris · Annihilation — first US gallery solo, Over the Influence, Los Angeles.

2019Incisão closes its cycle at CAIXA Cultural Brasília.

2020Haze at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati · Momentum at Danysz, Paris.

2022–25The museum run — Prisma (MAAT), Multitude (MIMA), Strata (MUCA), Graphium (Ulsan) · Selected Editions 2008–2024 at MUDE, Lisbon.

2026INTERVAL — the new 'Non-Places' body of work at Danysz Gallery, Paris (22 May – 20 Jun) · the official portrait of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa enters the Museu da Presidência (4 Mar), the first non-painting in the Galeria dos Retratos.