Rio Grande, Brazil, 1965.
Live and works in Pelotas, Brazil.
Daniel Acosta learned to work with wood and other materials at his father’s cabinetmaking studio, constructing toys and model towns out of cardboard. The artist completed high school with a degree in architecture, and was highly influenced by comics, cinema, TV, music, and art. Acosta graduated with a degree in Sculpture from the Federal University of Santa Maria in 1987. Between 1990 and 1993, he attended workshops with José Rezende, Artur Lescher, Ricardo Basbaum, and Milton Machado. Acosta lived in São Paulo between 1994 and 1996, where he pursued an MA in Art at the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo, with Carmela Gross as an advisor. It was at this time that the artist began to be represented by Casa Triângulo gallery, where he had his first solo show in 1995, followed by subsequent solo shows in 2002, 2008, 2010, and 2014.
1997 saw the publication of a critical book about his work in the collection Artistas da USP, organized by Tadeu Chiarelli. His work has been awarded in the Curitiba, Brasília, Salvador, and Florianópolis Art Salons.
Acosta’s work has been included in many group shows, including “Ao Cubo” in 1996 (Paço das Artes, São Paulo), Panorama da Arte Brasileira in 1999 (Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo), and the II Mercosul Biennial in 1999 (Porto Alegre). Acosta also created site-specific projects at Torreão in Porto Alegre in 1998 and at Capela do Morumbi in São Paulo in 2000.
The artist returned to São Paulo in 2001 to earn a PhD in Art at the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo. Work from the series “Portable Landscapes”, the theme of his PhD thesis, was exhibited at the 25th Biennial of São Paulo.
In 2006, he presented”Satolepcosmocave”, which consisted of cabinetry and furniture located in an urban space. He participated in the group show “Quase Líquido” in 2008 at Itaú Cultural São Paulo with “Riorotor”, a small architectural work that rotated. In 2009, he devised “Cassinocosmocave”, a site-specific project at Cassino Beach consisting of cabinetry and furniture, as well as “Kosmodron”, a site-specific urban project in Porto Alegre at the Mercosul Biennial. He also devised the sculptural and furniture project “Toporama”, which has been a permanent work at the Cultural Centre São Paulo since 2010. In 2011, he produced cabinetry and furniture for the show “Cavurba” at Paralela V.
The artist collaborated for a third time with the Mercosul Biennial, presenting the work “Replikashelvesystem”, which consisted of sculpture and furniture located in the Reading Room at Casa M. He also created “Multipraça”, a set of three sculptures and furniture that is in the permanent collection at Sesc Bom Retiro.
Acosta teaches sculpture at the Federal University of Pelotas.
Education
1987
-BA in Design and Plastic with a specialization in Sculpture, Federal University of Santa Maria, RS, Brazil.
1996
-MA in Art, School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
2005
-Ph.D. in Fine Arts, School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Solo Exhibitions
2014
-“Tektoniks + Animais Lentos”, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo, Brasil
-“Desenho + Escultura + Mobiliário”, curated by Gilmar Camilo, Museum of Contemporary Art of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil.
2013
-“Flora ars + natura”, Bogotá, Colombia.
-15th Programme of Expositions, Carpe Diem Arte e Cultura, Lisbon, Portugal.
2011
-“MULTIPRAÇA”, sculptures and permanent furniture, Sesc Bom Retiro, São Paulo, Brazil.
2010
-“A Casa de Adão e Eva no Paraíso”, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Toporama”, sculptures and permanent furniture, Cultural Centre São Paulo, Brazil.
2008
-“Estimado Selvagem”, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
2004
-Museum of Contemporary Art of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil.
2000
-“A Deriva”, Capela do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil.
1999
-“Transfigurações”, Pinacoteca Barão de Santo Ângelo, Institute of Arts, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
1998
-“Quem duvida do senso comum?”, Torreão, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
1992
-Projeto Macunaíma 92, Espaço Alternativo, Brazilian Institute of Art Culture-Funarte, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-Exhibition Program, Cultural Centre São Paulo, Biennial Pavilion, São Paulo, Brazil.
Group Exhibitions
2015
-“Uma Coleção Particular: Arte Contemporânea no Acervo da Pinacoteca”, Pinacoteca of São Paulo, Brazil.
-TRIO Biennial – Tridimensional Biennial of Rio – “Quem disse que amanhã não existe”?, curated by Marcus Lontra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-5th Marcantonio Vilaça Prize, Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Arte Serrinha – Ressonhar os mundos”, curated by Agnaldo Farias, Paço das Artes, São Paulo, Brazil.
-Photography archive, Museum of Contemporary Art of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.
2014
-“Iberê Camargo: Século XXI”, curated by Agnaldo Farias, Icleia Cattani, and Jacques Leenhardt, Foundation Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
-“Um Salto no Espaço”, Foundation Vera Chaves Barcello, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
-“Projeto LUPA”, curated by Abaseh Mirvali, ArtRio14, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-Casa Triângulo at Pivô, Pivô, São Paulo, Brazil.
2013
-MAC 2013: Recent Donations, Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
2012
-“O Triunfo do Contemporâneo: 20 Anos do Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Rio Grande do Sul”, curated by Gaudêncio Fidelis, Santander Cultural, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
-“O sacrifício pela vida na guarita (Sacredfishyousystem)”, Cultural Centre Bank of Brazil, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
2011
-8th Mercosul Biennial, Casa M, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
-“Imagens Transportadas”, panorama of Brazilian art, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Nova Escultura Brasileira: Heranças e Diversidade”, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2010
-“Dimensões Variáveis”, Cultural Centre São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
-Exhibition programme of the Cultural Centre Vergueiro, invited artist, Cultural Centre São Paulo, Brazil.
2009
-7th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
– Dentro do traço, mesmo”, Foundation Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2008
-“Quase Líquido”, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Nova Arte Nova”, Cultural Centre Bank of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2006
-“Primeira Pessoa”, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“URBE”, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“MAM na OCA”, Parque do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Geração da Virada: 10 anos + 1”, “Os Anos Recentes na Arte Brasileira”, Institute Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil.
2005
-“O retrato como imagem do mundo”, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, Brazil.
2004
-“SP 450 PARIS”, Institute Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Aquisições Recentes – Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand”, Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2002
-25th International Biennial of São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Caminhos do Contemporâneo”, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2000
-“Entre a Arte e o Design: Coleção MAM”, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, Brazil.
1999
-“Território Expandido”, Sesc Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Panorama da Arte Brasileira do MAM”, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, Brazil.
-II Mercosul Biennial of Visual Arts, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
1998
-“Arte brasileira no acervo do MAM”, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, Brazil.
Awards
1998
-Brasilia Prize of Visual Arts, Museum of Art of Brasilia, Brazil.
-6th National Salon Victor Meirelles, Museum of Art of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil.
1997
-4th Salon of the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
1991
-48th Paranaense Salon, Curitiba, Brazil.
Collections
-Museum of Contemporary Art of Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
-Museum of Modern Art of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
-Museum of Art of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil.
-Museum of Art of Brasilia, Brazil.
-Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
