Moreira Neves
Sculptor
About the author
José António Nabais Moreira Neves was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1954. Currently, he lives in Covilhã, Portugal, where he dedicates himself to sculpture.
Student of Alberto Carneiro and João Dixo, in Coimbra’s Circle of Plastic Arts – in the freedom’s years between 1974 and 1976 – and cultural animator in the area of Plastic Arts at Cultural Centre of Cova da Beira, in Covilhã, the sculptor Moreira Neves also dedicates himself to the design of equipment and tools made of stone and metals.
You can see Moreira Neves artwork, who has been dedicated to sculpture for 25 years, in the central area of Portugal, with emphasis on public works such as “The Basket Maker” (Gonçalo), “Homage to the Commander” (Manteigas), “The Wave” (Aveiro), “Seas” (Belmonte), “Pi” and “The Screamer” (Covilhã), “The trees that aren’t from here” (Tortosendo), and “You and Me” (Cortes do Meio).
The Cultural Centre Pedro Álvares Cabral (Belmonte), the Country Club (Covilhã), the Epoch Gallery and the city’s Museum (both in Guarda), the Town Hall of Manteigas, the Cultural Centre of Emmerico Nunes (Sines), the Grade Gallery (Aveiro) and the House of Culture of Coimbra’s Town Hall are some of the places where the sculptor Moreira Neves exhibited his artwork.
He was also part of collective exhibitions at Porto’s Árvore Cooperative and at the Casino’s Art Gallery (Estoril), at the Sculpture Symposium of Aveiro’s Museum, in the Biennial “Festa do Avante”, at the University of Beira Interior (Covilhã) and in the exhibition Landscape and Sculpture of the Countries of the Atlantic Arch of the Sculpture Centre of Candás, Asturias.
Individually, he exhibited at the Cultural Centre of Pedro Álvares Cabral (Belmonte), at the Country Club in Covilhã, at the Epoch Gallery in Guarda and at the Museum of the same city, at the Town Hall of Manteigas, at the Cultural Centre of Emmerico Nunes (Sines), at the Grade Gallery (Coimbra) and at Coimbra’s Town Hall House of Culture.
His career as a sculptor has been recognized with the Sculpture Group Award from the University of Beira Interior (1995), the 2nd award of Young Sculptors of Évora (1996) and the 2nd award in the III Edinfor Sculptor Award of the Art Gallery of Casino do Estoril (1997). In 1998, he received the Honourable Mention in the I, II and IV Edinfor Sculptor awards at the Art Gallery of Casino do Estoril.
About the artwork
José António Moreira Neves’ creative process begins with the primordial chaos of rough stone and develops into a figurative structure that is simultaneously abstract. In every sculpture there is a representation of his obsession for the feminine figure desacralized from the classical forms, harmony, order and complexity, introducing light, subtle and seductive lines that the spectator immediately takes in. His convictions outside the conventional beauty and, although conveying some minimalism, echo affection, showing the true soul of the artist, overwhelmed and vibrant. Moreira Neves’ creations emanate metaphorical symbolic figures, some more abstract, others more sensual and physical, but which synthetize a coherent journey while placing sculpture in Portugal at the level of the best works in the whole world.