Francisco Trêpa (b. 1995) is a Portuguese artist living in Lisbon. He studied ceramics at the António Arroio Artistic School (2013), earned a degree in Sculpture (2017), and completed a Master’s degree in Multimedia Art (2022) at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon. Since 2015, he has exhibited nationally and internationally in various galleries and institutions.
His work is included in the António Cachola Collection (MACE), the PLMJ Foundation Collection, the Portuguese State Contemporary Art Collection (CACE), and several private collections.
In 2024, he was named a finalist for the EDP Foundation New Artists Award, resulting in the prize exhibition at MAAT in Lisbon. That same year, he won the Grand Prize of the Sovereign Portuguese Art Prize.
He recently presented Baile dos Bugalhos (Gall Ball), a solo exhibition at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Modern Art Center in Lisbon (CAM).
Francisco Trêpa’s practice investigates symbiotic relationships that sustain ecological, existential, and affective systems, using a variety of materials to create sculptures that explore, and ultimately embody, concepts such as transmutability and hybridism. His most recent body of work creates a meta-universe inspired by the plant world, the ties and crosses between plants and animals, such as pollination, conjuring the complex relationships between non-human animals and the impression of humanity in the Anthropocene.
His sculptures evoke natural phenomena which are provided by the senses, drawing on both aesthetic and poetic dimensions in order to foster involvement, and ultimately, reflection. In this way, his works weave visual narratives that invite both contemplation and questioning, combining symbolism, emotion, form, and critical thought. His work is prolific, using the generative capacity of imagination to create a sense of reproductive abundance, as he unfolds and expands the forms that matter (ceramic, wax, wood) assumes in his practice.