PARIS.- Vasco Araújo (born Lisbon, 1975) — explores the identity and complexity of personality by means of disguise, narrative and language. The artist, who is also an opera singer, explores the social dimension of seduction and eroticism and their power games. Drawing frequently on literature ( Restif de la Bretonne, Shakespeare, etc.) and opera (Mozart, Puccini, Wagner), his work is above all a meditation on art as a critical reflection on society but also as a privilege locus for the relations between truth and artifice.

Vasco Araájo works in a variety of media, including video, installation and photography, to explore ideas of community and marginality. Gestures of seduction, cultural stereotypes, political characteristics as well as sexual identities have all been the focus of his work. It has been described as Baroque in its literary, historical and art historical references and he draws the viewer into looking at society, providing both honest as well as artificial reflections. Wigs, porcelain, film are all used to create layered meaning. His work from time to time also reflects the fact that he trained as a lyric singer before becoming a visual artist.

He studied sculpture at the University of Lisbon and then Advanced Plastic Arts at Lisbon's Maumaus School of Fine Arts and Photography. He has had solo exhibitions in Spain, Belgium, Australia, United States and Portugal and has participated in group exhibitions in Turkey, Italy, Hungary, Germany and the United States. Recent projects include an artist residency and exhibition at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in the UK and currently he is undertaking a residency at Philadelphia University of the Arts. He was one of the invited artists to Participate in the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005.