Marcius Galan's extensive and diverse body of work unfolds through installations, sculptures, drawings, videos, and photography. His practice assimilates concepts and languages from everyday life to rework space, the central theme of his work. Galan delves deeply into the characteristics and natures of each material he works with, combining or juxtaposing them. His works challenge the certainty and apparent stability of objects, confusing perception and creating a space open to interpretation.
Graduated in Art Education from the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado, Galan lives and works in São Paulo. His work, strongly grounded in the urban experience of everyday life, also engages with pivotal moments in 20th-century art history, particularly discussions stemming from Brazilian neo-concretism and American art from the 1950s and 1960s. Since 2000, he is represented by Galeria Luisa Strina, where he has held solo exhibitions such as Fervor (2020), Planta/Corte (2015), Imóvel/Instável (2011), Área comum (2008), Arquipélago (2005), Fundo falso (2004), and Projeto outdoor (1996).
Among his recent solo exhibitions are: Gravity, Museum of Contemporary Art — MAC-USP, São Paulo (2022); Emergency Painting, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo — MAM-SP (2022); They endured, Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany (2020); Section: smoked prism, Pinacoteca de São Paulo (2019); Precision Instruments, Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, SP (2018); Mará-obi, Capela do Morumbi, São Paulo (2018); Line Weight, Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany (2017); Penetra, Ema Klabin Foundation, São Paulo (2017); Architectures of Uprooting, Ideobox Artspace, Miami, USA (2014); Diagram, NC-Arte, Bogotá, Colombia (2013); Geometric Progression, White Cube, London, United Kingdom (2013); among others.
He participated in the 8th Mercosur Biennial: geopoetic essays (2011) and the 29th São Paulo Biennial: there is always a cup of sea to sail (2010). Notable among his participations in group exhibitions are: Windows - An exhibition of postal art, Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Étienne, France (2022); Obscura Luz, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo (2022); The machine of the world: Art and industry in Brazil 1901–2021, Pinacoteca de São Paulo (2021); Zona da Mata, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo — MAM-SP and Museum of Contemporary Art of São Paulo — MAC-USP (2021); Stories of Abstraction: Contemporary Latin American Art in the Global Context, Phoenix Art Museum (2020); Plural Domains – Selected work from the CIFO Collection, Cuenca Biennial, Museo de la Ciudad, Cuenca, Ecuador (2018); Avenida Paulista, MASP, São Paulo (2017); Art and Space, Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain (2017); De lo espiritual en el arte, Museum of Modern Art of Medellín, Colombia (2016); Brazil, Beleza?! Contemporary Brazilian Sculpture, Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, Netherlands (2016); Empty House, Luhring Augustine, New York, USA (2015); Inside, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2014); Cruzamentos: Contemporary Art in Brazil, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, USA (2014); 30x Bienal, São Paulo Biennial (2013); Blind Field, Kannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavillion, Illinois, USA (2013); among others.
Galan has been awarded prizes such as the PIPA Prize in 2012; the Cifo – Cisneros Fontanals Commission Prize in 2009; and the Iberê Camargo Grant — Visiting Artists Program (Art Institute of Chicago, USA) in 2004. His works are part of prominent national and international collections: Museu Serralves, Porto, Portugal; MASP, São Paulo; Pinacoteca de São Paulo; Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo — MAM-SP; Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro — MAM Rio; Museum of Fine Arts Houston, USA; Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico; Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho, MG; Cifo Cisneros Fontanals, Miami, USA; Zabludowicz Collection, London, United Kingdom; Phoenix Art Museum, USA; among others.