I explore visual expression as a tool of inquiry and commentary on political, social, religious, cultural, philosophical, and environmental issues.
Paulo Machado was born in Portugal and spent his childhood in a small farming village near the bay of São Martinho do Porto. In 1982, he began studying philosophy and theology in Lisbon and three years later he moved to Italy for one year to continue his theological studies. From Italy, Paulo continued his studies in England for one year and then moved to Kenya for two years. While studying in Nairobi, a series of investigations in mythology and comparative cultural studies offered him new perspectives to a deeper understanding of human pursuits. Dissatisfied with the theological field and after a brief sojourn in Portugal, Paulo immigrated to the United States in 1989. It was there that he decided to focus his studies on visual expression. In 1994 he completed his bachelors degree in fine arts at the University of Maryland at College Park. Interest in visual expression had been present all along since his childhood, but by this time it had become the most effective means to understand and express his thoughts about his experiences. Public exhibitionsof his work began this same year. In 1997 he completed his Masters degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, and won a multi-year Fellowship from the Prestigious Joan Mitchel Foundation, awarded to select visual artists in recognition of artistic excellence. After spending one year teaching art theory at the University of Maryland, Paulo moved to Ohio in 2002 to teach full time as an associate professor at Mount Union College. In 2003 he moved to Delaware where he focused exclusively on studio work for three years before returning to teaching visual expression as a channel for interdisciplinary thinking. Paulo has garnered critical acclaim in periodicals such as The Washington Post, The Articulate, and the Washington Review, and has exhibited extensively at numerous art galleries and museums such as Art Museum of The Americas, Washington, DC, Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE, and Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, DE. Currently, Paulo resides in rural Pennsylvania.