Gat.Uno

Gat.Uno (Pedro Mendes) is a contemporary artist born in Faro (1993). He graduated from the University of the Algarve with a degree in Visual Arts, but also studied Ceramic and Glass Design at ESAD – Caldas da Rainha for two years.

He is currently a member of the artists’ collective at Associação 289. His artistic practice began in 2016 on the streets of Faro, using the visual representation of a cat as a way of identifying the contemporary working class, thus highlighting societal inequalities through posters displayed in various locations around the city. Using painting, sculpture, video and installation, Gat.Uno deconstructs pre-existing concepts and assigns new meanings to the pieces he creates, thereby exposing the human experience in the way we live, kill and survive. The recurring themes he employs draw on dichotomies between violence and peace, life and death, sadness and joy, playfulness and serenity. He employs various images of war, demonstrations and scenarios where there is an abuse of power, in contrast to harmonious images and settings. He subverts the logic of these images, questioning the trivialisation of violence by highlighting its presence in seemingly innocuous contexts.

He has taken part in numerous exhibitions, including the solo exhibitions #Gat.uno at FarpaLab (2017) – Faro, ‘2.0’ at Galeria ArQuente (2017) – Faro, and ‘For Sale: Sea View’ at Galeria Praça do Mar (2023) – Quarteira, and in several group exhibitions, notably “Isto não é uma canção de amor” at Fábrica da Cerveja (2018) – Faro, “289 – A Project by Pedro Cabrita Reis‘ at Associação 289 (2018) – Faro, ’Alvará” at Galeria Trem (2021) – Faro and ‘Salto’ at Associação 289 (2023) – Faro.