Marcelo Daldoce (b. 1979, Brazil) is a contemporary artist whose paintings address current personal, social, and environmental issues through ethereal, idealized landscapes.
Daldoce’s work speaks to the many migrations he has taken throughout his life – both physical and cultural. His process is a personal journey of self-discovery and self-identification, of finding belonging in the unfamiliar, and drawing passion from his heritage. As Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues identified, “Brazil is not a country, it is not a nation, it is not a people: it is a landscape."
Structuring his pieces within a storytelling narrative, Daldoce's meditative imagery explores subjects of loss: through migrations, power, and environmental disaster. Metaphors inspired by mythology, folktales, and stories are woven with forests, violence, and hubris. Believing in the power of allegory, Daldoce lets nature become his stage to tell these stories on: creating a sublime image that holds and espouses a hidden drama within it.
Marcelo Daldoce is a Brazilian artist living and working in Philadelphia, PA. In 2016, he received his MFA from the New York Academy of Art, and has earned residencies at the Leipzig International Art Program in Germany and the Eric Fischl Residency in Maryland. Daldoce has shown in museums in Austria and Brazil, as well as at art fairs and in private collections. His work has also been featured in group exhibits in Brazil, New York city, Sotheby’s, and many other galleries around the world, as well as on the cover of various art publications and mainstream magazines like There and GQ. Daldoce was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant in 2017 and 2019.