António Ole was born in 1951 in Luanda, Angola. His artistic career is marked by several solo exhibitions, as well as his presence in numerous group exhibitions in various parts of the world. António Ole, a plastic artist, photographer and filmmaker, studied African-American culture and film at UCLA, University of California, and graduated from the Center for Advanced Film Studies, of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. As an artist, António Ole stood out for his sculptures inspired by the murals of the Tchokwe, east of the country, and for the contemporary painting that incorporates many traditional elements, which make him one of the strongest international promoters of Angolan culture. António Ole has held exhibitions on a regular basis since 1994. His numerous solo exhibitions include “António Ole: marcas de um percurso (1970-2004)", Culturgest, Lisbon, 2004; in 2009, "Hidden Pages”, Iwalewa-Haus, Bayreuth, Germany; and “Angola, Figures de Pouvoir”, at the Musée Dapper, Paris, from 2010 to 2011. In addition to several solo exhibitions, the works of António Ole were part of several other collective exhibitions, among which: “The Short Century”, at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; “Body of Evidence”, at the National Museum of African Art – Smithsonian, Washington, in 2007; “Africa Remix”, on display from 2004 to 2007, in places as unusual as the Kunstpalast Museum, Düsseldorf, the Hayward Gallery, London, the Centre George Pompidon, Paris, the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm and the Johannesburg Art Gallery.
