Marked by an expanded pictorial thinking, Alice Shintani’s work transcends the traditional medium of painting, taking the form of installations, collective actions, and insertions into urban landscapes. Informed by the specific issues of the artistic field, as well as the socio-political and institutional contexts in which her work is situated, Shintani’s work engages with the state of things in the world, seeking to resonate with a wide range of audiences.

The lively vocabulary of shapes, colors, gestures, folds, titles, and material and symbolic simplifications that governs Shintani’s practice serves as the basis for a regime of subtle and diligent disobedience in which she operates. By making the boundaries between art and life malleable, the artist draws on the contradictions of the art system to question its regimes of visibility, circulation, construction of meaning, and uses.

With a degree in computer engineering, Alice Shintani began her artistic career in the early 2000s, building an oeuvre that gradually transcended the established boundaries of painting. From 2013 to 2016, she closely observed the dynamics and changes in Brazil’s urban and political fabric while working full-time as a street vendor, selling brigadeiros (a traditional Brazilian sweet) in the streets and open-air markets of São Paulo’s financial district. From this period, she developed the Mata (Forest/Kills) and Menas (Less) series, presented at the 34th Bienal de São Paulo, Though It’s Dark, Still I Sing (2020/2021), and its iterations across Brazil, Chile, and France.

Among Shintani’s solo shows and projects are Prayer Birds, Flags Project, Americas Society/Council of the Americas, New York, USA (2024); Caverna (Cave), Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil (2024); Mata ON SALE, Galeria Marcelo Guarnieri, São Paulo (2021); COMPRO OURO, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo (2019); and Tuiuiú, across Associação Brasileira de Encadernação e Restauro-ABER, Mario de Andrade Library, and Praça Dom José Gaspar, São Paulo (2017).

Shintani has participated in group shows such as Echoes and Mirages, Almeida & Dale, São Paulo (2025); 100 Anos da Arte Brasileira, G20 Summit, Pavilhão da Bienal, São Paulo (2024); The Sun’s Path, Gomide & Co., São Paulo (2023); 34th Bienal de São Paulo (2020-2021) and its iterations in São Luís, Belém, Fortaleza, Campinas, Campos do Jordão, Brazil; Centro Carrilhos, Santiago, Chile; and LUMA Foundation, Arles, France (2022); Autumn Residents, Delfina Foundation, London, UK; Shadows & Monsters, Gasworks, London, UK (2017); Survival Adaptations, Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, USA (2014); Utropic, Centre of Contemporary Art, Poznan, Poland (2013); Táticas de Desaparecimento, Guantánamo, Cuba (2012); Rumos Artes Visuais, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo; Brasília; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2009); Nova Arte Nova, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro; São Paulo, Brazil (2008); 25th Arte Pará, Belém, Brazil (2006); Salão Bunkyo, São Paulo (2003).

Shintani was a residente artist at Delfina Foundation, London, UK, through the SP-Arte Prize (2017), Valand Academy, Gothenburg, Sweden (2017), Hablar En Arte, Madrid, Spain (2018) and Complexo Psiquiátrico do Juquery, Franco da Rocha, Brazil (2019).

Her works are featured in the collections of LUMA Arles Foundation, France; Fundação Bienal de São Paulo – Acervo Wanda Svevo, Brazil; Palácio do Itamaraty – Brazilian Federal Government; and Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil.