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 itinerancies across Brazil, Chile, and France. 

Among Shintani’s recent solo shows are Echo at SMU Meadows School of the Arts, Dallas, USA (2026); Caverna at Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil (2024); and Mata ON SALE at Galeria Marcelo Guarnieri, São Paulo (2021) — alongside public intervention projects such as Prayer Birds (Flags Project) at Americas Society/Council of the Americas, New York, USA (2024); COMPRO OURO at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo (2019); and Tuiuiú, presented across the Associação Brasileira de Encadernação e Restauro (ABER), the Mário de Andrade Library, and Praça Dom José Gaspar, São Paulo (2017). 

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

Shintani was a resident and visiting artist at SMU Meadows School of the Arts, Dallas, USA (2026); Delfina Foundation, London, UK, through the SP-Arte Prize (2017); Valand Academy, Gothenburg, Sweden (2017); Hablar En Arte, Madrid, Spain (2018); and the Complexo Psiquiátrico do Juquery, Franco da Rocha, Brazil (2019). 

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