Lucas Arruda, born in 1983 in São Paulo, Brazil, is acclaimed for his atmospheric landscape paintings that operate less as representations of specific places than as meditations on inner states and emotional perception. His work conjures imagined terrains – liminal spaces suspended between memory, sensation and light – imbued with a subtle psychological intensity. Arruda’s paintings are characterised by a refined and expressive palette that ranges from ethereal pastel hues to deep, earthy tones. Within these tonal fields, delicate details – suggestions of foliage, distant horizons, or undulating seas – emerge and dissolve, evoking a sense of impermanence and introspection. Light itself becomes a central subject: diffused through veils of cloud, flickering across water, or glowing faintly from behind imagined mists. While drawing upon the legacy of Impressionism, particularly in his attention to light and atmosphere, Arruda’s practice is equally informed by a metaphysical impulse. His compositions often resist narrative or spatial anchoring, inviting the viewer into a space of contemplation. In this way, his landscapes become thresholds – at once intimate and expansive – mapping a quiet, interior sublime.
Arruda has participated in institutional group exhibitions at the Pinault Collection, Paris (2023); Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2022); São Paulo Museum of Art (2022); Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka (2020); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); Punta della Dogana, Venice (2019); and Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo (2019). His work is held in the public collections of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Orlando; Rubell Museum, Miami; and the Long Museum, West Bund.