Bio

Dim Sampaio born in Sitio Novo, a small village in the countryside around Altos in the State of Piauì in Brasil, moves with his family in Teresina, capital city of Piauì.

In Teresina, since his childhood he show interest for drawing, but his first real approach to the graphic art world is when at 13 years old, Dim start to draw and send satirical comics to local newspapers. After less than a year, his works are published. The following year, he publishes the first political satire comic book ever in Piauì, of which only two editions are printed due to hostility from local politics. Forced to leave political satire, from this time on Dim will dedicate himself only to painting.

In 1994 he graduate at the design technical institute. The same year he explores the idea of joining architecture at the University, but leaves it after informally attending few seminars. He decides insted to register for the degree in Arts at the Federal University of Piauì. During his academic training he attends the lectures by Afranio Pessoa, one of the most important painters of the North East in Brasil, whom immediately offers Dim the position of tutor in his class. In the same period he start to do a few small exhibitions and become an art teacher in some middle schools in Teresina, and informally for street children and the community in the favelas. After his degree, an institution from Palermo offers him a one year scholarship at the Accademia delle Belle Arti di Palermo. Here he attends the lectures by Marcello Faletra, who – recognising his intellectual and artistic talent - asks Dim to coordinate a series of seminars on Arts, Poetry and Philosophy – named as the ‘Sicilian Lectures’. Since 1999 Dim Sampaio lives in Bologna, where he produce his art works. In 2001, his first solo exhibition is organised in the city of Gubbio, in Umbria. In 2003 he is invited as Special Guest at the Biennial of Contemporary Arts in Cairo.

2004 sees his second solo exhibition, this time at Palazzo Mauriziano – once the countryside estate of Ludovico Ariosto in Reggio Emilia. The same year, Dim Sampaio exhibits in Bologna at the Galleria Castiglione Arte. In 2006 he is selected for a collective exhibition curated by Philipe Daverio with the support of Fondazione Carisbo in Bologna. The same year, Dim Sampaio starts a collaboration in Milan with the gallery Grossetti Arte Contemporanea - where he opens his solo exhibition in february 2008. In the same gallery, at the end of 2008 he shows his works in the collective exhibition L’Altra Figura / The Other Picture, together with Modigliani, Fontana, De Chirico among others.

In 2009 he creates the art installation L’Intreccio della Memoria / The weaving of memory within the framework of the Festival Human Rights Nights, promoted by Cineteca di Bologna. In 2010 he is invited at the Art First – Art Fair in Bologna and at the MiArt in Milan, still curated by Grossetti Gallery which also organises his second solo exhibition in house. On this occasion, the monography Dim Sampaio, edited by Mazzotta is published as part of the Vontobel project for the Arts. Dim Sampaio is chosen as the first artists by Vontobel, a Swiss bank foundation who then organise a solo exhibition of Dim Sampaio in their office in Milan at Piazza Affari.

In 2011 Dim is invited to organise a personal exhibition in the prestigious venue of Cineteca di Bologna Renzo Renzi Library. In 2012, within the framework of Human Rights Nights Festival, he display an installation Labirinto Quotidiano in the Ceremonial Courtyard of Palazzo d’Accursio, the historical venue of the Bologna Municipality.