Lines That Remember Where They Came From
Tomás Castro Neves, born in 1995 in Lisbon, has built an artistic practice that places drawing and painting at the center of an ongoing investigation into the human form. His work carries the immediacy of someone who never stopped sketching, someone for whom drawing was never a preliminary exercise but a way of thinking and existing. From an early age, the act of putting pencil to paper became second nature, gradually transforming from childhood habit into a sustained artistic language. Today, that language manifests through bodies that feel charged with emotion, ambiguity, and motion, resisting static representation. The human figure appears not as a portrait of a specific individual but as a flexible structure capable of holding multiple meanings at once, which has positioned his work within contemporary conversations around figuration and emotional expression.
Before fully committing to art, Castro Neves studied architecture at the University of Porto, an experience that continues to shape his visual thinking. Architectural training sharpened his sensitivity to proportion, structure, and the relationship between figure and perspective, even when spatial references are reduced or intentionally absent. Rather than translating architecture directly into built environments, he absorbed its discipline of observation and clarity, allowing those principles to inform how bodies are arranged, compressed, or stretched across a surface. This background also encouraged a graphic precision that quietly underpins his otherwise intuitive approach, creating tension between control and freedom that remains central to his compositions.
That tension becomes especially evident in the way space is handled, or sometimes deliberately avoided, within his work. Many of his figures appear suspended in undefined settings, suggesting that the absence of spatial cues is not accidental but a conscious distancing from architectural logic. By stepping away from the profession he once trained for, Castro Neves found room to focus inward, allowing form and gesture to carry meaning without relying on environmental context. This choice reinforces the sense that his figures exist within a self contained system, one governed by internal proportion and emotional logic rather than physical realism, setting the foundation for the visual universe that continues to expand throughout his practice.
Tomás Castro Neves: Intuition, Proportion, and the Expressive Line
The foundation of Castro Neves’s style lies in drawing, a medium he approaches with both discipline and surrender. His education emphasized classical draftsmanship and accuracy, yet his attention was always drawn to artists whose sketches vibrated with urgency and emotional charge. The influence of expressive figures found in the work of Paula Rego or Picasso encouraged him to seek a balance between precision and looseness, between what is taught and what is felt. Over time, this balance evolved into a personal system of proportions that does not aim to mirror reality but instead supports the logic of his own visual language. Within this system, distortion becomes a tool for clarity rather than confusion.
Line plays a decisive role in how his figures come into being. Castro Neves often describes the act of drawing as a race between hand and mind, where control shifts back and forth until something unexpected emerges. On the strongest days in the studio, he allows instinct to lead, trusting the line to carry him toward meaning without over analysis. This approach gives his work a sense of immediacy, as if the figures were discovered rather than designed. The energy contained within these lines becomes a primary source of beauty, suggesting movement, vulnerability, and emotional friction even when the body is rendered in a simplified or abstracted way.
This intuitive process also governs how drawings transition into paintings. Drawing functions as a testing ground where ideas surface repeatedly until one image begins to resonate more deeply than the rest. When that moment arrives, the chosen drawing becomes the basis for a painting, allowing colour and scale to extend the emotional reach of the original line work. Through repetition and variation, his bodies of work develop a sense of continuity, revealing shared concerns and emotional undercurrents. After several months of sustained focus, a clear thematic direction often emerges, demonstrating how intuition and reflection operate together within his practice rather than in opposition.
The Body as Concept, Emotion, and Shared Experience
At the core of Castro Neves’s work lies a sustained engagement with the human body, particularly the idea of “man” as a conceptual form rather than a fixed identity. His figures function as vessels through which emotion, tension, and psychological states can be expressed, resisting purely literal or sexualized readings. By working intuitively with line, colour, and gesture, he allows the body to act simultaneously as subject and environment, holding space for complex feelings without reducing them to narrative illustration. This approach creates room for viewers to project their own experiences onto the figures, fostering a sense of shared emotional ground.
There is a deeply cathartic dimension to this process. What began as a way of releasing repressed thoughts gradually transformed into a practice of attentive listening, where drawing becomes a means of understanding rather than escape. Castro Neves consciously returns to themes that once felt difficult to confront, including intimacy, vulnerability, and the body itself, approaching them with clarity and care. The repetition of drawing serves as a method of searching, where meaning is not assumed but uncovered through persistence. When an image finally carries the weight he is looking for, it signals readiness for further development, marking a moment of recognition within the broader flow of work.
His current series of paintings titled “How To:” exemplifies this searching quality. Originating from notebook drawings accompanied by handwritten legends such as How to Last, How to Be, or How to Heal, the series reflects a period of questioning both artistic direction and personal intention. By returning to a mode of creation rooted in self indulgence and emotional translation, he allowed metaphor and movement to guide the imagery. The resulting bodies often appear caught in gestures of reaching, strain, or incomplete connection, echoing experiences from daily life and his existence as a gay man. Joy and pleasure surface alongside discomfort and ambiguity, reinforcing the idea that learning how to be is an ongoing act shaped by compassion and forgiveness.
Tomás Castro Neves: From Drawing to Space, Visibility, and What Comes Next
Influence within Castro Neves’s practice flows from both art history and lived experience. He draws inspiration from artists who condense form and meaning into clear, emotionally charged images, as well as from architects such as Siza and Le Corbusier, whose thinking around space and emptiness continues to inform his sensibility. Encounters with the work of figures like Matisse, Picasso, and Keith Haring left lasting impressions that still echo in his use of line and colour. Alongside these references, his experiences living in Lisbon, Porto, and Mexico City, and his engagement with LGBTQIA+ communities, have shaped a broader understanding of representation and identity that permeates his work without becoming didactic.
A significant moment in his career came with the creation of “Visibility,” a paper sculpture installation presented in Lisbon in 2025. This large scale work consisted of a five meter long painted male figure on paper, wrapped around a wooden structure, marking a departure from his usual focus on painting. Created in the context of Europride celebrations, the piece asserted the presence of the LGBTQ+ community while simultaneously questioning its fragility and internal contradictions. By choosing paper and an exposed structural form, Castro Neves highlighted both strength and vulnerability, making the work a powerful statement on collective identity and self critique. This installation marked his first foray into large scale spatial practice and opened new possibilities for future exploration.
Daily life in the studio remains grounded in simple rituals that sustain his creative rhythm. Writing initiates the day, followed by drawing, which remains the most instinctive aspect of his process. From there, ideas expand into painting, colour studies, or considerations of scale and space, depending on the needs of the work. Moments of silence often precede action, allowing awareness of emotional states to guide what appears on paper. Looking ahead, he is eager to push his figures beyond the surface, exploring immersive and environmental formats where bodies and objects interact more directly with space. This direction suggests an expanding universe in which his drawn figures continue to evolve, occupying not only pages and canvases but the physical world around them.
