Apesar de não estar, estou muito

Diogo Jesus has produced drawings, writing, comics and music under various pseudonyms for over a decade. Self‑publishing and editing fanzines and music at the age of 16 as RUDOLFO, he has created over 40 independent publications and participated in various anthologies of comics in Portugal and abroad, as well as collaborating with a variety of artists, musicians, and writers.

Curated by João Ribas (former director of the Serralves Museum and curator of the Portugal Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, 2019), the exhibition features the artist’s autobiographical obsessions and distinct take on popular culture. The cast of people, mutants, aliens, and everything in between found in his drawings and comics provide an ongoing commentary on questions of creativity, gender and masculinity, and the conditions of making art, while pushing the boundaries of the genres of the comic book. Apesar de não estar, estou muito collects drawings, objects, videos, and writings from a variety of the artist’s projects and publications since 2007, from his first independently published underground comics, to his recent projects as DJ Nobita and Gekiga Warlord, all defined as much by sardonic humour as eviscerating honesty.

Photography: Dinis Santos