Julião Sarmento is regarded as one of the most important artists in Portugal today. Sarmento describes his photo and film works as "journeys round the human body" and his art as operating "in the realms of seduction." His painted works after 1980 also focus on the body as a "carrier of feelings and expression..., as a loving, suffering and desiring, aggressive and receptive body" (Christopher Vitali). Major essays by Hubertus Gaßner and Nancy Spector illuminate the full range of Sarmento's oeuvre, from his graphic, expressive paintings on packing paper in the early eighties to his white works in the nineties. The artist: Julião Sarmento, born 1948 in Lisbon, 1967-1970 and 1974-1976 studied at the Escola Superior de Belas Artes, Lisbon. Lives and works in Sintra, Portugal. 1980 and 1997 Venice Biennale. 1982 documenta, Kassel.