Rodrigues Gonçalves (b. 2000, Madeira, Portugal) produces wryly satirical works that draw on multilayered material research and ancient craft techniques. Working with hand-blown glass, carving, casting, and preservation, he develops a distinct visual liturgy that includes shattered, imploded glass skulls and chickens laying golden eggs. These forms draw on materials and techniques tied to devotion, imperial authority, and ceremony, through which traces of labour, belief, and hierarchy become embedded. Gonçalves reworks modern and historical iconography, sparking a provocative celebratory visual dialogue on soft power, and perception of self.

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Raised in Madeira Island, Portugal, within the symbolic afterlives of the António Salazar dictatorship, Gonçalves developed an early awareness of how power is embedded in everyday life. Growing up in his family’s three-generation souvenir shop, among religious icons, ornaments, and novelties, he became attentive to the subtle ways images and objects shape desire, attention, and taste.

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In 2022, Goncalves earned a BA (Hons) in Glass and Ceramics from the National Glass Centre, Sunderland, United Kingdom, and, in 2023, an MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art, London. Between these courses, he worked extensively in industrial fabrication environments, deepening his understanding of material, scale, and production. From 2019 to 2024, he also pursued a mentorship with Mike Davies CBE, founding partner of the Richard Rogers Partnership, known for such architectural landmarks as the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and Heathrow Terminal 5, London.

 

Goncalves is the recipient of awards including the Glass Prize Artist Award from Warm Glass, United Kingdom (2021) and Public Choice UK New Artist of the Year Award from Saatchi Gallery, London (2022). His work has been exhibited at institutions including Tate Modern and Camden Arts Centre, London, and The UK National Glass Centre, Sunderland.