Between 1987 and 1991, José Bechara studied at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro, where he now lives. On the basis of modular wooden spaces that evoke the typology of housing, his sculptures and installations are the reflection of an uninhabitable and impenetrable space that is no longer a simple container after familiar elements of domestic life have been extracted, which provokes a tension between the viewer and the space. Unusual materials such as canvases from lorries subjected to an oxidation process are the basis of his large-scale paintings. Bechara was selected for the 25th São Paulo Biennale (2002) and has exhibited his works at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon (2009), Patio Herreriano Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Español de Valladolid (2008) and the MAM RIO Museu de Arte Moderna Rio de Janeiro (2004), among others. E.B.