QA ESTUDIO

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE

Two paths, different countries, opposing experiences — converging in a village in the north of Portugal and in a shared question: what is the purpose of beauty in a world that is destroying itself?
Through painting and ceramics, António Espinhosa and Quique Antón investigate the tensions between nature and destruction, memory and oblivion, beauty and inequality.
From their experiences and their desire to act, QA ESTUDIO is born.

Mappa Mundi

75,5 x 120,5 cm

Selected for the contemporary art competition ART'IN LIMA, Ponte de Lima (Portugal) 2026.

This panel of Portuguese tiles, hand-painted with cobalt oxide and glazed in the style of the 17th century, proposes a dialogue between tradition and contemporaneity. The map, fragmented and interrupted by digital error messages (404, 503…), questions the systems that have historically allowed us to organise and understand territory. Between ancient memories and digital failures, the work reveals unstable landscapes, invisible borders and territories in constant redefinition.

MANIFESTO

I want to hold gently
one by one your heads,
to place my lips upon your ears,
with one hand to open your eyes,
and with the other your mouths.
To breathe in deeply, slowly
and release it with the violence of a fist
that will pierce your eardrums
to explode within your brains
like a whisper
echoing infinitely
that when my works leave my head,
they shatter into your pupils
to fill you with fear and beauty.

AVAILABLE WORKS

Adam on the beach

A black canvas reveals, almost imperceptibly, the figure of a person on the beach — obese, in a sequin bikini, indifferent to standards and expectations. Amid delicate shadows and waves, someone emerges who is often unseen, yet whose presence fills the space and challenges gazes and judgments. A portrait of the visibility of those who exist beyond the norms.

VIEW WORK

QA ESTUDIO BY ESPINHOSA&ANTON

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THE STUDIO

A space for contemporary art practice where creation emerges as investigation and positioning.
Through the work of Enrique Antón and António Espinhosa, the studio develops paintings and sculptures exploring the relationship between matter, gesture, and thought. Each work asserts itself as a presence and experience that invites a sensory reading of the space.

BIO

Quique Antón and António Espinhosa come to their shared practice through distinct and complementary paths.
Quique, a graduate in Art History from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), builds his practice through self-taught training alongside artisans and artists from Spain, Italy, and Portugal, enriched by institutions such as the University of the Arts London. In parallel, he has developed a career as a creative consultant for the FAO (UN) — an experience that deepens his stance on global inequality. António, an engineer by training, born in Luanda, has likewise built a self-taught practice, learning directly from artisans and artists in Portugal and Spain, where technical rigour dialogues with the poetic gesture of manual making.
After independent journeys, in 2025 they merged their practices into a shared laboratory where painting and ceramics, structure and intuition, memory and contemporary urgency enter into dialogue.

BACKGROUND

QA ESTUDIO is a joint biography. Our works are the result of two separate journeys, in different countries and with distinct experiences — which merge in each piece as a truly shared body of work.
Quique (QA Estudio) is a member of A Colectiva, the Association of Contemporary Artists of Galicia, and in 2026 QA Estudio is recognised as an Artisan Production Unit certified by CEARTE (Portugal).
2026
— May. Joins the Portugal Sou Eu brand.
— June. Selected, Art-In Lima, Ponte de Lima (Portugal).
— May. CIAC – Interpretive Centre for Ceramic Crafts, Vila Verde (Portugal).
2025
— December. Independent Exhibition of Contemporary Artists, Braga (Portugal).
— September. Exhibition at the Vila Verde Municipal Council (Portugal).
— Participation in Culturgal, Pontevedra (Spain) since 2017. (Quique)
2014
— Finalist, Ito Jakuchu International Competition, Design Boom / Tokyo Design Week (Japan). (Quique)
2013
— Finalist, Concello de Cambre Painting Competition (Spain). (Quique)
— Finalist, Francisco Mantecón Graphic Design Prize. (Quique)
1996
— I Autumn Salon, City of A Coruña (Spain). (Quique)
1995
— Selected, XXV Sargadelos Experience, Cervo, Lugo (Spain). (Quique)
1988
— First Prize, Painting Competition, Universidade do Minho (António)