Bio@João.Parrinha

Artist, musician and sculptor-designer João Parrinha was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1961, the elder son of architect Artur Parrinha and school teacher Ricardina Parrinha. João grew up in an artistic environment, his father being a painter and amateur jazz musician, and showed first signs of artistic potential at nine years of age. He attended Charles Lepierre French Lycée, António Arroio Arts School and ESBAL University of Fine Arts in the Portuguese capital.

From early on, João experimented with drums, accompanying his father on the armrests of the family sofa and progressing to Brazilian percussion, until finally having his own drum made for him. He was soon asked to take part in the IBM (Industrial Blues Machine) rock and blues band, performing live at the iconic Rock Rendezvous venue in Lisbon, and participated in other bands, recording with his brother José Bruno Parrinha (also an artist and saxophone player) for the 1980s pop band Radar Kadafi. João later joined Sei Miguel’s Moeda Noise avant-garde/jazz trio on the drums, giving nearly 60 concerts over a period of two years. Since then, he has taken part in concerts of improvised music with Rodrigo Amado and VGO (Variable Geometry Orchestra) amongst others.

In his recent artistic career, João moved into sculpture, exhibiting in galleries such as Século, Lisbon, and as part of the European Capital of Culture activities, as well as designing striking club interiors featuring his sculptures. In 1994 and 1995, he exhibited his work in Munich, Germany, together with the prominent extreme sports photographer Xandi Kreuzeder. It was also in the 1990s that João started working as an art director for the cinema (Alta Fidelidade) and television (the Doce Fugitiva soap opera), making TV spots (vodafone, TMN, Optimus mobile phone companies, Millennium BCP bank) and music videos (for the Oasis World Tour 2000 and the seminal Portuguese band Madredeus, Maria Leon/Rui Veloso, Ornatos Violeta and Zen, as well as Moonspell, for whose concerts he also executed the stage and costume design).

2005 Joao joined the artgroup Skeleton3 with Xandi Kreuzeder, German photographer - sculptor, and Luis de Dios, a Spanish painter. In 2006, João/Sceleton3 were commissioned by the Marker winter sports brand to build a 2-metre mascot griffin for the ISPO trade fair in Munich.