TheMerode presents a solo exhibition by Paulo Nimer Pjota, winner of the Solo Prize at Art Brussels 2024
From September 3 to mid-December 2025, TheMerode hosts a solo exhibition by Brazilian artist Paulo Nimer Pjota, winner of the 2024 Art Brussels Solo Prize — an award supported by TheMerode that recognises an outstanding solo presentation at the fair.
A practice rooted in urban culture
Represented by Mendes Wood DM, Paulo Nimer Pjota (born in 1988 in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil; lives in São Paulo) builds his work around the nature of collectively originated phenomena. He draws on iconographies from both popular culture and art history, which he combines with elements of urban culture that shaped his artistic awakening.
In the way hip-hop and other analogous forms of urban culture remix known forms through sampling, Pjota bridges temporalities, clustering, for example, archetypal counter-cultural elements with Greco-Roman and precolonial societies’ aesthetics. Renderings of plants, isolated words, cartoon figures, tattoos, wayward scrawls, accents from seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish still lifes, and artifacts from pre-Columbian and Hellenic art float in constellations of suspended forms.
The resulting dreamlike compositions conjure mythological atmospheres and ritualistic landscapes united by a cyclical weaving together of plural, rapturous dialogues. The artist’s nearly insomniac practice is determined to unearth what – at the other end of the flux of artistic production – remains embedded in memory while at the margins of official history.
By juxtaposing everyday objects with references from the past, he critiques the inefficiency of hierarchical knowledge systems that separate elite and popular culture. Pjota’s compositions reveal a production of images and symbols, produced, remixed, and circulated, often exposing social inequalities in the process.
About the artist
Paulo Nimer Pjota (b. 1988, São José do Rio Preto, Brazil) lives and works in São Paulo. The artist’s recent solo exhibitions include Na Boca do Sol, Mendes Wood DM, New York (2024); Do cômico e dotrágico, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2023); Every Empire Breaks Like a Vase, The Power Station, Dallas (2021); Cenas de Casa, Caixa de Pandora, Ivani and Jorge Yunes Collection, São Paulo (2019); Medley, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2018); The history in repeat mode – image, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2017); The history in repeat mode – symbol, Maureen Paley and Morena di Luna, Hove (2017).
Additionally, his work has been included in institutional group exhibitions such as 38th Panorama de Arte Brasileira: Mil Graus [A Thousand Degrees], Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP) at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC USP), São Paulo (2024); La mirada encendida, Fundacion Osde, Buenos Aires (2024); X Pink 101, X Museum, Beijing (2024); Private Passion - New Acquisitions in the Astrup Fearnley Collection, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2019); Trouble in Paradise, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam (2019); Sea of Desire, Fondation Carmignac, Porquerolles (2018); The Marvellous Cacophony, 57th October Salon, Belgrade (2018); O Triângulo Atlântico, 11th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre (2018); Painting |or| Not, The KaviarFactory, Lofoten (2017); Soft Power, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort (2016); the 19th Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo (2015); Here There, Qatar Museums – Al Riwaq, Doha (2015); Imagine Brazil, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2013); DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montreal (2015); 12th Lyon Biennale, Lyon (2013).
Practical information
ART SALON - Paulo Nimer Pjota
From September 3, 2025 to mid-December 2025
TheMerode
Place Poelaert 6, 1000 Bruxelles
https://www.themerode.com
About TheMerode
TheMerode is a private members club that opened in November 2021, located in a listed townhouse in the heart of Brussels. It brings together over 2,000 members—40% of whom are women—from a wide range of nationalities, including Belgian, French, Italian, Dutch, and German. The club offers a peaceful workspace, private lounges, two restaurants, and a year-round programme of more than 150 talks, workshops, and events.
Notable guests welcomed in recent months include: Luc Tuymans, Jeanne Brun, Julien Creuzet, Francesca Gavin, Carla Arocha, Pascale Naessens, Christine Ockrent, Ilham Kadri, Nelly Rodi, Michelle Yeoh, Diane Govaerts, Selah Sue, Sophie Wilmes, Diane Von Furstenberg, Blanche de Richemont, Oliver Stone, François Hollande, Mathieu Ricard, Jean Todt, Alexandre Mars, Satish Kumar, Lukas Dhont, James Vincent, Bertrand Piccard, and Lorenzo Gatto.
The Merode mansion, originally built in the 16th century, was first renovated in 2010 by the Cercle de Lorraine and later transformed by TheMerode team a decade later. The building has been a listed heritage site since 1997. Renovation works were overseen by the Directorate of Cultural Heritage, with finishes crafted by Belgian artisan Eddy Dankers.
Art is an integral part of the TheMerode experience. Under the direction of Emmanuelle Indekeu, temporary exhibitions regularly highlight both emerging and established artists. The club collaborates with institutions such as La Monnaie, Art Brussels, the Venice Biennale, and the Queen Elisabeth Competition.
Two restaurants and a cocktail bar are located on site. CIAO, open to the public and led by chef Leonardo Iacometti and sommelier Sonia Capriolo, serves modern Italian cuisine and is featured in the 2024 Michelin and Gault & Millau guides. TheStables, operated by JML, offers a more casual menu, from breakfast to evening cocktails.
Lastly, ökēn provides a discreet and sensory cocktail experience, combining inventive mixology, immersive architecture, and curated music programming. Conceived as a hidden gem at the heart of TheMerode, ökēn welcomes both members and non-members for evenings that blend tasting with a refined, intimate atmosphere.
TheMerode is a certified B-Corp, a recognition of its commitment to sustainable, inclusive, and responsible practices. As an active player rooted in its local ecosystem, TheMerode aims to give back to society by supporting talent, culture, and education for the benefit of communities and future generations.
