Flávio Santos, born in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro in 1972. After a period of wanderings in Europe, in 1995 he settled in the Netherlands. He worked in the IT sector for a number of years. But what was in his blood exposed itself: Flavio Santos continued painting.

In Amsterdam he took various courses in drawing, painting and graphic design. He has also completed the bachelor study “Fine Art in Education” at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. Europe with its numerous museums and exhibitions gave Flavio Santos the opportunity to study the meaningful periods in the history of painting: an important source of inspiration for him. His work has been exhibited at various expositions in Amsterdam, including in art gallery De Stoker, Sooj Meeting Room, Art gallery Satellite and P.A.X. Art Weekend Gallery. Flavio Santos participated several times in the Open Art Galleries de Jordaan in Amsterdam. His work can be found at companies and in private collections.

In addition to his work as a visual artist, he is also a teacher in “Fine Art" and "Cultural and Artistic Education" at Bindelmeer College in Amsterdam.

The title "Destruction & Construction" indicates that the painter divides images into fragments (destruction) and rearranges these fragments into a new and different image (construction). He collects images, depending on the subject he works on, with the help of various media: photos from advertisements, images from the internet, photos from virtual voyages and pictures he took himself. Analysis of these images, by fragmentation or deconstruction, leads to new images (construction) in his paintings. The images are abstract, but are combined with figurative, less abstract, elements. Something ambiguous arises. The spectator has the opportunity for his own interpretation.

In this series you can see ruins and rubble, which clearly refer to destruction and transience, divided into fragments that are rearranged. In this way destruction and transience are very strongly expressed.

The new paintings are inspired by the city of Rio de Janeiro and have little to do with destruction. These images are also fragmented here (deconstruction). By using more organic forms new figurative images emerge, such as a beach in Rio that looks like a rat or a dog (a new construction). The viewer is then free to give it its own interpretation.