My work explores aesthetic, historical, and environmental themes through experimentation with a diverse range of media, operating at the intersections between the arts, sciences, and memory. Juxtapositions and contrasts—such as the Analogue and the Digital and poetic gesture vs. serious inquiry—are key to my practice. My various bodies of work encompass multimedia painting, works on paper, video art, and functional sculpture, all informed by a multidisciplinary approach that blends historical archives with field research to places like the Mata Atlântica forest of Rio de Janeiro and the Azores.

My works on paper offer a direct allusion to early botanical research by combining cyanotype photography and Victorian border motifs, situating these images in a liminal space between the past and present. In some of these works, fields of Klein Blue allude to forestry management codes, where blue indicates a tree is to be spared.

Through this process of observing and cataloguing to constructing new narratives, the artworks unfold as critical views. They resonate art and ecology as practices of care, intended to be felt and not merely seen. This analytical sampling is a slowing down process of the gaze that moves toward a politics of attention.

In my paintings, abstract elements like circles, color bands, and specific chromatic scales are grounded in extensive research. The circular forms are derived from landscape architecture tree icons, while dotting elements referencing spores add texture and three-dimensionality. This abstracted forest canopy provides both the visual pleasure and the core content of the work. By blending digital programs with analogue techniques of cyanotype and painting, I balance compositions that reference 19th-century botanical iconography—such as Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours—and the poetics of chromatic abstraction.

My research also delves into how colonial commodities—coffee, gold, sugar, and rubber—shaped environments and communities. The environmental impact of these commodities on the Brazilian landscape is a vital aspect of my work.

Moving between figuration and abstraction, I construct a symbolic field in which ecology, politics, and history become inseparable. This is evident in my use of upcycling, readymades, and gambiarra—a Portuguese term for a makeshift problem-solving style born of resourcefulness. This approach addresses the Brazilian colonial context shaped by exploitation, violence, and cultural resistance, transforming materials and research into fields of reflection on nature and its ongoing transformation.

Multidisciplinary Artist David Elia was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1982. He has dual citizenship, Brazil and Portugal, and lives in the south of France.

David has received critical acclaim in a variety of projects. He is one of the spearheads of new movements of creative hybrid professionals who offer innovative works, which mix the best of contemporary and functional art.

Standout projects to date include the 2011 Stray Bullet and 2013 Bulletproof collections. In November 2014 his work was included in the exhibition “New Territories: Laboratories for Design, Art and Craft in Latin America” at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York. Elia’s Stray Bullet chair and Bullet Proof side table were chosen and recognized to position individuals and collaboratives in several distinct cities as laboratories where some of the most pertinent new directions in design and craft are emerging today.

Recently the studio represented Brazil at the 2018 London Design Biennale.

David Elia attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Summer Program in 2002, and received his Bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Brandeis University in 2004. In 2007 Elia earned a Master’s degree in interior architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). In 2009, he received a Master’s degree in design from Milan’s Domus Academy.

David now lives and works in the South of France and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Previously, In 2016, David had his studio in London.

Elia’s work is included in multiple collections; the permanent collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Museum of Arts & Design in New York, the François Pinault Collection, Paris, the Elton John Art Collection, London and the Paula Cussi Latin American Art Collection, Madrid among others. He is the recipient of an IF Materials Design Award (2010).

2026

Solo Exhibition - T.A.L | Tech Art Lab Art Residency - Rio de Janeiro

2019

Marche et Démarche. Une Histoire de la Chaussure - Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

Fréres de Chaise - Centre Culturel Arcade, Sainte Colombe en Auxois

2018

Emotional States - London Design Biennale, London

MAD Collects: The Future of Craft Part 1 – MAD Museum, New York

2017

Open Studio - London Design Festival, London

2016

New Territories: Laboratories for Design, Art and Craft in Global Latin America – Amparo Museum, Mexico

New Territories: Laboratories for Design, Art and Craft in Global Latin America – Albuquerque Museum of Art, New Mexico

2015

Design da Gema: Manifeste Carioca – Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

Rio de Janeiro, May 2014 – Collective Design Fair, New York

2014

New Territories: Laboratories for Design, Art and Craft in Global Latin America – MAD Museum, New York

2012

“Bobina” Natural color Tray sold at the MoMA Design Store during Springtime – New York

2009

MA Design, Domus Academy – Italy

2007

MIA, Masters Interior Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design – USA

2004

BA, Fine Arts, Brandeis University – USA

2002

Certificate Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design Summer Program – USA

2000

French Baccalaureat, L – Lycee Albert 1er – Monaco

2026

T.A.L | Tech Art Lab Art Residency - January & February - Rio de Janeiro

2011

A’ Design Award in Arts, Crafts and Ready-Made Design – Italy

2010

International Forum Materials Design Award – Germany

2004

Esther Pine Memorial Prize in Fine Arts - Brandeis University - USA

Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts Grant - Brandeis University - USA

Nouveau Musée National de Monaco - Monte Carlo, Monaco

The François Pinault Collection – Paris, France

Paula Cussi Latin American Art Collection – Madrid, Spain

Musée des Arts Décoratifs – Paris, France

Museum of Arts & Design (MAD Museum) – New York, USA

The Sir Elton John Art Collection – London, United Kingdom

Ramirez, Rangel, Perez and Sims. “New Territories: Laboratories for Design, Art and Craft in Global Latin America”. Turner. December 2014

Elisabeth Darby. “Re-Issue Re-Imagine Re-Make: Appropriation in Contemporary Furniture Design”. Lund Humphries. October 2020