DAVE AND TONY

About

DAVE AND TONY (active since 2021) are a Lisbon-based artist-duo whose collaborative practice creates a complex, ever-evolving artistic universe that oscillates between abjection and idealized abstraction.

DAVE AND TONY oppose anthropocentrism - the idea that human beings are the most important entity in the universe - by interrogating the intricate and often entangled relationships between humans, non-human entities, animals, artificial intelligence, technology, and the environment.

DAVE AND TONY aim to map our collective unconscious, with particular focus on personal traumas and ruptures. They wield humor and language as tools to critique societal issues and life's disparities.

DAVE AND TONY marry the profound with the absurd, presenting a world that is as unsettling as it is entertaining. They hold a mirror up to the cracks in our shared experience, navigating the liminal spaces where meaning is lost, transformed, or reborn, exposing the precarious, shifting terrain of communication and understanding.

For DAVE AND TONY, identity exists in a state of perpetual negotiation, where the interplay of desire, expression, and societal expectation constantly reshapes the contours of selfhood, often pushing against or transcending conventional boundaries of belonging, place and recognition.

DAVE AND TONY grapple with the paradox of self-recognition, the brutal sting of societal rejection, and the deep-seated internalized shame that comes with being marginalized by various systems. In themselves, their names become symbols of defiance.

DAVE AND TONY’s practice situates itself in the wreckage of queer history, constructing installations where body politics, abjection, and camp collide in uneasy communion. Their work unfolds in the interstices of queer temporality, operating not as linear progression but as spectral recurrence—a flickering between presence and absence, pleasure and decay, mourning and excess. DAVE AND TONY insist that queer existence is neither fully legible nor resolved. Instead, they revel in the spaces where meaning ruptures, where the queer body becomes a contested archive of trauma and survival.

Biography

2025 - Group Show - “DAVE AND TONY'S NUMBER 2 with Special Guests” with Foutra Lecomte, Jim Geer Collection, Svetlana R., Zack Chambers and "Guided Tour" by Felix Vong. Numa Sala, Rua Neves Ferreira 17C, Penha da França, 1170‑273, Lisbon, PT.

2025 - Group Show - "Leisure Centre (Hedone #3 - Leisure)" with Maria José José Maria, João Rosa Narciso and Cindy Silva, curated by Felix Vong. Galeria Ocupa, Rua do Bonfim 422/424, 4300-427, Porto, PT.

2025 - Solo Show - “DAVE AND TONY'S SHITHOLE”. Greatorex Street, 10 Greatorex Street, Whitechapel, E1 5NF, London, UK.

2025 - Solo Show - “Family Portrait”. Numa Sala, Rua Neves Ferreira 17C, Penha da França, 1170‑273, Lisbon, PT.

2025 - Group Show - “Brace, brace!” with Elizabeth Prentis, Annie Frost Nicholson and Miro Bersi. Rua Maria Andrade 32, Graça, 1170-216 Lisbon, PT.

2025 - Solo Launch - “DAVE AND TONY'S LOBOTOMY”. Minimall, Rua Poiais de São Bento 120B, 1200-348 Lisbon, PT.

2024 - Group Show - “Hammertime”. Zaratan | Arte Contemporânea, Rua de São Bento 432, 1250-221 Lisbon, PT.

2024 - Group Show - “The 'Kitchen' Show” curated by Drowning Room and Diogo D S Dietl. Estudio Atilho, Rua Castilho 209 1E, 1070-196, Lisbon, PT.

2024 - Group Show - “First Step” curated by Pedro Valdes Cardoso. Bigger Splash Gallery, Rua Maria 63A, 1170-287, Lisbon, PT.

2024 - Group Show - “BLINK Room Share 6” curated by Dido Hallett. Safehouse-1, 139 Copeland Road, Peckham, SE13 3SN, London, UK.

2024 - Solo Show - “BLOODSUCKER” curated by Elsa Garcia. The Garage - Porta B, Rua Feio Terenas 31, Penha de França, 1170-122, Lisbon, PT.

2023 - Solo Show - “Witchcraft TV | Steve Made Us Hardcore”. The former Clube Futebol de Santa Catarina, Calçada do Combro 49, 1200-452 Lisbon, PT.

2021 - Group Show - “COVIDEO” with Elizabeth Prentis. Plantasia, Rua de Arroios 93A, Arroios, 1150-053, Lisbon, PT.

To date, DAVE and TONY have lived and worked in Lisbon, Berlin, London, and in the USA.

DAVE was born and raised in the UK - his father was Ukrainian, a Prisoner of War who naturalised to become British in 1962; his mother was British. DAVE received his BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (1989-1992), MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts, UAL London (2007-2008). DAVE has shown work extensively over the years. DAVE was formerly represented by September Gallery in Berlin, holding a solo show called “Irutturi” (2010) and showing at Art Cologne and Artforum Berlin. DAVE was also formerly represented by Works Projects in Bristol UK, holding a solo show called “GLEN” (2012). DAVE had a solo show at The Black Mariah in Cork Ireland entitled “Bodysuit Opening Ceremony” (2010), and one called “Peter Wahowitz | American Bodies” (2012) in Salford Manchester - the product of an Artist Residency at Islington Mill. DAVE has shown work in numerous group shows internationally, including at Hauser and Wirth Somerset, Transition Gallery, Hackney Picture House, Quare Gallery, Master Piper Gallery, David Roberts Art Foundation, The Bussey Building, The Surgery in London, and The International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester, Abandon Normal Devices Festival in Preston, The Black Mariah in Dublin Ireland. In Germany, at Kühlhaus, Galerie Vincenz Sala, September Gallery and Knoth and Krüger Gallery in Berlin and Zanderkasten Gallery in Dresden.

TONY was born in South Africa to an Italian immigrant father and South African mother. TONY completed his BA in Architecture in South Africa (1990-1995). In 1995, TONY moved to London, where he completed his MA in Fashion at Central St Martins UAL (1998-2000). For years, he worked in the Design and Fashion industries, holding numerous related bi-seasonal shows in London and showing work internationally in Berlin, Tokyo, Paris, Milan, and the Middle East. TONY has worked as Show, Production, and Graphics/Video/Music Director for numerous public shows. TONY has been published in books by Hywel Davies and Laird Borrelli, and numerous art and design publications. TONY has been a former Artist-in-Residence at London College of Fashion and the Victoria and Albert Museum London (2006), Visiting Artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2011). Adjacent to his practice, TONY worked extensively in Higher Education - in the USA at School of the Art Institute of Chicago IL and RISD Providence RI, in Germany at Weissensee and University of the Arts UdK in Berlin, and University of Applied Sciences in Trier, and in UK at University of the Creative Arts, Rochester, LCF, CSM, universities in Bristol, Birmingham and several international schools. TONY began to work with AR, Wearables, FashionTech and gaming software, winning a Fashion Fusion Award in Berlin (2016-2017).

DAVE and TONY met in Brixton, London, in 1995, and have been partners ever since. They moved from London to Berlin in 2007 and were formally married in NYC in 2018. In December 2020, with Brexit looming and the global pandemic still ongoing, they took the wrong decision to move to Italy. Following a traumatic and transformative experience there, they escaped to Lisbon, Portugal, where they have been ever since. Although having collaborated frequently in the past, 'DAVE AND TONY' was born in 2021, driven by a shared desire to express their common purpose and articulate the deeper meaning of their connection.

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