Jose Bento is a Brazlian artist born in Salvador, Bahia but mainly raised in the farming state of Minas Gerais. His work has always tried to supersede the formal limits of sculpture. His first solo show was held in 1989 at Paço das Artes in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. As an artist, he creates dialogues with architecture through a medium of silent intervention, through the construction and deconstruction of objects, interactive installations, photographs, performances and videos, using primarily materials such as wood, porcelain and glass. One of his more famous series of sculptures, Trees, uses naturally fallen trunks from often rare and native trees collected from the Mata Atlantica region.
His exhibition at Casa Guignard, in the town of Ouro Preto, presented sculptures made with secular tree trunks from the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. In 1992, he was awarded the Brasília Award for the Plastic Arts, in the 12th Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Rio de Janeiro. In 2004, he exhibited his sculptures at the Museu de Arte da Pampulha, in Belo Horizonte, and more recently at the 32nd Biennial of São Paulo, occupying an area of 627 square meters of the Biennial Pavilion. In 2018, he presented his first solo exhibition at Galeria Millan entitled All Eyes.