Carlos dos Santos, was born in 1968 in Lisbon, where he still lives today.
From an early age he realized that he had a natural talent for the arts and made his first self-portrait when he was only 10 years old. His primary school teacher was one of the first to notice and appreciate his talent. Realizing how gifted he was, she gathered efforts which led him to a program for especially gifted people, where, after completing a few of the program’s competences, he was recognized as such, not only for his artistic abilities but also for his way of thinking and acting.
Carlos dos Santos, was always very persistent and determined, and throughout life he had only one certainty: “Art is my destiny”.
He always dedicated himself to portrait. His work has spread out all over the world - paintings and drawings of both unknown individuals and famous high-profile personalities, many of which have been drawn alive.
Throughout his career, Carlos dos Santos was invited, several times, to make portraits of live models (charcoal and pastel), in Portugal and abroad.
Starting in 1986, for four years, he worked in partnership with one plastic surgeon, for whom he drew portraits of patients focusing on the areas to be worked on during surgery, to facilitate the preliminary vision of the surgical results to the Doctor and to the patients.
Later, in 1992 and for several years, he worked together with other artists, drawing and painting posters for the cinema and theatre.
He has also participated, throughout his career, in some collective exhibitions.
Carlos dos Santos has been also working in restoring oil paintings, another talent he possesses.
Along with the portraits, in 2012 he started a new project, devoting himself to works of his own creation. Giving room to creativity, since then, he has developed many works in pastel, charcoal and oil, within a hyper-realistic, realistic and impressionist line, in a very contemporary and "loose" approach, which confirms his innate talent, combined with an outstanding artistic sensibility, as well as an indisputable technique in painting and drawing. This way, he has been creating a large and very impressive body of work.
