Artist: Austin Martin White

Capitain Petzel presents The lie, the larp and the lusophile, Austin Martin White’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, spanning its entire exhibition space.

Through paintings and works on paper, White investigates the construction of historical memory, exploring postcolonial histories and the ways images shape cultural narratives while addressing the unstable boundary between historical fact, national myth, and cultural identity.

At the core of the exhibition is the legacy of the Brazilian Baroque sculptor Antônio Francisco Lisboa (c. 1738–1814), known as Aleijadinho, whose biography has long oscillated between documented history and legend. White presents portraits of the artist alongside depictions of his prophet sculptures at the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos in Congonhas. Other paintings draw on the woodcut covers of literatura de cordel, the popular printed booklets of Northeastern Brazil in which folklore, religion, politics, and history converge.

Working with polyethylene film, screen mesh, pigment, rubber, vinyl, and spray paint, White creates layered surfaces that reflect the fragmented, mediated nature of historical narratives, inviting viewers to consider how tories are constructed, circulated, and ultimately believed.

Austin Martin White (b. 1984, Detroit, MI) lives and works in Philadelphia, PA. He has been included in group exhibitions at the Southampton Arts Center, New York (2025); the Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester (2025); and the Jewish Museum, New York (2024). The artist had his first solo exhibition at Capitain Petzel, Berlin, in 2022, followed by solo shows at Petzel, New York, in 2023 and 2025.

His work is part of the permanent collection of The Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudsonv and has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, Impulse, Artforum, Texte zur Kunst, Flash Art, 032c, and The Observer, among others.