Livia Mourão was born in Brazil, where she graduated with a degree in fine arts. She has lived in New York City since 2005, a place that has become her home and inspiration; baroque, graffiti and nature have played an active role in her work. Abstraction and realism combined with her unique perception of colors, light and space.
Working with acrylic on canvas, Mourão builds paintings through layered applications of color. The compositions are typically pre-established, while the colors evolve intuitively throughout the process. Her images often begin with a photograph or a memory, which she sketches repeatedly on an iPad—adjusting, refining, simplifying, or maximizing forms until they move beyond literal representation.
Rather than recreating a specific place, her goal is to evoke a sense of it—something more intuitive than descriptive.
Her work has been featured at the Brooklyn Museum/NYC, NJ Transit/ Elizabeth Station, Arsenal Gallery/ Central Park, NYC Parks Department, M10/Chelsea, Guignard Gallery/Brazil, Savassi Gallery, and Liberty Plaza/Urban Art, Brazil. Also, in group exhibitions at Mark Borghi Fine Art/NYC and Shoestring Studio/Brooklyn and in the television pilots ‘Mating’ for Showtime and ‘Fashion Victim’ for E! She was also part of the show and auction at Design Trust for Public Space/NYC and more recently, Monica King Projects/NYC "Talisman" group exhibition and “Censored - Pride Art Show”/SoHo.
In 2021 Mourão was awarded CAC Art Grant by New York City Cultural Affairs and in 2024, Mourão was invited to be part of the 200th Anniversary Art Show at the Brooklyn Museum/NYC, from November 2024 to January 2025. In 2025, Mourão was selected to the Summer Exhibition at Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington/Texas.
Mourão also worked as a painter and color specialist for American artist Jeff Koons from 2005 to 2021.
