Paulo Monteiro opens Atrás da superfície, a solo exhibition of recent small-format works, at Mendes Wood DM's Casa Iramaia space in São Paulo on Saturday 7 November, 12-6pm, running into January. Painted on linen or wood, the works play colour against colour and form against form, with layered planes that leave figure and ground deliberately unresolved, so the eye is free to wander across the surface.

Monteiro builds each picture from forms that connect, cross and mark boundaries without ever stepping beyond what he treats as the surface itself — transparency, darkness and absence doing as much work as the painted shapes. Some works start from a clearly defined form, others from layers of colour and how they sit against the ground, extending a conversation between colour, form and line that he has pursued quietly and spontaneously since the start of his career.