Vhils valuation
Carves portraits into walls with chisels, drills and explosives.
Vhils is the Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, born in 1987 and raised in Seixal, across the river from Lisbon.
What a work by Vhils is worth
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Bio
Vhils is the Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, born in 1987 and raised in Seixal, across the river from Lisbon. Starting out in graffiti, he developed a technique of removing rather than adding — chiselling, drilling and even blasting into the plaster and brick of walls to reveal large faces in the layers beneath. He has since applied the same approach to billboards, doors, metal, wood and polystyrene, and his portraits of ordinary residents are carved into walls in cities around the world.
Studio works — carved and layered panels, doors, metal and billboard pieces — come to market alongside etchings and screenprints. The carved pieces are unique, heavy and fragile at their edges, so condition, the soundness of the support and how the work has been crated matter a great deal. Editions are identified by their size and numbering, and any certificate issued by the studio should stay with the work.
Byam Shaw, Lazarides and UNESCO
Vhils studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. He came to wider notice when one of his carved faces appeared alongside a work by Banksy, after which Steve Lazarides gave him space to show; he is also shown by Galeria Vera Cortês in Lisbon and the Danysz Gallery.
A large carved mural by him is in the atrium of the Luxembourg Freeport, opened in 2014, and in 2023 he made a mural for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the first work of street art added to its walls. In 2025 the Museu do Design e da Moda in Lisbon showed his editions from 2008 to 2024.
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.
