Sandro Akel’s work emerges from the layered surfaces of the city, where fragments of posters, signage, and street interventions carry the imprints of time and collective memory. Drawing from urban environments such as São Paulo, Berlin, and London, his practice transforms found materials into richly textured compositions that balance chaos and rhythm. Through collage and encaustic, Akel reveals and conceals history simultaneously, inviting viewers to slow down and look beneath the surface.

As he joins Whistler Contemporary Gallery, Sandro shares insight into his process, influences, and the layered narratives that shape his evolving visual language. In this conversation, we spoke with Sandro about material discovery, urban memory, and the hidden stories built into each work.

View Sandro Akel's Work HERE

Your work has a very distinct atmosphere; what draws you to the subjects and worlds you create?

My work grows out of a deep fascination with the urban landscape and its layers of visual history. I’m drawn to the fragments of the city — street posters, lambe-lambes, torn posters, signage — because they carry traces of lived experience and collective memory. These are materials that already exist in the world: they’ve been posted, torn, overlaid, weathered by time, and carry the imprints of people, events and movement. By bringing them into my compositions, I’m inspired to explore how urban life leaves marks, both visible and hidden, and how these marks can be recontextualized into new visual worlds that reflect on rhythm, repetition and cultural exchange.

⁠Can you walk us through your creative process from the first idea to the finished piece?

My creative process is very much rooted in material discovery. It starts with collecting fragments — particularly the posters and lambe-lambes I find on the streets of São Paulo and other cities — which already contain graphic elements shaped by time and human activity. I bring these pieces into the studio and begin a collage process on wood, layering and juxtaposing imagery, shapes, and text. Then I work with encaustic — a fusion of beeswax, paraffin, and pigments — to integrate and unify the surface, creating transparencies, depth, and resonance between layers. From those initial fragments to the final surface, I draw, cut, compose and respond intuitively to how the materials speak to one another, allowing the work to evolve organically through each stage of creation.

⁠What themes or emotions do you hope viewers feel when they spend time with your art?

I hope viewers experience a sense of immersion and reflection — an encounter with both the chaos and poetry of contemporary urban life. The pieces invite people to notice not only the visual energy of the work but also to contemplate the passage of time, impermanence, and layered histories embedded in the images. I want viewers to feel both familiar and unsettled — as if they’re seeing the street through a new lens that highlights fleeting moments, memory, and connection.

⁠Are there particular artists, places, or experiences that have shaped your visual style over the years?

My visual style has been shaped profoundly by living in major cities and engaging with their visual cultures — from the streets of Berlin and London to São Paulo — where the street poster culture becomes an endless source of inspiration, texture and visual language. The early work with the Bijari collective, where technology, urban interventions, and multimedia were part of creative exploration, also influenced how I think about space, material and narrative. Working with time and materiality — the residue left in public environments — has become central to how I understand the potential of visual expression.

Many collectors love learning what’s happening beneath the surface; what details or hidden
elements do you enjoy building into your pieces?

Beneath the surface of each work are multiple histories and dialogues between fragments that once belonged to different places, moments, and contexts. I enjoy how the encaustic process reveals and conceals simultaneously — layers of wax and pigment can make something visible and then partially hide it again, creating a sense of memory and metamorphosis. Collectors often notice that every piece holds subtle details: ancient typography, torn edges, ghost-like shapes, and compositional echoes that reward close inspection. These hidden dialogues are intentional — inviting viewers to look deeper, to discover stories beneath the surface and to feel connected to both the material and the moment it captures.

View Sandro Akel's Work HERE

We are delighted to showcase Sandro Akel's work at Whistler Contemporary Gallery. We invite you to experience his pieces in person — and if a piece speaks to you, our team of art consultants will be happy to assist.