With an interest in urban life and a background in industrial design and visual communications, Matias Mesquita makes art about cities, their residents, and the socioeconomic and political forces that affect how urban areas develop. After building a career in animation and video production, Mesquita turned to art making full time in 2011. He concentrates on painting and sculpture, using such non-traditional supports as slabs of cement, drywall, and other construction materials. Mesquita paints fragmentary, naturalistic images of dramatic sunsets, queuing workers, and isolated urban residents going about their days. These scenes float in the center or at the edges of his compositions, appearing delicate and fleeting against their industrial backdrops. The artist also cofounded Elefante Centro Cultural, an independent contemporary art space in Brazil.