Ian Salamente (Cabo Frio, RJ, Brazil, 1997) is a painter. In 2023, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he lives and works. His work, primarily in oil painting, investigates the relationship between the individual and the city in major urban centers, in dialogue with the codes and symbols of Brazilian and Latin American culture.
Salamente's process begins with close observation of urban space: every image the artist captures already carries the intention of becoming a painting. Photographs, records, and notes bring together scenes and figures from everyday life, which are then organized as collages before reaching the canvas. People from his immediate circle and dogs appear in the compositions as part of the living landscape of the city center, occupying the same narrative space as the urban elements that surround the artist.
Salt appears as a recurring symbolic element in the paintings. The artist's connection to the material comes from Cabo Frio, his hometown, whose history was shaped by salt production, a central activity in the local economy for generations. In some paintings, small mounds of salt appear, which Salamente calls the "fruit of labor," a reference to the collective experience of urban toil and to what remains of it as matter.
In 2025, Salamente was awarded first prize in the 16th edition of Zipper Galeria's 16º Salão dos Artistas Sem Galeria. He has held the solo exhibitions Fome do Cão at Zipper Galeria (São Paulo, 2025) and Do Sal ao Estreito at the Centro Cultural Correios (Rio de Janeiro, 2025). He has participated in group exhibitions such as Text Me When You Get Home at Orma Galleria (Milan, 2026); De dentro Aflora at the Espaço Cultural Sérgio Porto (Rio de Janeiro, 2025); Ressurgência at the Palácio das Águias (Cabo Frio, 2025); Uma terra do futuro at Nil Gallery (Paris, 2024); Ribeirar at SESC Grussaí (2024); and Larguem minha fantasia at Galeria Asfalto (Rio de Janeiro, 2023).