# Alexandre Farto artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/alexandre-farto/
Profile generated: 2026-05-18T10:29:37.175Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Portuguese
- Movements: Street art, Urban art, Contemporary art
- Common media: Graffiti, Bas-relief carving, Mixed media, Screen print

## About Alexandre Farto

Alexandre Farto, known professionally as Vhils, is a Portuguese visual artist born in 1987 whose practice spans graffiti, street art, and contemporary mixed-media production. Active since the mid-2000s, he is best known for a subtractive bas-relief technique in which portraits are chiseled, drilled, or blasted directly into urban walls, doors, and found surfaces—an approach that reframes demolition as image-making. Farto's work bridges gallery exhibitions and large-scale public commissions, placing him among the most recognized figures in the international street art movement. His studio output extends to screen prints, wood dioramas, metalworks, and editioned paper works. Authority files held by the Library of Congress, VIAF, and the German National Library confirm his identity and biography. With over 330 documented works in auction channels, his pieces are regularly encountered by collectors of urban and contemporary art.

## Common works and media

Screen prints and limited-edition paper works, bas-relief portraits carved into wood, plaster, metal, or stone, mixed-media assemblages constructed from found urban materials such as doors and wall sections, wood dioramas, and large-scale mural commissions. Portraiture is the dominant subject across all formats. Editioned prints are the most commonly encountered category at auction, while unique carved works and site-specific installations are less frequently offered on the secondary market.

## Market and appraisal context

Farto's works appear frequently in the secondary market for urban and contemporary art. Key appraisal factors include the specific medium—unique carved panels, screen prints, paper editions, or mixed-media assemblages—as well as edition size, provenance documentation, and condition of the substrate material. Unique bas-relief works on found objects or architectural fragments tend to carry more weight than editioned prints, though both categories are well represented at auction. Collectors should verify attribution through gallery invoices or exhibition history. The source pack for this profile does not include realized-price records; Appraisily supplements artist identity data with comparable lot information when available.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and institutional sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. This page draws on Wikidata, VIAF, the Library of Congress authority file, and the artist's official website for biographical and practice information.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q115823
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/263402065/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012000110
- Alexandre Farto: http://www.vhils.com
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vhils