Afonso Tostes was born in 1965 in Belo Horizonte, MG, and relocated to Rio de Janeiro in the late 1980s.

Studying under Daniel Senise, Charles Watson, and Carlos Zílio at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, Tostes developed a focus on organic structural forms. Initially working in painting, he explored themes of vertebrae, skulls, and bones, later expanding into sculpture, where these motifs took on larger dimensions. His first solo exhibition was held at the Centro Cultural São Paulo in 1996, featuring paintings. In 2000, he presented large canvases at Paço Imperial in Rio de Janeiro, broadening his visual repertoire.

In 2001, Tostes received a RIO ARTE grant for his research “Perna de Três” and began focusing on sculpture, a natural evolution of his artistic exploration. The eponymous exhibition was shown at Galeria Paulo Fernandes in Rio de Janeiro in 2002 and at Centro Cultural Maria Antonia in São Paulo in 2003, marking a shift towards the use of wood in large installations and expanding his exploration of structure and space. His sculptures began to interact with institutional spaces, as seen at the 2005 Mercosul Biennial under curator Paulo Sérgio Duarte, where he used large-scale sculptures to support the venue’s structures.

In 2005, Tostes presented the installation “Cidade Pequena” at Galeria Lurix in Rio de Janeiro and later at Galeria Virgílio in São Paulo in 2006. Using pieces of aged wood, he crafted geometric shapes that, combined, represented a miniature city.

In 2009, the exhibition “Rota” at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói marked a new phase in his work with wood. In the installation “Árvores,” he integrated dead branches into sculpted pieces, exploring the theme of “eternal return.” In 2010, the installation “Afloramentos” was featured in the “Experimenting Spaces” exhibition at the Museu da Casa Brasileira, curated by Agnaldo Farias, where bone-like flowers were “planted” in the garden, expanding the dialogue between work, space, and context.

In 2011, Tostes exhibited “Ao Mesmo Tempo” at Galeria Lurix and “Baque Virado” at MAM Rio de Janeiro, where he experimented with new formats in sculpture and installation, also presenting large-scale woodcuts.