António Olaio was awarded a degree in Painting by the University of Porto, Department of Fine Arts, in 1987. Selected solo exhibitions: João also known as James, also known as Steve, also known as Franz, also known as Boris (Kubikgallery, Porto, 2020), Cleaning up the Vacuum (Galeria Fernando Santos, Porto, 2017),  Heading West (Appleton Square, Lisboa, 2015), This Widow Is Blocking My Windows (Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, 2011), La Prospettiva Is Sucking Reality (Museu do Neo-Realismo, Vila Franca de Xira, 2010). Selected group shows: Bienal Anozero (Coimbra, 2019), Constelações (Museu Berardo, Lisbon, 2019), Trabalho Capital (Centro de Arte Oliva, São João da Madeira, 2019), Them or Us (Galeria Municipal do Porto, Porto, 2018).

His work is represented in private and public collections, namely: EDP, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Serralves Foundation, Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra, Ministery for Culture, Extremaduran and Latin American Museum of Contemporary Art (MEIAC), University of Coimbra, National Museum of Contemporary Art / Chiado Museum.

Olaio is a professor at the Department of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra.  He is the director of Colégio das Artes and a researcher at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra.