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About
Sonia Gomes’ work binds together cultural movements and traditions that are intrinsically linked to the affirmation of memory, identity and the transformative power of creation in situations of vulnerability and invisibility. Through the use of fabric, thread, found and gifted objects, her multi-dimensional, sometimes biomorphic sculptures and structures stand as insistent placeholders for the absent or unseen body. These gestural inquiries refer to the body itself, as a way to decolonize the past and reclaim the present to reconstitute and celebrate both the self and her black heritage.
Her compositions stem from a spontaneous and casual practice of deconstructing and re-assembling everyday objects. Expressionist-like organic forms emerge, which invariably lead to the vision of a pulsating life, made from the combination of different experiences and memories. Gomes designs meticulous contortions with fabric, each seam or fold stemming from vernacular procedures aimed at transcending the notion of the popular, combining the naive (as a result of an informal and self-taught background) and the erudite (in line with a rigorous gaze and gesture). Within the entanglement of memories and intuitive materializations, biographies find escape routes in a tactile and organic way, experimenting with new and vibrant ways of existing.
Sonia Gomes (Caetanópolis, 1948) lives and works in São Paulo.
Her solo exhibitions include I Rise – I’m a Black Ocean, Leaping and Wide, Museum Frieder Burda and Salon Berlin, Baden-Baden/Berlin (2019); Silence of color, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2019); Still I Rise, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo / Casa de Vidro, São Paulo (2018); A vida renasce, sempre, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, Rio de Janeiro (2018). Her work has been include in the following shows Unconscious Landscape - Works from the Ursula Hauser Collection, Hauser & Wirth, Somerset (2019); Experimenting with Materiality, Lévy Gorvy, Zurich (2019); Histórias Afro-Atlânticas, MASP, São Paulo (2018); O Triângulo Atlântico, 11ª Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, Porto Alegre (2018); Tissage, Tressage, Fondation Villa Datris, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (2018); Entangled, Turner Contemporary, Margate (2017); Revival, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, USA (2017); 56ª Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2015).
CV
Education
Visual Arts, Escola Guignard, Brazil
Solo Shows
2019
Sonia Gomes, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, Belgium
2018
Sonia Gomes & Marga Ledora, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
Still I Rise, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo / Casa de Vidro, São Paulo, Brazil
A vida renasce, sempre, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2017
A.R. Penck and Sonia Gomes, Hic Svnt Dracones, New York, USA
2016
Lines in wefts, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2014
Nascer Uma Vez Após a Outra, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2012
Stitch In Time, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2011
O ritmo da linha, Espaço cultural Fórum Lafayette, Lafayette, Brazil
2008
Um Lugar, BDMG Cultural, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2005
Serie Patuás e Torções, Galeria Thomas Cohn, São Paulo, Brazil
2004
Objetos, Sandra & Marcio, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1994
Pinturas, Casa de Cultura de Sete Lagoas, Brazil
Group Shows
2021
Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju, Korea
Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
Male Nudes: a salon from 1800 to 2021, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
Portals, Former Public Tobacco Factory, Athens, Greece
2020
Mecarõ. Amazonia in the Petitgas Collection, Montpellier Contemporain, Montpellier, France
2019
Unconscious Landscape - Works from the Ursula Hauser Collection, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, United Kingdom
Experimenting with Materiality, Lévy Gorvy, Zurich, Switzerland
2018
Histórias Afro-Atlânticas, MASP, São Paulo, Brazil
O Triângulo Atlântico, 11ª Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Tissage, Tressage, Fondation Villa Datris, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France
2017
Everyday Poetics, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
Osso - Exposição-apelo ao amplo direito de defesa de Rafael Braga, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil
Entangled, Turner Contemporary, Margate, United Kingdom
Revival, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., USA
2016
New Shamans/Novos Xamãs: Brazilian Artists, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA
Tudo Joia, Bergamin & Gomide, São Paulo, Brazil
No Man's Land: Women Artists From The Rubell Family Collection, National Museum of Women in The Arts, Washigton, USA
Brasil, Beleza?!,Museum Beelden aan Zee, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Aquilo Que Nos Une, Caixa Cultural Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculture by Women 1947-2016, Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, Los Angeles, USA
Histórias/Histories: Contemporary Art From Brazil, USF Contemporary Art Museum, Florida, USA
2015
No Man's Land: Women Artists From The Rubell Family Collection, Rubel Family Collection, Miami, USA
All the World's Futures, 56ª Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
19º Festival de Arte Contemporânea Sesc_Video Brasil: Panoramas do Sul, Associação Cultural Video Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil
The Poetry in Between: South to South, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Made By...Feito por Brasileiros, Cidade Matarazzo, São Paulo, Brazil
2013
A Nova Mão Afro-Brasileira, Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil
Art & Textiles – Fabric as Material and Concept in Modern Art, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
Out of Fashion. Textile in International Contemporary Art, Kunsten – Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Aalborg, Denmark
2012
Alphabet of The Magi, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2011
Meditation, Trance, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2008
Impulsos, Galeria Emma Thomas, São Paulo, Brazil
Oferenda, Galeria Rhys Mendes, Jardim Canadá, Brazil
2006 – 2007
Brasil Imaginário, Estação São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
2006 – 2007
Etsuko Kobayashi et Sonia Gomes, Edgard Gallery, Paris, France
2006
X Bienal Nacional de Santos, Santos, Brazil
Encontro com a Arte, XLVII Encontro do BID, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2005
Chita Bacana, SESC Belenzinho, São Paulo, Brazil
2003
Mostra Fim de Ano, Celma Albuquerque Gallery, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1998
Processos Tridimensionais, Casa da Saudade, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1997
Expressões de Minas, Casa de Minas, São Paulo, Brazil
Collections
Solomon R Guggenheim
MASP
MALBA
Rubell Family Collection
Muzeum Susch, Zernez
Museu de Arte do Rio de Janeiro
Museu Afro Brasil
San Antonio Museum of Art
Exhibitions
Curated by Fernanda Brenner
Publications
Sonia Gomes
Sonia Gomes 2017
A vida renasce / Ainda me levanto
Sonia Gomes
