LONDON.- Home with a Man takes its title from a gouache by Alexandre da Cunha, from his prolific Exile series (2022 – ongoing). Unlike most of his practice – essentially sculptural, often monumental – these works are painted over A4-ish surfaces, a format that is easily moved around. Having recently relocated his studio to São Paulo and being himself based between there and London, the artist’s very idea of home is embedded in layers of multiculturalism. Whereas in the realm of the gouache, the Man alludes to da Cunha’s domestic world, in the context of the show, it addresses the dialogue that is being established between him and Brian Griffiths.

Such dialogue was largely inspired by the transportability of the Exiles, to which Griffiths responded with sculptures that, in common, share a travel case. In his This is Not an Exit (2025) series, open briefcases appear on top of leatherette sofas and armchairs – one pink, one white and one blue – placed atop skirted wooden trestles, thus acquiring kitsch and stage qualities. Inside each of them is a pink puppet, acting as conductor of these magical assemblages, alongside an assortment of office equipment one might expect to find in a briefcase. The absurdity and playfulness of these works reflect one driving force behind Griffiths’ practice, namely his interest in how ‘objects, ideas, and their histories accumulate to create frictions and contradictions’. The fact that the title of this series quotes verbatim the end of the cult novel American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis, 1991) adds a dramatic tone, evoking a world in which lives are constantly performed. This is Not an Exit pertains to a larger body of work titled No No to Knock-Knocks (2018 – ongoing), a diverse umbrella that is bound together by the presence of this miniature, naked male character.

Ignoring the Modernist motto stating that form must follow function, Alexandre da Cunha removes objects from their natural circumstances to re-signify them with aesthetic rather than functional ideals in mind. The epiphany in his practice largely occurs by the combination of elements that don’t really gel together – like leather and nail files (Copacabana, 2023), or oven trays, basins and helmets (Batalha, 2022). His source materials are a mix of found and industrial objects; rather than gathering pristine things, da Cunha is interested in those that show signs of use, carrying within histories that are only known to the objects themselves. This notion of memories attached to things equally appeals to Griffiths, who relies on narrative devices to create pasts and futures for his objects. He’s not concerned with making things sexy in an upholstery sort of way; rather, there’s something vintage but not quite glamorous about his approach. The way each artist processes similar source materials takes them to dramatically different paths, yet in Home with a Man, both have chosen to exhibit artworks built with objects that belong to a domestic environment, thus emphasising the idea of home at the core of the show.

If Griffiths’ This is Not an Exit series plays with proportions by repeatedly showing a miniature figure, & Other Business (Left Side) (2025) uses scale to the opposite end, by displaying an enlarged hand from within a suitcase. Exhibited directly on the floor, we see the limb covered by colourful layers of sheer fabric knotted together in a way that resembles both a soft arm and something being pulled from a magician’s hat; the arrangement is completed by a pompom placed atop the hand. The use of fabric to conceal objects, a ‘barely seen’ aesthetic reminiscent of seduction, finds echo in several of da Cunha’s works. Acqua II (2016), for instance, is a wall sculpture with three layers: a canvas, a bag, and a scarf that drapes over the whole composition. The viewer must look closely to discern what lies beneath the veil. Less secretive is Perpetua (2023), which consists of a coconut encased by yellow tights. Da Cunha’s penchant for organic materials – coconuts, trees, natural fabrics – charges them with fluidity, and indeed storytelling, as these objects will inevitably evolve over time, even if subtly.

The briefcases make a final iteration in Home with a Man, appearing locked in Good Boy Ben (2025). Here, two cases are diligently guarded by Ben, a vintage-looking wooden dog that sits on top of them, which in turn are on top of a black leather armchair. Griffiths’ use of cases, objects he signifies as both ‘a landscape and a context’, punctuates the show by repetition, offering a sense of continuity to an otherwise heterogeneous environment. Alexandre da Cunha’s Exile gouaches further emphasise this sense of flow by being present on every wall. There are sixteen gouaches spread around the gallery, showcasing different degrees of figuration; unusual to the artist’s vocabulary, the human body is present in one of these gouaches, Exile (Catwalk) (2025), as if nodding to Griffiths’ puppet. Yet the gouache that titles the show is absent from the walls, available only as a poster to take away – a small, portable fragment of Home with a Man.

Curated by Maria do Carmo M. P. de Pontes