LONDON.- Victoria Miro announces TRANS, an exhibition by Maria Nepomuceno featuring a vibrant and seductive series of sculptural installations and interventions.
For this exhibition, the Rio de Janeiro-based Nepomuceno expands her characteristically dynamic approach to form, using traditional methods of rope weaving and straw braiding as well as techniques of her own design. The works in TRANS extend the artist’s interest in biomorphic and organic development, and emphasise the interconnectedness of the individual object and its environment.
TRANS draws inspiration from the common linguistic prefix and its associated range of references: 'trans-' actions such as transgressing, transforming and transmuting. The interelated series of sculptural installations that make up the exhibition are designed to intensify the relationship between the viewer, the work and the surrounding architecture. Pre-existing elements such as bricks, industrial piping and even the gallery walls merge with the organic forms of the sculptures, made of hand-sewn ropes, beads and woven straw. The crossing and interlacing of materials express a desire for spatial expansion beyond the physical confines of the gallery.
Disscussing these works Nepomunceno explains: “The system of thought that has developed within my practice follows the logic of the movement of the spiral – and the starting point is the sewing that builds the works. The spiral moves from the inside out, and this movement seeks a relationship with the world, as evidenced in my work in the approach to space and the incorporation of architectural elements from everyday life. The spiral also moves from outside to inside, and thus the works also seek my roots, embody my history and my origins: most crucially painting and the craftsmanship of indigenous Brazilian cultures. TRANS is an exercise of delving into the essential concepts that inform my work and its particular vocabulary, but at the same time, as with the spiral, expanding these concepts further beyond the personal, into the world, and towards the cosmos”.
Since the early 2000’s Maria Nepomuceno has applied and developed a method of sewing coils of coloured rope in spiral configurations. Over time her constructions have become increasingly complex, creating installations that fill rooms or extend beyond the exhibition space and into their surrounding landscapes. Certain forms recur in Nepomuceno’s work, including vessels, hammocks, beads, bulbs, and tubes, but the spiral always remains the central and unifying motif.
Nepomuceno was born in 1976 in Rio de Janeiro, where she continues to live and work. Recent solo exhibitions include Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro (2013), Turner Contemporary, Margate (2012), Magasin 3, Kontshall, Stockholm (2010), A Gentil Carioca Gallery, Rio de Janeiro (2009), and Paço das Arte, São, Paulo (2008). Currently, Nepomuceno is presenting work at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio (2014) and is featured in the First International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (2014). She has participated in group shows at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2013), Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Hangzhou, China (2013), Grand Palais, Paris (2013), IFA Institut, Berlin (2010), Toyota Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagoya (2008), Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Paraná (2007); and Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro (2007).
