LOOSE THREADS
7 May - 3 June 2017, by appointment
Tonico Lemos Auad, Enrico David, Tomás Saraceno
De León is delighted to be showing for the first time in Bath the work of three international artists, Tonico Lemos Auad, Enrico David and Tomás Saraceno.
All three artists are sculptors but their individual practice draws upon their highly interdisciplinary backgrounds and varied sources of inspiration from architecture to the natural sciences.
The title of the show refers to the idea of threads, lines and webs that may be visual as well as conceptual, referencing lines of language and webs of communication, as well as physical structures. The formal relationship between the works exhibited is intentionally loose, however the interplay of ideas, forms, and use of materials generates conversations on common themes of mortality, materiality, the animate and its origin in the inanimate, while creating an environment that sits on the cusp between the uncanny and the familiar.
Tonico Lemos Auad creates delicate and lyrical works, using a wide array of materials, from everyday ephemera such as the fluff from a carpet, to the long-lasting and precious. Auad creates environments in which their relationship to the audience is of prime importance - as illustrated by Seven Seahorses. The sea has always been an important theme in Auad’s work and here we see strands of ‘coral’ hanging vertically from the ceiling within which one can see the eponymous seahorses - the solid visual presence of the piece belying the delicate nature of the materials used. Auad explores the possibility of chance, fate and traditional narratives - he has the same fascination for the narrative thread as he does for the physical threads evident in his work. As with David, on one level his work may appear playful but beneath the surface lies a darker strand which alludes to the brevity and ephemeral nature of life and our place in the cosmic order.
Like Auad, Tomás Saraceno trained as an architect, and his work is informed by the worlds of art, architecture, natural sciences, astrophysics and engineering. Saraceno uses the geometries and phenomena of the natural world as models he can adapt to explore the ways we live and interact now and how we might live in the future. His work explores scale, from the phenomenon of lines drawn by planetary orbits to the intricacies of a spider’s web. In the show his sculpture Zonal Harmonic demonstrates his interest in astronomy and the cosmos. Composed of orbits held purely by their mutual tension, the sculpture examines the variations in speed and geometry of the trajectories of the celestial bodies and their relationship to one another in space and time.
In contrast, Enrico David’s work revolves around the human figure which he uses as a metaphor for transformation. His work can seem surreal, both amusing and unsettling at the same time, combining wit with a deeper sense of disquiet. All of his work begins with a drawing - conceiving an image which is rooted in the line. He retains the impulsive and ephemeral nature of drawing as he translates these sketches on paper into sculpture, painting and other media. This is illustrated by one of the works in the show, a lonely and exhausted figure slightly smaller than life size, an ear pressed against the wall - possibly trying to overhear a conversation in the next door room. David describes his sculptures “as being simultaneously delicate and brutal, accommodating and defensive. Between these conditions there is simply a surge in which visibilities are assembled.”
Tonico Lemos Auad was born in Belém, Brazil.
Auad is currently showing in Tamawuj, Sharjah Biennial 13, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, U.A.E. (2017)
Solo exhibitions include:
Biblioteca, CRG Gallery, New York, USA (2016); De La Warr Pavilion, East Sussex (2016);
Beleza ainda vital, Galeria Jaqueline Martins, São Paulo, Brazil (2015); O que não tem conserto, Pivô Arte e Pesquisa, São Paulo, Brazil (2015); Paisagem Noturna, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil (2013).
Tonico Lemos Auad is represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London; Luisa Strina Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil and CRG Gallery, New York, USA.
Enrico David was born in Ancona, Italy.
Solo exhibitions include:
Fault Work, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, U.A.E. (2016); Auroparent, Lismore Castle, Lismore, Ireland (2016); The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire (2015); Maramotti Collection, Reggio Emilia, Italy (2015); Life Sentences, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Cologne, Germany; Michael Werner Gallery, New York, USA (2014); Michael Werner Gallery, London (2013); UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA (2013); Turner Prize nominee (2009).
Enrico David is represented by Michael Werner Gallery, London and New York, USA.
Tomás Saraceno was born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.
Solo exhibitions include:
Aerosolar Journeys, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, Switzerland (2017); How to Entangle the Universe in a Spider Web, Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2017); Stillness in Motion - Cloud Cities, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA (2016-2017); Cosmic Jive. Tomás Saraceno: The Spider Sessions, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genova, Italy (2014); In Orbit, K21, Düsseldorf, Germany (2013-ongoing); Cloud City, Roof Garden Installation, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA (2012). Tomás Saraceno is represented by five galleries including Esther Schipper, Berlin, Germany.