Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel is delighted to present a dialogue between Leda Catunda and Jac Leirner. As rising stars in the 1980s Catunda and Leirner broke new ground, incorporating cultural systems and products as raw materials into their work. Since then, they have stood as references to generations of artists. In 1983 at age 24 Catunda was a highlight of the São Paulo Biennial. Around the same time Leirner began to show both locally and internationally, and in 1990 she was included in the Venice Biennial. Works by Catunda and Leiner are part of the collections of all the major institutions in Brazil.
Catunda commands a pictorial vocabulary that expands the two-dimensional field, employing multiple fabrics—velvet, silk, voile, to name a few—and patterned textiles, which are sewn together either in layers, or upholstered onto padded surfaces. Here, paint is used to hold together matter and ideas, forming a topology of patterns and colours. The term 'poetics of softness' has been used to describe paintings by Catunda where suppleness becomes her signature trait. The artist has mastered the practice of elaborating complex shapes that allude to nature and bodily forms, through rich layers of fabric that grant movement, tactility and vitality to her paintings. In Lua com Veus (Moon with Veils) Catunda works with translucent fabrics, and gold and silver paint to create a night sky where the full moon shines like an aura through multiple veils of delicate organza. The work—currently on view at MALBA (Buenos Aires) as part of the double exhibition with Alejandra Seeber—is a beautiful example of her unparalleled technique, layering thin and transparent fabrics to create multi-dimensional paintings that challenge the traditional approach to the canvas.
On the flip side, Leirner meticulously rearranges mundane objects with special attention to the transition between the political and the personal, as well as from daily life to historical moments. The artist has crafted an unique formal, post-minimalist aesthetic that expands our understanding of sculpture and questions the value of artworks, the art circuit and productivity in our consumerist society. Leirner's 'Corpus Delicti' series were first shown at Documenta IX in Kassel (1992). Between 1985 and 1992, the artist collected a wide range of objects on her trips–blankets, napkins, pens, pencils and notebooks which composed this iconic series. This string of connected objects operates as a travelogue of her journeys. It also documents obsessive accumulation of materials that in the specific case of airline blankets is illegal. For Leirner, the works 'convey a history, with the idea of transgression imprinted on them.' They are removed from one circuit and consecrated by another, changing from airplane accoutrements to works of art.
Leda Catunda (b. 1961) lives and works in São Paulo. Her work is currently on view at MALBA (Buenos Aires) as part of a double exhibition with Alejandra Seeber. Among her recent exhibitions are the 33rd São Paulo Biennial (São Paulo, 2018); Histórias da Sexualidade, MASP (São Paulo, 2017), I Love You Baby, Tomie Ohtake Institute (São Paulo, 2016); Ephemera: Diálogos EntreVistas, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (Niterói, 2016) and Leda Catunda: 1983–2008, Estação Pinacoteca (São Paulo, 2009). Editora Cobogó has recently published a comprehensive monograph on her work.
Jac Leirner (b. 1961) lives and works in São Paulo. In 2019 she was the first Latin-American artist to be awarded the 25th Museum Ludwig's Wolfgang Hahn Prize. Among her most recent solo exhibitions stand-out: Ilmin Museum of Art (Seoul, 2019); Fruitmarket Gallery, (Edinburgh, 2017); MoCA Shanghai, (Shanghai, 2016); Museo Tamayo, (Mexico City, 2014); Yale School of Art (New Haven, 2012). Her extensive resume also includes participations at: Venice Biennale (1997, 1990), Documenta (1992) and Bienal de São Paulo (1989, 1983). Leiner's work is present in the following collections: Tate Modern (London), MoMA and Guggenheim (New York), MOCA (Los Angeles), Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh), Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid), among others.