Ernesto Neto is recognized as one of Brazil's leading contemporary artists. Alongside Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica, Neto rejected the idea of an autonomous work of art in favor of immersive and participatory works. Informed by the Brazillian Neo-Concrete movement of the 1950s and early 60s, and fusing minimalist principals with the sociability of Relational Aesthetics, the artist created a kind of organic architecture that attempted to represent the body's internal landscape. Abandoning his early hard-edged iron sculptures, Neto developed soft sculptural installations that used translucent nylon tubes filled with aromatic spices, sand, lead and other materials. These biomorphic environments allowed visitors of his works to enter sensory labyrinths, renegotiating the boundary between artwork and viewer.
Read MoreBorn in 1964 in Rio de Janeiro, Neto has been the subject of several major museum exhibitions. In 2011, the artist’s first retrospective exhibition, La lengua de ernesto: retrospectiva 1987-2011, opened at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey in Mexico. The artist has also presented important solo exhibitions at the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado (2014), Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain (2013), Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas (2012), Faena Arts Center in Buenos Aires, which traveled to Estação Leopoldina in Rio de Janeiro (2011-2012), Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre in London (2010); and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2010). In 2001, he represented Brazil at the 49th Venice Biennale; in 2013 he was featured at a group exhibition at Sharjah 11.
Neto’s work is extremely well represented in international museum collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Gallery in London, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Hara Museum in Tokyo, Contemporary Art Center of Inhotim in Brazil, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., Milwaukee Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, among many others.
We want to allow artists the space to take risks and explore. That's my job as a curator: to be mindful of that, to remove the anxieties around exploring something new, and to create a supportive environment around an artist that allows them to take those leaps.
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The artist is known for his extravagant installations and hand-woven fabric sculptures. His large-scale pieces fill gallery spaces with the intention to create an interactive element for his audience. Working with crochet and the combination of lightweight fabrics, rocks and spices, he creates pieces that invite gallery visitors to enjoy a sensory...
Playgrounds 2016, co-curated with Julieta Gonzales and Luiza Proença, presents works — by Ernesto Neto, Yto Barrada, Céline Condorelli, Rasheed Araeen, Grupo Contrafilé, and O Grupo Inteiro — that address subjects such as public space, leisure, recreation and participation.
