LEÓN FERRARI

2013, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Leon Ferrari developed aprovocative, singular oeuvre, structure on experimentation with supports, materials and media. Heirto a surrealist imagination, his practice dialogs with abstraction, pop art, and was a pioneer ofconceptualism. Constantly questioning the violence of Latin-American religious dogmatism andauthoritarianism, Ferrari’s work is a reference in the practice of intertwining art and politics.Persecuted by the Argentine military dictatorship, he was exiled to Brazil in the 1980s. After his deathin 2013, back in Buenos Aires, Ferrari remains influential, a theme of an ever-growing criticalheritage.

In 1955, he held his first solo show at the Galleria Cairola in Milan. In 1960, he exhibitedsculptures in cement, plaster, and wood at the Galería Galatea, in Buenos Aires. In 1964, hedeveloped the concept of “babelism”, a notion that alludes, in his sculptures, to the Tower of Babel.In 1965, his work La civilización occidental y Cristiana was entered in the Premio Nacional eInternacional Instituto Torcuato Di Tella. The figure of Christ crucified on an American fighter-bomber was removed before the show opened under allegations that it was violent and offensive.

León Ferrari’s practice is multiple and employs different languages, such as drawing,sculpture, collage, assemblage, installation, video, and writing. The 1960s signaled the themes thatcharacterised his work: art, eroticism, religion, and morality, as well as state repression and thepractices of colonialism and imperialism that institutionalised social injustices. León Ferrari is, in allof his expressions, a tireless activist and researcher who questioned the normalisation of powerstructures and the verticality of social dynamics.

In 1976, he moved with his family to São Paulo to escape the regime of dictator Jorge RafaelVidela. He remained in Brazil until 1991. During his time in Brazil, Ferrari joined the circuit of artistsinterested in revitalising different languages and engaged in the production of musical instruments,concerts, and postal art.

Among his group and solo exhibitions in recent decades, León Ferrari: Obras 1954-2004 washeld at the Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires in 2004, which was also exhibited by thePinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo in 2009. In 2007, on the occasion of the 51st Venice Biennale, hereceived the Golden Lion award for all his works. In 2009, the Museum of Modern Art - MoMA (NewYork) opened Tangled Alphabets: León Ferrari and Mira Schendel, an exhibition dedicated to theworks of both artists. In the same year and in 2010, the exhibition toured the Iberê CamargoFoundation (Porto Alegre, Brazil) and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid). LaAimable Cruauté, a large retrospective exhibition dedicated to the work of León Ferrari, waspresented at the Centre Pompidou (2022, Paris) and the Reina Sofía (2021, Madrid). In Brazil, theMuseu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - MASP exhibited the solo show León Ferrari: Entreduas ditaduras in 2016.

His works are in important institutional collections, such as the Centre Georges Pompidou,Paris, France; Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zurich, Switzerland; Ella Fontanals Cisneros Collection,Miami, United States; El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis,United States; The Museum of Modern Art - MoMA, New York, United States; Museo de ArteLatinoamericano de Buenos Aires - MALBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Museu de Arte de São PauloAssis Chateaubriand - MASP; Museo de Arte Moderno, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico, among others.

Courtesy Gomide&Co