CtC’s Artist of the Month for June is Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander (Belo Horizonte, 1967), who currently lives and works in London. Her practice encompasses the use of a wide range of media, from sculpture to painting and textiles; in particular, she explores elements of chance, nature, memory, language, geography and social interactions.
Neuenschwander graduated from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, with a BA in Fine Art, before later graduating with an MA from Royal College of Art, London, in 1998. Within the area of Brazilian conceptualism, she has developed a very distinctive practice, which has been both inspired and affected by the history of the Brazil’s art movements of the past fifty years. Besides, her works carry a participatory component, aiming to engage the spectators in a spontaneous game of interactions. This is often generated through the employment of external forces – be they people, with their anecdotes and personal stories, or natural processes – whose combination is able to produce a series of lively results.
Since the early 1990s she has exhibited in museums and galleries across different continents: from the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil, to the New Museum, New York and Tate St Ives, Cornwall – where she is currently on show within the group exhibition Images Moving Out Onto Space – and taken part in numerous contemporary art biennales as well. More recently, Neuenschwander has been especially stimulated by the relationship between mother and child, applying the technique of embroidery to the making of objects inspired by childhood memories. On the 9th of May 2015 she has opened the solo show The fever, the sewing box and a ghost at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York. A fundamental element of this exhibition is the process of collecting, selecting and ultimately translating childhood memories into visual shapes, which somehow depict a portrait of the person originally holding them. Her works are included in several public collections such as The Guggenheim and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Tate Modern, London, MAM – Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.
For the month of June, CtC will present a selection of Rivane Neuenschwander’s works on the Facebook and Twitter pages.
Check the CtC pages regularly to see the next one.
Miriam La Rosa
CuratingtheContemporary (CtC) 