Artist: Maria Nepomuceno

Maria Nepomuceno: Expiro marks the fifth exhibition by the Brazilian artist at Victoria Miro and is her first in the gallery’s space in Venice. The title of the exhibition is derived from a work by the artist of the same name: Expiro, a Portuguese word chosen for its similarity, in sound and meaning, to the Italian espiro, to exhale, which in turn relates to the traditional glassblowing techniques used for the first time by the artist in the creation of these works.

The exhibition features new works created this summer during a residency with the gallery in Venice that draw connections between manufacturing processes in Venice and Brazil and incorporate diverse materials including Venetian glass. Nepomuceno collaborated with the Venetian glass master Giancarlo Signoretto on Murano Island to create intricate glass pieces that are incorporated into her new sculptures. The artist was inspired by the way that each breath infuses molten glass with life, and how the tension between breath and material captures the beauty and fragility of a given moment.

Nepomuceno pushes ancient traditions and complex craft techniques into a wholly contemporary engagement with space and structure, form and concept. Using traditional methods of rope weaving and straw braiding as well as techniques of her own design, the artist has, since the early 2000s, developed a process of sewing coils of coloured rope in spirals. She explores the potentially endless permutations of this adaptable form in sculptures and installations that incorporate beads, forms created in ceramic, resin and other materials, and found objects of varying sizes.

Nepomuceno’s works are chromatically, culturally and metaphorically rich, suggesting animals, plants, the human body and landscapes ranging from the microscopic to the macroscopic. That the sculptures appear anthropomorphic and organic is essential: Nepomuceno’s process relates to the spirals that occur naturally throughout the universe, giving shape to entire galaxies as well as the blueprint for existence, DNA. The results are intended to harness the extended time of their making while simultaneously inviting the viewer to pause, draw close and engage with complex cycles of energy and creation.

Maria Nepomuceno: Expiro is featured in The Venice Glass Week, an international festival established in 2017 to celebrate, support and promote the art of glass. The eighth edition #AWorldOfGlass, will take place from 14–22 September 2024 around Venice, Mestre and Murano.

About the artist

Maria Nepomuceno was born in 1976 in Rio de Janeiro, where she continues to live and work. Recent exhibitions include the solo presentations Nasci de uma flor at Nichido Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan (2024); Big Bang Boca, Instituto Artium de Cultura, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); Maria Nepomuceno: Dentro e Fora Infinitamente, SCAD Museum of Modern Art, Georgia, USA (2022); Maria Nepomuceno: Refloresta!, The Portico Library, Manchester, UK (2021). Selected group exhibitions include, Acts of Gathering, Eden Projects, Cornwall, UK; Narrative Threads: Fiber Art Today, Moody Center for the Arts, Houston, USA (2023); Forest: Wake This Ground at Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (2022); and My Body, My Rules, Pérez Art Museum, Miami, Florida, USA (2020).

The artist’s work has previously been exhibited at institutions such as Stavanger Art Museum, Norway; Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Barbican Center, London, UK; Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK; Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa; Auckland Art Gallery, USA; Daejeon Museum of Art, South Korea; Hudson Valley Center of Contemporary Art, Peekskill, New York, USA and MFA, Boston, USA, among others.

Works by the artist are included in the collections of Museu de Arte da Bahia, Brazil; MFA Boston, USA; Guggenheim Museum, USA; Pérez Art Museum Miami, USA; Rubell Museum, USA, among others.