In Leonor Antunes' exhibition "the apparent length of a floor area", visitors are invited to explore a rich variety of textures and techniques that pay homage to women designers often overlooked by the modernist canon. Leonor Antunes adopts a captivating approach when naming each work, giving credit to their dedications, often using their first names. This is a playful and provocative reminder of the historical marginalization of female artists.
The exhibition presents a remarkable series of low tables in glazed ceramic and lacquered wood, entitled "Charlottes," 2021, inspired by an unrealized project by Charlotte Perriand. In "Sadie & Sophie #2," 2023, Leonor Antunes paid tribute to British architect Sadie Speight and Swiss artist-designer Sophie Taeuber-Arp, creating wooden and beaded talismans that encapsulate their significant contributions.
Cork floors with colorful linoleum inlays evoke the 1930s rug designs of British architect and designer Marian Pepler, while "Lena #9," 2023, reflects Bauhaus designer Lena Bergner's distinctive motifs through delicate brass wires spilling over a metal beam. These creations, in addition to their abstract elegance, also represent acts of translation, transforming materials such as tufting wool into cork and linoleum, and even reinterpreting handrails as suspended sculptures.
As sophisticated as these associative objects are, they also provoke less conventional associations. Ropes and chains could be interpreted as props of exaggerated proportions in a fetishistic context, while bamboo structures and hammocks recall personalized adventures in treetops or modernist amusement parks.
The exhibition also pays tribute to female artists who transcend modernism, as seen in "Franca (#5)," 2018, where rattan and hemp rope bring to mind Sheila Hicks' "thread things" and "shapes sculptural woven fabrics by Lenore Tawney. It's a tighter, tighter manifestation of what Glenn Adamson described as the "hippy, furry" aesthetic and "eccentric flab" of 1960s Fiber Art.
However, the highlight of the installation is, without a doubt, the cork flooring. In addition to referencing traditional materials from Leonor Antunes' homeland of Portugal and mid-century modernist interiors, it offers a tactile and welcoming experience beneath visitors' feet. This choice transforms the exhibition space, creating a visual unity with the suspended sculptural works that extend towards the floor, reinforcing the connection between past and present and celebrating the often underestimated work of women designers.
Leonor Antunes was born in 1972 in Lisbon and currently lives and works in Berlin. His artistic practice provides a unique approach to modern art, architecture and design, through the reinterpretation of sculpture in specific spaces. Inspired by important figures of the 20th century, often focusing on notable women, Leonor Antunes begins by measuring elements of architecture and design that intrigue her. These measurements are then used as units that can be translated into sculptures.
The artist embraces traditional craft techniques from around the world, using materials such as rope, leather, cork, wood, brass and rubber to create unique shapes and structures. Leonor Antunes has presented solo exhibitions at several renowned institutions, including the Serralves Foundation in Portugal (2022); MUDAM in Luxembourg (2020); MASP, São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil (2019); the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, Mexico (2018); the Hangar Bicocca in Milan, Italy (2018); the Whitechapel Gallery in London (2017); the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California (2016); the CAPC in Bordeaux, France (2015); the New Museum in New York (2015); the Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2013); and the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain (2011).
Leonor Antunes had the honor of representing the Portuguese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Italy, in 2019, and also participated in the 58th and 57th Venice Biennials (2019 and 2017); the 12th Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates (2015); and the 8th Berlin Biennale (2014). His work is a celebration of the intersection between art, architecture and design, providing a unique and thought-provoking perspective on the world of contemporary creation.