Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1964.
Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
She graduated in Visual Communication from PUC-RJ in 1986, and attended the Parque Lage Visual Arts School, participating in study groups in art and philosophy and in workshops with artists and curators. In 2018 she was nominated for the Pipa Prize, one of the most important visual arts awards in Brazil. In 2020, she joined the artist collective @BoraGirls, which supports women in situations of vulnerability, through actions of communication through art. The artist has presented numerous exhibitions in Brazil and abroad, and her work is present in several private collections. Her research is mainly developed in the fields of sculpture, installation, and video, favoring the use of natural materials. Her work touches on environmental issues and some of her pieces approach environmental art and Land Art. Water was a milestone in her poetics, addressing issues such as the ephemerality of life, the transformations of matter, and the scarcity of natural resources. In recent years, Mercedes has started to use plants, and medicinal and aromatic herbs in her works, where she combines different intensities, qualities, and potencies, creating a sensitive alchemy. With the plants, new materials have been incorporated into her production such as wood, leaves, seeds, metals, meeting a thought of integration, collaboration, and proliferation of forms and synesthetic experiences, as we observe in the expression of nature.
Education
– Bachelor’s degree in graphic design at PUC-RJ
Solo Exhibition
2023
– “Flecha/Arrow” – MIEC – Curatorship by Álvaro Moreira and Cristiana Tejo, Porto, Portugal.
2019
– “Campo de Força” – Galeria Gaby Índio da Costa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Group Exhibitions
2021
– “Show for Nobody” – Curated by Daniela Labra. Blaze Image Gallery, London, UK.
2020
– “Bora Girls art collective” – Curated by Christianne Baerlein. Blaze Image Gallery, London, UK.
2019
– “Chacona and Fuga” – Curated by Ursula Tautz. Oriente Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
– “Arte Formatto” – Curated by Liliana Pedrosa and Gisela Rossi. São Paulo, Brazil.
– “Rivers of Rio” – Curated by Fernanda Pequeno. National Historical Museum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2018
– “Arte Formatto” – Curated by Liliana Pedrosa and Gisela Rossi. Casa Bossa, São Paulo, Brazil.
– “Aos fios entregguei o horizonte” – Curated by Marisa Flórido. Hiato Gallery, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil.
– “Feminine Cabinet of Curiosity” – Curated by Rosa Paranhos. Palácio Rio Negro, Petrópolis, Brazil.
– “Artists without Gallery” – Zipper Galeria; São Paulo, Brazil.
– “Luz Balão”, curated by Marisa Flórido, Solar Meninos de Luz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
– “Artistas sem Galeria”, Orlando Lemos Galeria de Arte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
– “Artistas sem Galeria”, Galeria Sancovsky e Zipper Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil.
2017
– “Para Todos”. Galeria Fortes D’Almeida & Gabriel – Carpintaria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
– “Limiares” (as result of the courses “Imersões Poéticas “ and “Imersões Curatoriais”), Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
– “Displacement RIO”, curated by Gabriela Davies, Vila Aymore, Jacarandá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
– Displacement Exhibition”, curated by Gabriela Davies, Ugly Duck, Londres, UK.(http://www.displacementproject.co.uk/).
2016
– “Intervenções Bradesco/ARTRIO”, curated by Isabel Portella, Museu da República, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
– “Baía de Guanabara: águas e vidas escondidas”, curated by de Luiz Guilherme Vergara, Museu de Arte Contemporânea, MAC Niterói, Brazil.
2015
– Festival de Escultura, Centro Cultural da Justiça Federal, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2014
– Public implementation of the project “Águas Escondidas”, pátio do Centro Cultural Paschoal Carlos Magno, Campo de São Bento, Niterói, Brazil.
– I Mostra RIO de Esculturas Monumentais, Praça Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Awards and Achievements
2018
– Nominated for the PIPA Award, the most important platform for the dissemination of Brazilian Contemporary Art.
https://www.premiopipa.com/?s=mercedes+lachmann
2017
– Selected for the national competition Artists without Gallery among 154 entries from 11 states plus the Federal District. The artists were chosen by a jury formed by Fernanda Resstom (Galeria Central), Nathalia Lavigne (independent curator), and Renata Castro e Silva (Galeria Carbon). The ten artists participated in two simultaneous group shows in São Paulo, at the galleries Sancovsky and Zipper, between 01/15 and 02/24/2018, and at Orlando Lemos Galeria de Arte, in Nova Lima (MG), between 10/03 and 04/20/18.
Mapa das Artes is the most complete printed guide of visual arts in São Paulo. The purpose of the Salão dos Artistas Sem Galeria is to evaluate, exhibit, document, and publicize the production of artists who do not have verbal or formal contracts (representation) with any art gallery in the city of São Paulo. The Salon traditionally opens the arts calendar in São Paulo and is a gateway for selected artists into the artistic world.
2016
– Selected for the international Displacement competition among 70 entries from various countries. The 10 finalists participated in a press conference in London in February 2017 and another in Rio de Janeiro in July of the same year.
2014
– Winner of the Niterói City Hall’s public notice contest with the project Águas Escondidas / Hidden Waters Public Park Work in Campo de São Bento, Niterói, Brazil.
Publication
– LACHMANN, M. M. V. Bênção de Deus VIII Transbordamentos. Rio de Janeiro: Studio Feira, 2017 (Notebook).
