Caetanópolis, Brazil, 1948.
Lives and works in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Sonia Gomes makes sculptures in cloth and wire, eclectic fabric contortions that evokes simultaneously the idea of viscera and the sacred object. She follows the fault lines of affect or memory making and revealing arrangements intuitively. In their sheer candor, her sculptures become impressively expressionistic; seemingly free to do what they like. Skin is important within the body of Gomes’ work. The organ of sensuous contact with the world, it at once defines and limits experience. Cloth is a second skin, and a sense of personal history permeates her fabric sculptures. A believer in the élan vitale, she trusts that every material is magnetized with the latency of life.
Recent group exhibitions: “Histórias/Histories: Contemporary Art From Brazil”, USF Contemporary Art Museum, Florida, USA, 2016; No Man’s Land: Women Artists From The Rubell Family Collection”, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, EUA, 2015; “All the World’s Futures”, 56 Biennale di Venezia, Venezia, Italy, 2014; “19th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Video Brasil: Southern Panoramas”, Associação Cultural Video Brasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2014; “The Poetry in Between: South to South”, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, 2014.
Born in Caetanópolis, in the state of Minas Gerais, to a black mother and white father, Sonia Gomes is also a fusion of recollections. Sonia brought the strong influence of her maternal grandmother, a midwife, blessing woman and wearer of head cloth rolls, used to carry water cans on the head. From her white father’s family, Sonia inherited the rumination of kept objects, photographs, fabric patches which would come from factories, fragmented affections.
Sonia makes art to express herself and has the idea that everything that has passed can be brought back to life again. Between the popular and the erudite, the world of this artist from Minas Gerais reminds us of the strong Brazilian tradition of turning unstable and difficult materials into a stable, permanent and form of art. The contemporary nature of these ideas appears in an extremely original composition made from collages in which the artist makes intelligent use of her great talent.
Education
Visual Arts, Guignard School
1997
Contemporary Art Teacher: Ronan Couto (UEMG), Brazil
1996
Contemporary Art Teacher: Angelica Melendi (Pitt) (UEMG), Brazil
1995
Creativity, Teacher: Sara Avila (UEMG), Brazil
Solo Exhibitions
2014
-“Nascer Uma Vez Após a Outra”, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2012
-“Stitch In Time”, Mendes Wood DM, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2011
-“O ritmo da linha”, Espaço cultural Fórum Lafayette, Lafayette, Brazil
2009
-“Quando a linha cria asas…”, Art Gallery of CEMIG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2008
-“Um Lugar”, BDMG Cultural, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2005
-“Serie Patuás e Torções”, Galeria Thomas Cohn, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2004
-“Objetos”, Sandra & Marcio, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1994
-“Pinturas”, Casa de Cultura de Sete Lagoas, Brazil
Group Exhibitions
2016
-“Histórias/Histories: Contemporary Art From Brazil”, USF Contemporary Art Museum, Florida, USA
2015
-“No Man’s Land: Women Artists From The Rubell Family Collection”, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, EUA
-“All the World’s Futures”, 56 Biennale di Venezia, Venezia, Italy
-“19th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Video Brasil: Southern Panoramas”, Associação Cultural Video Brasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil
-“The Poetry in Between: South to South”, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2014
-“Made By…Feito por Brasileiros”, Cidade Matarazzo, São Paulo, Brazil
2013
-“A Nova Mão Afro-Brasileira”, Museu Afro Brasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil
-“Art & Textiles – Fabric as Material and Concet in Modern Art”, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
-“Out of Fashion. Textile in International Contemporary Art”, Kunsten – Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Aalborg, Denmark
2012
-“Alphabet of The Magi”, Mendes Wood DM, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2011
-“Meditation Trance”, Mendes Wood DM, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1995
-“Mostra dos Alunos da Escola Guignard”, Câmara Municipal, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2008
-“Impulsos”, Galeria Emma Thomas, Sao Paulo, Brazil
-“Oferenda”, Galeria Rhys Mendes, Jardim Canadá, Brazil
2007
-“Ressonâncias@rtesnegr(as)”, Centro de Artes e Convenções de UFOP, Ouro Preto, Brazil
2006 – 2007
-“Brasil Imaginário”, Estação São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2006 – 2007
-“Etsuko Kobayashi et Sonia Gomes”, Edgard Gallery, Paris, France
2006
-X Bienal Nacional de Santos, Santos, Brazil
-“Encontro com a Arte”, XLVII Encontro do BID, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2005
-“Chita Bacana”, SESC Belenzinho, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2003
-“Mostra Fim de Ano”, Celma Albuquerque Gallery, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1998 – 1999
-III e IV Mostra da Escola Guignard, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1998
-“Processos Tridimensionais”, Casa da Saudade, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
1997
-V Salão de Artes Plásticas de Vespasiano, Brasil
1997
-“Expressões de Minas”, Casa de Minas, São Paulo, Brazil
1996 – 1997
-I Mostra Alunos Escola Guignard, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Collections
-MAR – Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
-Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA
-Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil
