Lucas Simões
Lucas Simões (b. 1980. Catanduva, Brasil) graduated in Architecture from PUC-Campinas University, Brazil (2003). The exploration of materials as a form of expression in Lucas Simões work is not, as it might appear at first glance, a fetishization of materiality. Instead, it is an inquiry aimed at imbuing the medium of the artistic object with meaning. His training as an architect, where technique and poetry are deeply intertwined, provides possible keys to understanding his production.
Painting, cartography, books, photography, cement, steel, paper... these have all been subjects of his exploration. Through daily experimentation with materials and know-how, the artist discovers the necessary means of expression. This is evident in his most recent sculptures and cement installations, which reflect his investigation into brutalist architecture and the failure of its utopian ideals.
Simões has held solo exhibitions at the Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães (Recife, Brazil), Caixa Cultural (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and Pivô Arte e Pesquisa (São Paulo, Brazil). He has also participated in group exhibitions at the 10th Mercosul Biennial (Porto Alegre, Brazil), Zacheta National Gallery (Warsaw, Poland), Astrup Fearnley Museum (Oslo, Norway), Itochu Aoyama Art Square (Tokyo, Japan), Museu Brasileiro da Escultura (São Paulo, Brazil), and the Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz (Ribeirão Preto, Brazil). His works are part of public collections such as Itaú Cultural (São Paulo, Brazil), Museu de Arte do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil).
Exhibitions
2024 | Diseño de Artistas – Galería Luisa Strina – São Paulo
2024 | You Text Nothing Like You Look, Biblioteca Mario de Andrade, SP [solo]
2023 | Calor Color – Galería Marlborough – Spain
2023 | LuscoFusco – Patron Gallery, Chicago – USA [solo]
2023 | Parallel Gravity – Jochen Hempel, Leipzig – Germany [duo]
2022 | OTIUMmuitoOTIUM – Galería Casa Triângulo; São Paulo [solo]
2021 | Dormentes – Galería Pelaires; Palma de Mallorca, Spain [solo]
2021 | Bodies of Desire – Galería Montoro12; Brussels, Belgium
2021 | Panta Rei – Galería Anna Marra; Rome, Italy
2021 | 49º Salón de Arte Contemporáneo Luiz Sacilotto; Santo André - SP
2021 | Theory of Prose – Arsenal Contemporary Art; Montreal, Canada
2021 | Drawing Tense – Blouin Division; New York, USA [solo]
2020 | Arregaçadxs [Queer Drawings] – Solo Project; Arco Madrid, Spain [solo]
2020 | AAA Exhibit – Galpão Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo
2019 | Drawing Tense – Lora Reynolds Gallery; Austin, USA [solo]
2019 | Inbound – Galería Pelaires; Palma de Mallorca, Spain [solo]
2019 | Awaiting Masses – Patron Gallery; New York, USA [solo]
2019 | Experimentando Le Corbusier – Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON); Curitiba
2018 | The Cave Wall Was Always There – Galería Pelaires; Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2018 | Ressaca – Galería Casa Triângulo; São Paulo [solo]
2018 | Experimentando Le Corbusier – Museu da Casa Brasileira (MCB); São Paulo
2018 | White Lies – Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie; Paris, France [solo]
2017 | Corpos de Prova – Patron Gallery; Chicago, USA [solo]
2017 | MA – Galería Luciana Caravello; Rio de Janeiro
2017 | Mil Bestias que Rugen: Dispositivos de exposición para una modernidad crítica – Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC); Seville, Spain
2017 | Politic of Dreams – Fondation Hippocrène, Paris, France
2017 | Building Materials – Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2017 | Perpetual Instability – Expo Chicago; Galería MARSO + Patron Gallery – USA [solo]
2017 | Acervo: Outras Abordagens – Museu de Arte Contemporânea da USP (MAC USP); São Paulo
2017 | Corpos de Prova – Galería Pasto; Buenos Aires, Argentina [solo]
2017 | White Lies – Lora Reynolds Gallery; Austin, TX – USA [solo]
2017 | Perpetual Instability – Iniciativa Curatorial Marso; Mexico City, Mexico
2016 | Solo Project – Untitled Art Fair / Lora Reynolds Gallery – Miami, USA [solo]
2016 | Abysses – Solo Project; Artissima Art Fair, Turin – Italy
2016 | Abysses – Emma Thomas Gallery, New York – USA [solo]
2016 | Letters to the Mayor – Pivô; São Paulo
2016 | Grave Gravidade – Galería Emma Thomas; São Paulo
2016 | All That Can Be Done and Undone – Solo Project, NADA; New York, USA [solo]
2016 | Tudo que pode ser feito e desfeito – Solo Project; SP Arte, São Paulo [solo]
2016 | Jogo de Forças – Pão das Artes; São Paulo
2016 | Obras – Lora Reynolds Gallery; Austin – USA
2015 | Imagine Brazil / Artists’ Books – DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art; Quebec, Canada
2015 | 10ª Bienal do Mercosul – Mensagens de Uma Nova América; Porto Alegre – Brazil
2015 | Fotos contam fatos – Galería Vermelho; São Paulo
2015 | Ter lugar para ser – Centro Cultural São Paulo (CCSP)
2015 | Transpoéticas – Sesc Ramos; Rio de Janeiro
2015 | Hybrid Art 2015 – Theatre of Russia; Moscow, Russia
2015 | Recalque Diferencial – Galería Emma Thomas; São Paulo [solo]
2015 | Perpetual Instability – Space in Between Gallery; London, UK [solo]
2015 | Imagine Brazil – Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo
2014 | Concreto / Concreto: Plano Piloto – Solo Project, ArtRio; Rio de Janeiro
2014 | NotUrna – Pivô (São Paulo); Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz IFF (Ribeirão Preto) [solo]
2014 | NotUrna – Biblioteca Mario de Andrade (São Paulo)
2014 | Deserto – Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães, Recife [solo]
2014 | Tudo deixará de Existir – Made by Brazilians; Hospital Matarazzo, São Paulo
2014 | Deluded Detachment – Solo Project at Arco Madrid, Spain [solo]
2014 | La Historia La Escriben Los Vencedores – OTR Espacio de Arte, Madrid, Spain
2014 | Operações Fotográficas – Sesc Vila Mariana, São Paulo
2013 | Amor e Ódio – Lygia Clark – Zacheta National Gallery; Warsaw, Poland
2013 | Imagine Brazil – Astrup Fearnley Museet; Oslo, Norway
2013 | Prêmio Foco – Bradesco ArtRio; Rio de Janeiro
2013 | Coleção Itaú de Fotografia Brasileira – Casa das Onze Janelas; Belém, Pará
2013 | Beyond the Library – Frankfurt Buchmesse, Germany
2013 | Além da Biblioteca – Itochu Aoyama Art Square; Tokyo, Japan
2013 | Betão – vista, MUBE – Museu Brasileiro da Escultura; São Paulo
2013 | Desmanche – Caixa Cultural, São Paulo – Brazil [solo]
2013 | O peso, o tempo – Galería Emma Thomas, São Paulo [solo]
2013 | Desmanche – Caixa Cultural, Rio de Janeiro – Brazil [solo]
2012 | After Image: The Photographic Process(ed) – Cerritos College Art Gallery, Los Angeles
2012 | Caixão Perdido – Pivô, São Paulo [solo]
2012 | Something About the State of Being – Philip J. Steele Gallery
2012 | Something About the State of Being – Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Denver – USA
2012 | Coleção Itaú de Fotografia – Paço Imperial; Rio de Janeiro
2012 | Éloge du vertige – Maison Européenne de la Photographie; Paris – France
2011 | Fronteiriços – Galería Emma Thomas, São Paulo
2011 | Doações Recentes – MAC-USP, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo
2011 | Geração 00: A Nova Fotografia Brasileira – Sesc Belenzinho, São Paulo
2010 | Projeto Incubadora – Galería Olido; São Paulo
2010 | Desmanche – Galería Emma Thomas; São Paulo [solo]
2010 | Arsenal – Galería Emma Thomas; São Paulo
2010 | Salão de Pequenos Formatos da Amazônia – UNAMA; Manaus
2010 | É de papel o mundo que eu conheço – MARP; Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto
2010 | Viagem Passagio – Museu de Itatiba, Itatiba
2009 | Citi Novos Artistas – Espaço Cultural Citibank, São Paulo
2009 | É de papel o mundo que eu conheço – Galería Emma Thomas, São Paulo [solo]
2008 | Impulso – Galería Emma Thomas, São Paulo – Brazil
2007 | Vinte e Poucos Anos – Galería Barú Cruz; São Paulo
Residencies
2022 | LaCasaPark, Gardiner, New York, USA
2021 | Montoro12, Rome, Italy
2019 | CCA Andratx – Andratx, Mallorca – Spain
2019 | X-editions, Spain
2018 | Vento, Brazil
2017 | Casa de la India, Salamanca – Spain
2016 | Pivô, São Paulo – Brazil
2015 | Nomad, Puerto Rico
2015 | Hauser & Wirth, London, UK
2014 | Pivô, São Paulo – Brazil
2013 | Irace Art Residency, Los Angeles, USA
2011 | FAAP – Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, São Paulo – Brazil
2010 | Tete e Ilya Sussman, São Paulo – Brazil
Awards
2017 | Best Solo Exhibition; Corpos de Prova – APCA Award, São Paulo
2015 | First Place, 10th Photography Award – Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
2014 | Photography Award – Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto – Brazil
2012 | Grand Prize – Conrado Wessel Award, São Paulo
Public Collections
MAR – Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro
MAC – USP, Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo
Itaú Collection of Brazilian Photography, São Paulo
The Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, USA
CCSP – Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo
IFF – Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto
Kablanc Otazu Foundation, Navarra, Spain
