Sonia Gomes, Acordes Naturais, 2018, stitching, bindings, different fabrics and laces, dimensions variable, photography by Bruno Leão © Sonia Gomes, courtesy Mendes Wood DM and the artist Sonia Gomes Photography by Ana Pigosso Details:Lives and Works in São Paulob. 1948, Caetanópolis Read More Sonia Gomes combines secondhand textiles with everyday materials, such as furniture, driftwood, and wire, to create abstract sculptures that reclaim Afro-Brazilian traditions and feminized modes of artmaking from the margins of history.Juxtaposing tensile and slack forms, Gomes’s contorted sculptures exude a corporeality and dynamism that she attributes to her love of popular Brazilian dances. Gomes uses found or gifted fabrics, which, according to her, “bring the history of the people that they belonged to.” “I give a new significance to them,” she adds. Her assemblages thus tie Brazil’s historical trajectory to the long-disregarded narratives of women, people of color, and countless anonymous individuals.Through its recycling of used fabric, Gomes’s work also evinces a principle of thrift that is both a consequence of Brazil’s rapid and uneven industrial development and a dissenting answer to its accompanying culture of wasteful consumption and environmental destruction. As a whole, her art is marked by a decolonizing impulse, providing oblique responses to the social inequities and ecological urgencies of present-day Brazil and, more broadly, a globalized world. Read More My work is black, it is feminine, and it is marginal. I am a rebel. I never worried about masking or stifling anything that might or might not fit standards of what is called art. Sonia Gomes Sonia Gomes, Untitled, from Raiz series, 2018, stitching, bindings, different fabrics and laces on wire and wood, 25 1/4 x 39 3/8 x 29 1/2 in, 64 x 100 x 75 cm, photography by Bruno Leão © Sonia Gomes, courtesy Mendes Wood DM and the artist Sonia Gomes, Boitatá (protetor das florestas), 2018, stitching, bindings, different fabrics and laces, 118 1/8 x 11 3/4 in, 300 x 30 cm, photography by Bruno Leão © Sonia Gomes, courtesy Mendes Wood DM and the artist Sonia Gomes, Sem Título, da série Torções, 2012, costura, amarrações, tecidos diversos sobre arame e ferro, stitching, moorings, different fabrics and laces on wire, 189 x 74 x 84 cm, photography by Bruno Leão © Sonia Gomes, courtesy Mendes Wood DM and the artist Sonia Gomes, Memória, 2004, costura, amarrações, tecidos, rendas e fragmentos diversos, stitching, knots, different fabrics, laces and fragments, 140 x 270 cm, photography by Bruno Leão © Sonia Gomes, courtesy Mendes Wood DM and the artist Sonia Gomes, Untitled, 2009, stitching, bindings, different fabrics and laces on wire, 44 7/8 x 104 3/8 x 19 3/4 in, 114 x 265 x 50 cm, photography by Bruno Leão © Sonia Gomes, courtesy Mendes Wood DM and the artist Sonia Gomes, Untitled, 2005, stitching, bindings, different fabrics and laces on wire, 40 1/2 x 65 3/4 x 11 3/4 in, 103 x 167 x 30 cm, photography by Bruno Leão © Sonia Gomes, courtesy Mendes Wood DM and the artist Exhibitions View All Past Tropic of Cancer Feb 9 – Mar 12, 2023 Palm Beach Past Sonia Gomes O mais profundo é a pele (Skin is the deepest part) Nov 4 – Dec 17, 2022 New York Past Convergent Evolutions The Conscious of Body Work Sep 10 – Oct 23, 2021 New York Past Sonia Gomes / Marina Perez Simão Sep 3 – Oct 4, 2020 East Hampton Journal View All Pace Live Of Seams and Stories: The Art of Sonia Gomes Sep 30, 2020 Essays A Conversation with Sonia Gomes and Marina Perez Simão Sep 03, 2020 News Pace Welcomes Sonia Gomes Jun 18, 2020 One-Artist Exhibitions Group Exhibitions Public Collections Periodicals Books and Catalogues Close One-Artist Exhibitions Sonia Gomes One-Artist Exhibitions DatesBorn 1948, Caetanópolis, BrazilLives and works in São Paulo, BrazilEducationCourses in Visual Arts, The Gugnard University of Art of Minas Gerais, Brazil2022Sonia Gomes: O mais profundo é a pele (Skin is the deepest part), Pace Gallery, 540 West 25th Street, New York, November 4–December 17, 2022.2021Sonia Gomes: When the Sun Rises in Blue, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, November 6–December 18, 2021.2019Sonia Gomes – I Rise: I’m a Black Ocean, Leaping and Wide, Salon Berlin of Museum Frieder Burda, September 7, 2019–February 22, 2020; concurrent with: Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany, October 12, 2019–March 8, 2020. (Catalogue)Sonia Gomes: The Silence of Color, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, June 8–August 3, 2019.2018Sonia Gomes: Still I Rise, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo / Casa de Vidro, São Paulo, August 11–December 2, 2018; concurrent with: Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, November 14, 2018–March 10, 2019. (Catalogue)2016Sonia Gomes: Lines in Wefts, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, April 9–May 21, 2016.2014Sonia Gomes: Nascer Uma Vez Após a Outra, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, August 31–October 4, 2014.2012Sonia Gomes: Stitch in Time, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, 2012.2011Sonia Gomes: O ritmo da linha, Espaço cultural Fórum Lafayette, Lafayette, Brazil, 2011.2008Sonia Gomes: Um Lugar, BDMG Cultural, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2008.2005Sonia Gomes: Serie Patuás e Torções, Galeria Thomas Cohn, São Paulo, 2005.2004Sonia Gomes: Objetos, Sandra & Marcio, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2004.1994Sonia Gomes: Pinturas, Casa de Cultura de Sete Lagoas, Brazil, 1994. Group Exhibitions Sonia Gomes Group Exhibitions 2023Tropic of Cancer, Pace Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, February 9–March 12, 2023.2022FRONT International 2022: Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows, Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio, July 16–October 2, 2022.Calor Universal, Pace Gallery, East Hampton, New York, July 2–17, 2022.2021Convergent Evolutions: The Conscious of Body Work, Pace Gallery, 510 West 25th Street, New York, September 10–October 23, 2021.Terra and Temperature, Almeida e Dale, São Paulo, Brazil, June 12–July 31, 2021. (Catalogue)Portals, NEON, Athens, Greece, June 11–December 31, 2021.2020At The Noyes House Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM and Object & Thing, The Eliot Noyes House, New Canaan, Connecticut, September 15–November 28, 2020.Sonia Gomes / Marina Perez Simão, Pace Gallery, 68 Park Place, East Hampton, New York, September 3–27, 2020.The Stomach and the Port, Liverpool Biennial 2020, Liverpool, United Kingdom, July 11–October 25, 2020.2019Unconscious Landscape - Works from the Ursula Hauser Collection, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, United Kingdom, May 25–September 8, 2019.Experimenting with Materiality, Lévy Gorvy, Zurich, June 8–September 27, 2019.2018Sonia Gomes & Marga Ledora, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, November 24, 2018–January 31, 2019.Histórias Afro-Atlânticas, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo / Casa de Vidro, São Paulo, June 29–October 21, 2018.O Triângulo Atlântico, 11ª Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, April 6–June 3, 2018.Tissage, Tressage, Fondation Villa Datris, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France, February 15–June 29, 2019. (Catalogue)2017Everyday Poetics, Seattle Art Museum, November 18–June 17, 2018.Osso - Exposição-apelo ao amplo direito de defesa de Rafael Braga, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, opened on July 1, 2017.Revival, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., June 23–September 10, 2017. (Catalogue)A.R. Penck and Sonia Gomes, Hic Svnt Dracones, New York, May 2–June 30, 2017.Entangled, Turner Contemporary, Margate, United Kingdom, January 28–May 7, 2017. (Catalogue)2016New Shamans/Novos Xamãs: Brazilian Artists, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, November 30, 2016–August 25, 2017. (Catalogue)Tudo Joia, Bergamin & Gomide, São Paulo, October 28–November 26, 2016.19º Festival de Arte Contemporânea Sesc_Video Brasil: Panoramas do Sul, Associação Cultural Video Brasil, São Paulo, October 6–December 6, 2015.Made By...Feito por Brasileiros, Cidade Matarazzo, São Paulo, September 9–October 12, 2014.Brasil, Beleza?!: Contemporary Brazilian sculpture, Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, The Netherlands, May 26–October 2, 2016; concurrent at Lange Voorhout, The Hague, The Netherlands, May 26–August 21, 2016. (Catalogue)56th International Art Exhibition: All the World’s Futures, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, May 9–November 22, 2015. (Catalogue)Aquilo Que Nos Une, Caixa Cultural Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, April 16–June 19, 2016.Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women 1947-2016, Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, Los Angeles, March 13–September 4, 2016. (Catalogue)Histórias/Histories: Contemporary Art from Brazil, USF Contemporary Art Museum, Florida, January 15–March 5, 2015. (Catalogue)2015No Man's Land: Women Artists from The Rubell Family Collection, Rubel Family Collection, Miami, December 2, 2015–May 28, 2016. Traveled to: National Museum of Women in The Arts, Washington, D.C., September 30, 2016–January 8, 2017. (Catalogue)The Poetry in Between: South to South, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, January 20–February 28, 2015. (Catalogue)2013A Nova Mão Afro-Brasileira, Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo, November 20, 2013–April 6, 2014. (Catalogue)Art & Textiles – Fabric as Material and Concept in Modern Art, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany, October 12, 2013–March 2, 2014. (Catalogue)Out of Fashion. Textile in International Contemporary Art, Kunsten – Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Aalborg, Denmark, September 15, 2013–January 5, 2014.2012Alphabet of The Magi, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, September 3–October 6, 2012.2011Meditation, Trance, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, August 27–September 24, 2011.2008Impulsos, Galeria Emma Thomas, São Paulo, April 10–May 19, 2008.Oferenda, Galeria Rhys Mendes, Jardim Canadá, Brazil, 2008.2006Brasil Imaginário, Estação São Paulo, November 27, 2006–March 31, 2007.Encontro com a Arte, XLVII Encontro do BID, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2006.Etsuko Kobayashi et Sonia Gomes, Edgard Gallery, Paris, 2006.X Bienal Nacional de Santos, Santos, Brazil, 2006.2005Chita Bacana, SESC Belenzinho, São Paulo, 2005.2003Mostra Fim de Ano, Celma Albuquerque Gallery, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2003.1998Processos Tridimensionais, Casa da Saudade, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1998.1997Expressões de Minas, Casa de Minas, São Paulo, 1997. Public Collections Sonia Gomes Public Collections Centre Pompidou, ParisGuggenheim Abu DhabiMuseo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, ArgentinaMuseo Reina Sofia, MadridMuseu Afro Brasil, São PauloMuseu de Arte de São PauloMuseu de Arte do Rio, Rio de JaneiroThe Museum of Fine Arts, HoustonThe Museum of Modern Art, New YorkMuzeum Susch, Zernez, SwitzerlandNational Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.Pérez Art Museum Miami, FloridaPinacoteca do Estado de São PauloRubell Family Collection, Miami, FloridaSan Antonio Museum of Art, TexasSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New YorkTate, London Periodicals Sonia Gomes Bibliography: Periodicals 2022Gomes, Sonia. “Artist Sonia Gomes Invites Us Into Her Sāo Paulo Studio, Where Cast-Off Fabrics Become Intimate Sculptures” (Pace Gallery Exhibition review). Interview with Julia Halperin. Artnet News, 29 November 2022. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sonia-gomes-sao-paulo-studio-visit-2217874/amp-page“Meet Art in Countryside, Art Tour in the Hamptons, New York.” Lotte Hotel Magazine, 2 May 2022. https://www.lottehotelmagazine.com/en/art_culture_detail?no=5482021“Ancestry, female universe and life stories are intertwined in the work of Sonia Gomes.” O Globo, 27 June 2021. https://outline.com/FrpjKrDurón, Maximilíano. “Sonia Gomes Creates a Sculpture” (Blum & Poe exhibition preview). ARTnews, October/November 2021: 1-4, illustrated.Ghassemitari, Shawn. “The Pérez Art Museum Miami Has Added 13 New Artworks to its Permanent Collection.” Hypebeast, 18 August 2021. https://hypebeast.com/2021/8/the-perez-art-museum-miami-new-permanent-artworksHowie, Jamie. “7 Must-See Gallery Exhibitions in New York This September” (Pace Gallery exhibition review). Galerie, 17 September 2021. https://www.galeriemagazine.com/must-see-gallery-shows-september-2021/Ine-Kimba Boyle, Christiana. "Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle: Rewriting the Canon” (Pace Gallery exhibition review). Interview with Millie Walton. Trebuchet, 25 September 2021. https://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/christiana-ine-kimba-boyle-rewriting-the-canon/Mitchell, Rory. “artmonte-carlo: Art Fair Highlights.” Ocula, 14 July 2021. https://ocula.com/advisory/perspectives/artmonte-carlo-art-fair-highlights/Ologundudu, Folasade. “Pace Gave Its New Digital Director Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle the Keys to Its Brick and Mortar Gallery. The Results Are Refreshing” (Pace Gallery exhibition review). Artnet News, 9 September 2021. https://news.artnet.com/opinion/christiana-ine-kimba-boyle-2006877Woodward, Daisy. “September Is Here: The Best Things to Do This Month” (Pace Gallery exhibition preview). AnOther, 1 September 2021. https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/13517/things-to-do-in-london-september-2021-exhibitions-art-films-food-drink2020de Toledo, Giuliana. “Sonia Gomes reforça presença no exterior” (Pace Gallery exhibition review). O Globo (11 September 2020): 6, illustrated. https://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/aos-72-sonia-gomes-reforca-presenca-no-exterior-com-exposicao-nos-eua-tem-agenda-cheia-ate-2022-24617989Garcia, Cynthia. “Sonia Gomes Turns Afro-Brazilian Traditions Into Modern Sculpture.” New City Brazil, 20 July 2020. https://www.newcitybrazil.com/2020/07/20/sonia-gomes-turns-afro-brazilian-traditions-into-modern-sculpture/Gerlis, Melanie. “Pace gallery adds Sonia Gomes to its stable.” Financial Times, June 2020: illustrated.Langlois, Jill. “Fabrics With Powerful Stories to Tell” (Pace Gallery exhibition review). New York Times, 28 August 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/arts/design/sonia-gomes-brazil-art.htmlSegal, Mark. "The Art Scene 09.03.20: Brazilian Artists at Pace" (Pace Gallery exhibition review). East Hampton Star, 3 September 2020. https://www.easthamptonstar.com/arts/202093/art-scene-090320Selvin, Claire. “Two Top U.S. Galleries Take on Sonia Gomes, Brazilian Artist Known for Intricate Fabric Sculptures.” ARTnews, 18 June 2020. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/sonia-gomes-pace-gallery-blum-and-poe-1202691653/2019Laster, Paul. “Sonia Gomes” (Mendes Wood DM exhibition review). Sculpture Magazine, 29 October 2019. https://sculpturemagazine.art/sonia-gomes/“Sonia Gomes Presents First Solo Exhibition Outside Brazil.” Pipa Prize, 25 June 2019. https://www.pipaprize.com/2019/06/sonia-gomes-presents-first-solo-exhibition-outside-of-brazil/2018Gomes, Sonia. “Brazilian Sculptor Sonia Gomes Takes Over Rio and Sao Paulo” (Niterói Contemporary Art Museum and Museu de Arte de São Paulo exhibitions preview). Cultured, 10 July 2018. https://www.culturedmag.com/sonia-gomes/2016Sheets, Hilarie M. “Female Artists Are (Finally) Getting Their Turn” (Hauser Wirth & Schimmel exhibition review). The New York Times, 29 March 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/arts/design/the-resurgence-of-women-only-art-shows.html Books and Catalogues Sonia Gomes Bibliography: Books 2021Portals (exhibition catalogue). Athens, Greece: NEON, 2021: 99, 287, illustrated.Terra and Temperature (exhibition catalogue). Text by Germano Dushá. São Paulo, Brazil: Almeida e Dale, 2021: TT21, illustrated.2020Sonia Gomes – I Rise: I’m a Black Ocean, Leaping and Wide (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Janaina Barros and Patricia Kamp. Esslingen, Germany: Edition Cantz, 2020.2019How We Live: selections from the Marc and Livia Straus family collection (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Maxwell, Douglas, Mark Straus, Omar Lopez-Chahoud and Nicola Trezzi. Hudson Valley, New York: Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, 2019: 36, 37, 112, illustrated.2018Sonia Gomes: A vida renascc / Ainda me levanto (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Amanda Carneiro, Raphael Fonseca, Pablo Léon de la Barra; Cecilia Fajardo-Hill and Rodrigo Moura. Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo: MAC Niterói and MASP, 2018.2017Entangled (exhibition catalogue). Margate, United Kingdom: Turner Contemporary, 2017.Revival, The National Museum of Women in the Arts (exhibition catalogue). Washington, D.C.: National Museum of Women in the Arts, 2017.Sonia Gomes. Texts by Julia Barbosa, Ricardo Sardenberg, Solange Oliveira Farkas and Paulo Nazareth. Rio de Janeiro: Cobogó, 2017.2016Brasil, Beleza?!: Contemporary Brazilian sculpture (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Dick van Broeckhuizen; Amanda Brandellero and Carolyn H Drake. The Hague, The Netherlands: Museum Beelden aan Zee, 2016.New Shamans: Brazilian Artists (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Simon Watson and Fabiana Lopes. Miami: Rubell Family Collection, 2016.Poet nr. 21 Literaturmagazin. Leipzig: Leipzig Poetenladen, 2016.Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women 1947-2016 (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Paul Schimmel, Jenni Sorkin, Emily Rothrum, Elizabeth A T Smith, Iwan and Manuela Wirth. Milan and New York: Skira; Hauser Wirth, 2016.2015No Man's Land: Women Artists from The Rubell Family Collection (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Juan Roselione-Valadez, Tami Katz-Freiman and Anna Stothart. Miami: Rubel Family Collection, Contemporary Arts Foundation, 2015.The Poetry in Between: South to South (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Clare Butcher and Carolyn. Cape Town, South Africa: Goodman Gallery, 2015.La Biennale di Venezia: 56th International Art Exhibition: All the World's Futures (exhibition catalogue). Venice: Marsilio Editori, 2015.2014A Nova Mão Afro-Brasileira (exhibition catalogue). Text by Emanoel Araujo. São Paulo: Museu Afro Brasil and Governo do Estado São Paulo, Secretaria da Cultura, 2014.Art & Textile. Fabric as Material and Concept in Modern Art from Klimt to the Present (exhibition catalogue). Text by Markus Brüderlin. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz 2013.1988Araújo, Emanoel. A Mão Afro-Brasileira: Significado Da Contribuição Artística E Histórica. São Paulo: Tenenge, 1988.