Juliana Cerqueira Leite
5 Artists To Watch in 2025
Contemporary Art Issue (CAI)
Jan 3 -
Juliana Cerqueira Leite
Juliana Cerqueira Leite is a Brazilian artist interested in the parameters of the body and the space that it creates; her large-scale and tactile sculptures investigate the abilities and constraints of the human body. “Creating new forms is a mission for me,” said Cerqueira Leite, “a way of not reasserting the world as it is, but of positing a transformation”. The artist’s sculptures testify to one’s ability to transmute the world around them. Using her own body as a primary tool, Cerqueira Leite digs, combs, scratches, and pushes through her materials —which include clay, latex and plaster— to create organic forms. Her sculptures retain impressions of the artist’s legs, arms and fingers and often resemble skin, bone and similarly corporeal matter. Explaining her use of materials, Cerqueira Leite has said: “One of the reasons I use so much density of material is that I want to upset the status quo: the idea that matter is consistently subservient to our desires. I want to put myself in a position where matter is in just as much control as I am”.
Selected Works
Climb
2012
Forton mg, Urethane foam
366 x 61 x 56 cm (144 3⁄32 x 24 1⁄32 x 22 1⁄16 inches)
Sit
2023
CalCast 300 alpha plaster, stainless steel, aluminum, glassfiber, pigment and wax
140 x 50 x 50 cm (55 1⁄8 x 19 11⁄16 x 19 11⁄16 inches)
Curl 2
2014
Plaster, fabric, fiberglass, steel
68 x 58 x 48 cm (26 25⁄32 x 22 27⁄32 x 18 29⁄32 inches)
Lift
2023
Stainless steel, plaster, jesmonite, pigment, wax
113 x 78 x 20 cm (44 1⁄2 x 30 23⁄32 x 7 7⁄8 inches)
Stir
2023
Stainless steel, plaster, jesmonite, pigment, wax
80.5 x 53 x 24 cm (31 11⁄16 x 20 7⁄8 x 9 7⁄16 inches)
Wash hands (or apply lotion) 1
2023
Graphite and colored Luminance pencil on paper
76.5 x 61.5 x 3.8 cm (30 1⁄8 x 24 7⁄32 x 1 1⁄2 inches)
Blind Spot 2
2015
Aquaresin, steel, aluminum, glass fiber, pigment
203.4 x 203.4 x 213.36 cm (80 3⁄32 x 80 3⁄32 x 84 inches)
Calcify
2019
Aquaresin, hydrocal, steel, glass, limestone sand, glass fiber, pigment, clay
140 x 45 x 100 cm (55 1⁄8 x 17 23⁄32 x 39 3⁄8 inches)
“We don’t know what is happening because there is no leader...and it was very dangerous...they need a lot more help...he tried to hold his bow and then they shot him...and beat us...there is the possibility that someone will say you asked for it.”
2017
Acrystal Prima, steel, pigment, glass fiber
142 x 71 x 71 cm (55 29⁄32 x 27 15⁄16 x 27 15⁄16 inches)
Urn 9
2022
Dental plaster, fiber glass, aluminum, steel, pigment, glass base, live plants and organic substrate
90 x 90 x 50 cm (35 7⁄16 x 35 7⁄16 x 19 11⁄16 inches)
Contraction 1
2019
Plaster, steel and burlap
170 x 40 x 40 cm (66 15⁄16 x 15 3⁄4 x 15 3⁄4 inches)
SOFT BODY 3
2021
Dental plaster, glass fiber, aluminium, steel and pigment
189.5 x 65.5 x 30 cm (74 5⁄8 x 25 25⁄32 x 11 13⁄16 inches)
Head 4
2020
Aquaresin, glass fiber, pigment
16 x 16 x 16 cm (6 5⁄16 x 6 5⁄16 x 6 5⁄16 inches)
Amphorae
2013
Spread
2021
Graphite and colored Luminance pencil on paper
83 x 63 x 16 cm (32 11⁄16 x 24 13⁄16 x 6 5⁄16 inches)
Scrub A
2021
Graphite and colored Luminance pencil on paper
83 x 63 x 16 cm (32 11⁄16 x 24 13⁄16 x 6 5⁄16 inches)
Installation
Orogenesi, 2019
National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Orogenesi, 2019
National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Sculpture In the City, 2018-2020
London
Blind spot, 2015
Lustwarande, Tilburg
Dividual, 2018
Institute Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo
Dividual, 2018
Institute Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo
Exhibitions
Meridiano espíritu fantástico
L’Antiga FarineraJun 24 - Aug 27, 2023
Hours:
June 24, 25 & 30 from 17h to 21h
July Thu to Sun from 17h to 21h
August Tue to Sun from 17h to 21h
Estar a la lluna
FontetaAug 7 - Sep 26, 2021
We’re delighted to present the second chapter of the joint project by Bombon, Galeria Joan Prats and NoguerasBlanchard, taking place in Fonteta, a small village in the Empordà region from June to September.
The exhibition, conceived in two chapters, brings together artists from three different generations. The proposal begins with a concept from the Empordà Parar la fresca (to take in fresh air) described by Josep Pla in the book Las Horas (The Hours), 1953.
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