ART CITIES:London-Leonor Antunes

Leonor Antunes creates sculptures that reflect the environment that surrounds them and make reference to the work of lesser-known figures from the history of 20th Century art, architecture, and design. Working with leather, brass and nylon and with the approach of a craftsman, she builds elegant sculptural forms in which mathematics and proportion play a fundamental role.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Whitechapel Gallery Archive

Leonor Antunes’ site-specific installation “the frisson of the togetherness” at the Whitechapel Gallery, is her first solo exhibition in a public gallery in the UK Taking its title from British architect Alison Smithson’s description of how young people bring together elements of style to define their identity and social allegiances, Antunes’ new commission is informed by two sculptors who lived in London, Mary Martin and Lucia Nogueira .  The artist has undertaken extensive research into both artists and their practice, and while both were known for their sculpture, Martin also made works on paper and weavings and Nogueira made jewellery. Antunes’s commission features hanging and floor based sculptures woven from materials including metal, leather and rope, morphing into looping and twisting volumes and illuminated by lights designed by the artist. Focussing on artisanal techniques, the gallery floor is covered in a geometric pattern made of cork and linoleum based on a drawing by Mary Martin, while examples of Nogueira’s jewellery are displayed in sculptural glass display cases by Danish designer Nanna Ditzel. Mary Martin studied at Goldsmiths’ College, London (1925-29) and at the Royal College of Art (1929-32) where she met and married Kenneth Martin in 1930. Along with her husband, Mary Martin moved towards pure Abstraction in the late 40s painting her first abstract work in 1950, made her first reliefs in 1951 and her first free-standing construction in 1956. Lucia Nogueira was an artist of Brazilian heritage who relocated to London in 1975 staying until her untimely death in 1998. Nogueira’s body of work comprises installation, sculpture, video and drawing. The material and psychological relationships in the interplay of objects, space and language is at the core of her artistic practice.  Many of her works incorporate detritus found discarded on the streets of London, or acquired in army surplus, medical and second-hand shops.

Info: Curators: Lydia Yee and Habda Rashid, Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, London, Duration: 3/10/17-8/4/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Wed & Fri-Sun 11:00-18:00, Thu 11:00-21:00, www.whitechapelgallery.org