PRESENTATION: Sonia Gomes …Vivem No Compasso Do Sol, Part II
Working primarily with textiles as a medium, Sonia Gomes’s chooses materials that bring with them colors, textures, trims, and indefinable sets of memories. Each fabric, article of clothing, and accessory that arrives in her studio, often rendered from fabrics found by or gifted to the artist, has traveled its path, was dressed, stored, and altered before undergoing a final transformation by Gomes’s hands. It is indeed the orbit of a new cycle granting each piece the possibility of a different existence (Part I).
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Mendes Wood DM Gallery Archive
Sonia Gomes’s solo exhibition “…vivem no compasso do sol” features works from Gomes’s wide, encompassing production and includes floor, hanging, and wall textile sculptures alongside bronzes, collages, and drawings. The title borrowed from an essay by curator and researcher Yina Jiménez, roughly translates to “living in the tempo of the sun” and relates to a conceptual framework Jiménez uses to contextualize the artist’s creative channel. Reflecting on this statement sparked Gomes to recognize a recurring circular motion in her works, both aesthetically, as in the “Trouxa” and “Pendente” series, and poetically, given the circulatory material lifespans inherent to her practice. “Compasso do Sol” (2024) is also the title of the first piece the artist produced for the exhibition. The work combines elements of drawing, collage, stitching, and binding onto a canvas with a cutout where the artist placed a handmade lace sent to her studio. Although powerful at first glance, to appreciate it properly requires one to move towards and away to discover, but not distinguish, each single creation. Its energy is harnessed from vinyl paint, acrylic marker, and a watercolor poetically inserted onto the linen surface. The work served as the guiding star to the others Gomes created for her Paris show. The artist, who traditionally has not favored naming individual pieces, felt moved to continue naming other pieces that reference the sky, including “Eclipse”, “Alvorada [dawn]”, and “Parélio [parelius]” (all 2024), in a drawing series that evokes solar spectacles. Whilst the title to “Anjo caído [Fallen angel]” (2024) from the “Tear” [loom] series describes the mythologies ascribed to angels cast out of heaven, Gomes’s metaphysical representation reveals an intricate textile piece cast in a loom frame combining stitching, binding, various fabrics, and ropes. Shifting her gaze has also driven Gomes to experiment with new ideas. Unveiled at the Paris exhibition are two new works (both “Untitled”, 2024) combining stitching, binding, and various fabrics on bronze – marking the first time the material is employed by the artist. Sedimentary rocks brought to her studio from the state of Piauí, in the northeast region of Brazil, served as the basis for these sculptures. The rock used as a mold is formed by the joining together of numerous small rocks. The casting follows the original shape of the matrix, through which Gomes could explore the openings that cross the rock from one side to the other, make the bindings and lay the fabrics on the bronze. Such beautiful surprises echo the artist’s ethos that her work only exists because the material finds its course to her studio. Also revisiting an ongoing series, the imposing “Aurora” (2024) from the “Pendente series”, combines stitching and bindings with fabrics, ropes, with freshwater pearls, and has, this time, a different counterplay of balance than previous examples from this body of work. Similarly, novel works from the Trouxa series presented in Paris include a coral-like texture Gomes developed after discovering traditional tie-dye patterns from artisan communities in Nepal. Once again, the amalgamation of references, or “memories,” as puts it, are imparted into each creation following her instinctive gestures. Finally, a group of works from the artist’s latest series “meu amarelo é ouro” [my yellow is gold], combining drawings with threads and gold leaf inserts, present a radiant glimpse into possible new pathways for Gomes. A constellation of ideas that illuminate a practice as deeply consistent as evolving and reference the cosmology of an artist whose brilliant journey is ever interwoven with the powerful stories and affections stored in her creations.
Photo: Sonia Gomes, Untitled (Trouxa series), 2024, stitching and bindings, various fabrics and ropes, beads and laces, 40 x 75 x 45 cm, 15 3/4 x 29 1/2 x 17 3/4 in, Photo credit: Ding Musa, © Sonia Gomes, Courtesy of the artist and Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brussels, Paris, New York
Info: Mendes Wood DM Gallery, 25 Place des Vosges, Paris, France, France, Duration: 5/6-27/7/2024, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, https://mendeswooddm.com/
