For its first participation in ARCOmadrid 2025, Gomide&Co presents a special selection of works by León Ferrari (Argentina, 1920-2013) from his most mature phase, from the mid-1980s to the late 2000s. Winner of the Golden Lion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007), Ferrari has produced a wide range of works, including texts, drawings, paintings, collages, mail art, sculptures, sound installations, performances, and films, which question religious dogmatism and state authoritarianism. His work has been exhibited in major modern and contemporary art institutions and museums around the world.
One of the main highlights of the selection is La civilización occidental y cristiana (2010), a limited edition based on the famous 1965 homonymous work. At that time, under the impact of the Vietnam War, Ferrari created what would become his most emblematic work: a human-scale sculpture of a statue of the crucified Jesus Christ attached to a reproduction of an American bomber. This work became a landmark in the Latin American and global debate on the relationship between art and politics from the 1960s onwards. It also marked the beginning of a series of productions in which Ferrari critically examined religion as a fundamental force behind practices of violence throughout history.
These groups of works include his Relecturas de la Biblia, begun in 1983; his Brailles, made from 1995 onwards; and the small-scale objects that make up Ideas para infiernos, assemblages by the artist which began in the 2000s— sets of works included in the selection to be presented at the fair. The critical text of the presentation is signed by Lisette Lagnado, a curator and art critic who studies the artist’s production, who comments: “A playful spirit pervades the works of this prodigious artist, imbuing them with a lightness that defies even the darkest times. While an extensive plurality of mediums refers to one of the most fruitful veins of experimentalism, the artist’s obsession with defending human rights, on the other hand, ensures its inalienable bond with Latin American conceptualism.”
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