Was born and has lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Leon Ferrari developed a provocative, singular oeuvre, structure on experimentation with supports, materials and media. Heir to a surrealist imagination, his practice dialogs with abstraction, pop art, and was a pioneer of conceptualism. Constantly questioning the violence of Latin-American religious dogmatism and authoritarianism, Ferrari’s work is a reference in the practice of intertwining art and politics. Persecuted by the Argentine military dictatorship, he was exiled to Brazil in the 1980s. After his death in 2013, back in Buenos Aires, Ferrari remains influential, a theme of an ever-growing critical heritage.
La Aimable Cruauté, a wide-ranging retrospective exhibition dedicated to the work of León Ferrari, was presented at Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2022) and Reina Sofia (Madrid, 2021). In Brazil, Museu de Arte de São Paulo hosted León Ferrari: Entre Duas Ditaduras in 2016. In 2009, the NY MoMA dedicated an exhibition to the works of Ferrari and Mira Schendel. Between 2004 and 2005, Centro Cultural Recoleta exhibited Retrospectiva León Ferrari in Buenos Aires, also shown at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo in 2009. The artist was awarded the Golden Lion at the 2007 edition of the Venice Biennale.
His works are included in important institutional collections, such as Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zurich, Switzerland; Ella Fontanals Cisneros Collection, Miami, USA; El Museo del Barrio, New York, USA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA; MoMA – The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; MALBA – Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina; MASP– Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo, Brazil and Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico.