ALEXANDRE DA CUNHA

(BRAZILIAN, BORN 1969)

Mix (Americana), 2013
found cement mixer, wooden blocks
97 x 179 x 96 inches
Laumeier Sculpture Park Collection, gift of the artist and CRG Gallery, New York

Brazilian artist Alexandre da Cunha (b. 1969) describes his practice as “pointing” to already existing objects, in order to reveal something new, unexpected and/or inherently charming and interesting. Mix (Americana) is a full-scale cement mixer. Polished and painted in a patriotic red, white and blue, the sculpture has been stripped of its mixing duty on the back of a truck and staged instead as a functional sundial. When viewers peek inside the steel hallowed chamber, light gently reflects and refracts, creating an intricate web of shadows and shapes, giving splendor and mystery to the industrial barrel. Within the context of Laumeier’s green space, Mix (Americana) inspires discussion about the suburban landscape and the complex meeting point between natural and manmade environments.

Sculpture Interaction Guideline: Look, But Do Not Touch

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Alexandre da Cunha was born in 1969 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He earned his undergraduate degree in 1996 from Fundacao Armando Alvares Penteado – FAAP, São Paulo. Da Cunha attended Royal College of Art, London, and earned his Master of Arts from Chelsea College of Art, London, in 2000. He has had solo exhibitions at CRG Gallery, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo; Sommer & Kohl, Berlin; Thomas Dane Gallery, London; Centro Cultural Sao Paulo; Camden Arts Centre, London; CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; and NAK, Aachen, Germany, among others. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; Museum Beelden Aan Zee, Holland; Museo de Arte Moderno, Medellin, Columbia; Zabludowicz Collection, London; ICA Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus; Museu de Arte do Rio MAR, Rio de Janeiro; Musee d'Art Modern de la Ville, Paris; Simon Preston Gallery, New York; Warwick Art Centre, Coventry, United Kingdom; Aspen Art Museum; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art; Witte De With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam; and the Whitechapel Gallery, London. His selected museum collections include the Tate Modern, London; Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte; Inhotim - Instituto de Arte Contemporanea, Brumadinho; CIFO - Cisneros Collection, Miami; and Rennie Collection, Vancouver. Da Cunha lives and works in London.