Cleveland Museum of Art
11150 East Boulevard
Cleveland, OH 44106
Tues, Thurs, Sat–Sun: 10–5, Wed, Fri: 10–9
Brutalismo–Cleveland
This installation combines new commissions by Marlon de Azambuja (Brazilian, born 1978) and Luisa Lambri (Italian, born 1969).
A new iteration of Azambuja’s ongoing series titled Brutalismo––referring to brutalism, the austere mid-century architectural style—this work is composed of materials gathered in and around Cleveland, emphasizing the sprawling city’s sometimes overlooked physical makeup. Called Brutalismo–Cleveland,
the sculptures expose and celebrate the rich legacy of brutalist architecture in Cleveland and northeast Ohio, connecting the international movement’s signature aesthetics with a more regional history through the use of locally sourced materials. Continuing her investigation of spaces designed by eminent male architects, Lambri created a suite of photographs depicting architectural elements of the CMA that serve as building blocks for her compositions. The series focuses on the museum’s iconic, striped granite wing designed by Marcel Breuer in 1971. Lambri’s signature light-filled prints offer painterly impressions of often unnoticed details and surfaces of rigid modern architecture. An accompanying installation by Lambri is on view in the CMA’s Ingalls Library in the general reading area.
Commissioned by FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. Made possible with support by the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation for theVisual Arts. Marlon de Azambuja is a FRONT artist-in-residence. The Madison Residencies are made possible with support from Cleveland Foundation’s Creative Fusion program. The Cleveland Museum of Art is supported in part by Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this exhibition with state tax dollars to encourage
economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
Artist Biography
Marlon de Azambuja was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1978. He studied at the Edilson Viriato Center for Contemporary Art in Curitiba, Brazil. He currently lives and works in Madrid.
His solo exhibitions include: Brutalismo at Galería Max Estrella in Madrid, Spain, 2014; Construction of the Icon, at the CAAM (Atlantic Center of Modern Art) in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, 2011; Niveles (Levels), at Casal Solleric in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 2010; Projeto Moderno, at Galeria Luisa Strina in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2009; and Potencial Escultorico, at Matadero in Madrid, Spain, 2009.
Group shows in which he has participated include: On Painting, CAAM, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, 2013; 11th Havana Biennial in Havana, Cuba, 2012;11th Cuenca Biennial in Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011; 8th Mercosul Biennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2011; and 12th Cairo Biennale; 2010.
His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Paraná, and the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba, Itau Cultural Sao Paulo, and Banco Espiritu Santo in Brazil; Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Canarias, Sabadell Bank, Maria Cristina Masaveu Peterson, OTR, the Ministry of Culture, Helga de Alvear collections in Spain; and the Nomas Foundation in Rome, Italy, among others.
