Tonico Lemos Auad (Belém, Brazil, 1968) explores the symbolic, emotional, and cultural significance of everyday objects and materials, with a particular interest in how these elements relate to popular traditions and landscapes in both Brazil and the United Kingdom—Auad lives and works in London.
With a background in architecture, he developed a deep interest in the ways individuals interact with and negotiate space. This architectural perspective resonates throughout his poetic and experimental approach, marked by the juxtaposition of material and symbolic elements, and the constant deconstruction of structures to create new possible orders. His textile works, wooden sculptures, and pieces incorporating stones or plants engage with artisanal techniques and manual knowledge, evoking a stretched sense of time and offering alternatives to the accelerated pace of industrial production and planned obsolescence. Auad often works with humble materials—fabrics, stones, plants—frequently in collaboration with specialists and craftspeople, precisely for their potential to evoke intimacy and immediate identification. From these ordinary elements, he constructs layers of meaning that invite reflection on time, landscape, and human presence.
Solo exhibitions include: Unknown to the World, Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil (2022); Unknown to the World, Cample Line, Nithsdale, Scotland (2021); Stephen Friedman Gallery (2018); Biblioteca, CRG Gallery, New York, USA (2016); De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, England (2016); O que não tem conserto, Pivô, São Paulo, Brazil (2015).
Group exhibitions include: Material Worlds: Contemporary Artists and Textiles, Hayward Gallery, London; Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham; The Wilson Gallery, Cheltenham, UK (2025–2024); The Place I Am, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK; Banana Branches, LAMB Gallery, London, UK (2023); Sound as Sculpture, The Warehouse, Dallas, USA (2022); O Canto do Bode Comporta, Casa da Cultura da Comporta, Portugal (2021); The Missing Majority, Galleria Doris Ghetta Ortisei, South Tyrol, Italy (2021); Biennale Gherdëina VII, Ortisei, South Tyrol, Italy (2020); In the Labyrinth, Large Glass, London, UK (2019); New Materialism, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2018); Sharjah Biennial (2017); Soft Power. Arte Brasil., Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands (2016).
Collections featuring his work include: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, New York, USA; Pizzuti Collection, Ohio, USA; San Diego Museum of Art, California, USA; West Collection, Pennsylvania, USA; FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, USA; Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK; Tate, London, UK; Museum of Contemporary Art, Vigo, Spain; British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; and Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil.