Leda Catunda (b. 1961, Sao Paulo, Brazil; lives and works

in São Paulo) creates deeply personal works that engage

with popular culture. Using textiles originally intended as

curtains, clothing, or sheets, Catunda paints, cuts, layers,

and arranges them into complex, haptic surfaces. Her

recurring vocabulary of serial forms —tongues, tears, and

insect shells—posit a connection between the seemingly

infinite reduplication found in nature and the commercial

realm.

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In September 2025, a survey exhibition of Catunda’s work,

curated by Hoor Al-Qasimi, will open at the Sharjah Art

Foundation. The exhibition will travel to HALLE FÜR KUNST

Steiermark in Graz, Austria in 2026.

 

 Her inclusion in Como Vai Você, Geração 80?, a watershed group show at Parque Lage Visual Art School in Rio de Janeiro in 1984, cemented Catunda’s pivotal position in

Brazilian contemporary art and ushered in a revitalization

in painting. She has participated in four São Paulo Biennials

(1983, 1985, 1994 and 2018). Retrospectives and surveys

of her work have also been held at ICA Milan, Milan, Italy

(2023); Pinoteca do Estado de São Paulo (2009); Museu

Oscar Niemeyer, Rio de Janeiro, and Museo de Arte Moderna

(MAM Rio), Rio de Janeiro (2014); Instituto Tomie Ohtake,

São Paulo (2016); São Paulo Museum of Modern Art (MAM),

São Paulo (2019), and the Museu de Arte Latino Americano

de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Buenos Aires (2021).