Mendes Wood DM is a contemporary art gallery founded in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

in 2010. The gallery is known for exhibiting sculpture and conceptual works and for representing Afro-Brazilian artists and 20th-century Brazilian works associated with self-taught artists and

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. The gallery has locations in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

Mendes Wood DM was founded in São Paulo in 2010 by Pedro Mendes, Matthew Wood, and Felipe Dmab. Mendes and Wood, who met as philosophy of art students in Paris, initially began by representing the works of Brazilian sculptor Sônia Gomes in Paris. In 2010, Mendes and Wood partnered with Dmab to open the Mendes Wood DM gallery in São Paulo, gaining visibility as early supporters of Lucas Arruda,

Paulo Nazareth Paulo Nazareth (b. 1977) is a Brazilian contemporary artist based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Nazareth has achieved notable acclaim for his distinctive approach to contemporary art, exemplified by multimedia, performance-based works, international e ...

, and Marina Perez Simão, for representing works by Tunga, and for being one of the few Brazilian galleries, at the time, representing Afro-Brazilian artists within Brazil and internationally. In 2017, Mendes Wood DM opened a location in Brussels with founding partner Carolyn Drake Kandiyoti. That same year, the gallery collaborated with a German gallery,

Galerie Michael Werner In 1963, Michael Werner opened his first gallery, Werner & Katz, in Berlin, Germany with the first solo exhibition of Georg Baselitz. Galerie Michael Werner was later established in Cologne in 1969. Since then, Galerie Michael Werner has worked w ...

, to open Hic Svnt Dracones, a project space on East 66th Street in New York City. In 2018, Mendes Wood DM was incorporated as a mainstay in the

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel, Switzerland; Miami Beach; Hong Kong and from 2022, Paris. Art Basel works in collaboration with the host city's local institutions to help ...

international art fair. A permanent New York City branch was opened on Walker Street in 2022. The inaugural show was dedicated to Brazilian artist

. Mendes Wood DM's collaborations with Nazareth, and other artists, have focused on post-colonial power relations and the socio-political facets of migration. In 2023, the gallery opened a branch in the

Marais Marais (, meaning "marsh") may refer to: People * Marais (given name) * Marais (surname) Other uses * Le Marais, historic district of Paris * Théâtre du Marais, the name of several theatres and theatrical troupes in Paris, France * Marais (c ...

district of Paris in a renovated 18th-century building on the

Place des Vosges The Place des Vosges (), originally Place Royale, is the oldest planned square in Paris, France. It is located in the ''Marais'' district, and it straddles the dividing-line between the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris. It was a fashionable ...

. The first Paris exhibition, curated by Fernanda Brenner and titled “I See No Difference Between a Handshake and a Poem” exhibited works by approximately 50 artists, including Tosh Basco, Michael Dean, and

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

Artistic Program

Mendes Wood DM exhibits 21st-century sculpture and conceptual works, works from several generations of Afro-Brazilian artists, and works from key figures in 20th-century Brazilian painting associated with self-taught artists and

. The gallery currently represents approximately 45 artists, including Alma Allen, Lucas Arruda, Patricia Ayres,

Alvaro Barrington Alvaro Barrington (born 1983) is a London-based artist. Primarily a painter, Barrington often incorporates yarn, wood and other media into his work. Early life and education Alvaro Barrington was born on 1 February 1983 in Caracas, Venezuela, th ...

Lynda Benglis Lynda Benglis (born October 25, 1941) is an American sculptor and visual artist known especially for her wax paintings and poured latex sculptures. She maintains residences in New York City, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kastellorizo, Greece, and Ahmedaba ...

Heidi Bucher Heidi Bucher (1926–1993) was a Swiss artist interested in exploring architectural space and the body through sculpture. She was born in Winterthur, Switzerland and attended the School for the Applied Arts in Zurich. Her work dealt primarily ...

Nina Canell Nina Canell (born 1979) is a sculpture and installation artist born in Växjö, Sweden and educated at the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dublin, Ireland. She currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany Work Nina C ...

, Adriano Costa, Julien Creuzet, Michael Dean,

Coco Fusco Coco Fusco (born Juliana Emilia Fusco Miyares; June 18, 1960) is a Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator whose work has been exhibited and published internationally. Fusco's work explores gender, identity, race, and power thr ...

, Anna Bela Geiger, Sonia Gomes, Sanam Khatibi, Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato, Paulo Monteiro,

, Antonio Obá,

Rosana Paulino Rosana Paulino (born 1967, in São Paulo) is a Brazilian visual artist, educator, and curator. She holds a doctorate in Visual Arts from the University of São Paulo, School of Communications and Arts and a specialization in printmaking from Lo ...

Kishio Suga (born 1944), is a Japanese sculptor and installation artist currently living in Itō, Shizuoka, Japan. He is one of the key members of Mono-ha, a group of artists who became prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Mono-ha artists explored ...

, and

Rubem Valentim Rubem Valentim (9 November 1922 - 30 November 1991) was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. A self-taught artist, he started to paint as a child, doing figure and landscapes for Christmas crèches. Valentim graduated in dentistry in 1946, and pra ...

. The gallery's program includes several artistic collaborations with other galleries, notably

Blum & Poe Blum & Poe is a contemporary art gallery located in Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo. Development Blum & Poe was founded by Tim Blum and Jeff Poe in Santa Monica, California, in September 1994. The inaugural exhibition in Santa Monica featured ...

(now Blum),

David Zwirner Gallery David Zwirner Gallery is an American contemporary art gallery owned by David Zwirner. It has four gallery spaces in New York City and one each in London, Hong Kong, and Paris. History The Zwirner Gallery opened in 1993 on the ground floor of ...

, and

Pace Gallery The Pace Gallery is an American contemporary and modern art gallery with 9 locations worldwide. It was founded in Boston by Arne Glimcher in 1960. His son, Marc Glimcher, is now president and CEO. Pace Gallery operates in New York, London, Hong ...

References

{{coord missing, Brazil Art museums and galleries in Brazil Contemporary art galleries in South America Art museums and galleries in New York City Art museums and galleries in Paris Art museums and galleries established in 2010 Conceptual art