MARLON DE AZAMBUJA’S INNER TERRITORY AT RÍO & MEÑAKA
By Álvaro de Benito
The Río & Meñaka gallery presents El otro lado (The Other Side) at its Madrid venue — an exhibition showcasing the latest body of work by Marlon de Azambuja (Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1978), in which the artist invites viewers to explore the relationship between matter, perception, and memory. Conceived through the material and tactile nature of his sculptures, paintings, and installations, the Brazilian artist encourages the visitor to delve into the blurred boundaries between light and shadow, as well as into the role of memory in shaping the self.
De Azambuja moves through the concept of night, reimagining its collective symbolism and turning it into a realm of vitality and presence. The absence of certain sensory registers does not prevent darkness from revealing aspects of curiosity, doubt, or mysticism — even a sublimation of a renewed reality.
Esfinge/Pantera seems to welcome us into this world: a fantastical sculpture whose enigma lies in its deeply personal origin within the artist’s memory. Inspired by a glass-eyed sculpture made by his father, the piece oscillates between childhood remembrance and mystery, evoking the mythological guardian’s power to unsettle those who meet its gaze.
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Marlon de Azambuja. Esfinge/Pantera. El otro lado (vista de exposición). Foto Río & Meñaka
Beyond this unsettling sculptural encounter, the exhibition unfolds with Nocturna and Luces de Bohemia, works that embody a more physical sense of darkness. The relationship between humankind and nature is here symbolized as two thresholds opening toward the unknown — portals that suggest luminosity yet compel a critical, participatory response.
A pumpkin and a snail emerge as quiet testimonies to something higher, yet they also affirm the temporal and the fragile. The twin sculptures Beherit, totemic concrete columns, open up space for ambiguity and the unexpected, guiding the viewer through a passage toward transcendence.
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Marlon de Azambuja. El otro lado (vista de exposición). Foto Río & Meñaka
The power of these portals is renewed in Broken Burned Kilometer, an intervention that, although not new within De Azambuja’s practice, always yields a distinct outcome. Lines of lit candles trace their existence through melted wax and smoke-stained walls, pointing directly to the inherent cycle of destruction and reconstruction, and to the fragility of presence itself.
Marlon de Azambuja. El otro lado (The Other Side) can be seen until December 14 at Río & Meñaka Madrid, Conde de Aranda 20, Madrid (Spain).
*Cover image: Marlon de Azambuja. Beherit. Photo: Río & Meñaka.
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