NERVIO BLANDO: FIRMO AND SALGUEIRO AT FORMATOCÓMODO
Formatocómodo presents Nervio Blando (Soft Nerve), an exhibition by Rafaela Salgueiro (Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil, 1991) and Theo Firmo (São Paulo, Brazil, 1983), where the duo showcases their most recent joint work for the first time in Spain. The two artists, from different backgrounds, have been collaborating since 2023, united by a shared interest in the human body as a contemporary subject of research and reflection.
While Firmo draws on his background as a draftsman to offer a poetic perspective on the theme, Salgueiro — coming from fashion, scenography, and performance — approaches it more dynamically, through bodily action. In their collaboration, sewing plays a central role, going beyond a purely technical or functional element to become a symbolic merging of their disciplines. In this exhibition, organized by the Madrid-based gallery, the works explore the concept of furniture — understood here as a structure where the body and its shelter meet through the act of stitching.
This sets up a continuous dialogue between body and image, which takes different forms throughout the process of listening and visual engagement with the pieces. The suggested shapes and sensory impressions invite the viewer to mentally trace their own sensations, immersed in familiar and everyday materials and settings, and to question the functionality of the elements that make up this imagined space.
-
Theo Firmo y Rafaela Salgueiro. MARAÑA IV, 2023. Terciopelo, fieltro, piel sintética, guata, 60 x 80 cm. Cortesía de FORMATOCOMODO
-
Theo Firmo y Rafaela Salgueiro. MARAÑA II, 2023. Terciopelo, fieltro, tela encerada, guata, 80 x 100 cm. Cortesía de FORMATOCOMODO
-
Theo Firmo y Rafaela Salgueiro. Sin título (Maraña I) 2023. Terciopelo, algodón, guata, 80 x 100 x 3cm. Cortesía de FORMATOCOMODO
-
Theo Firmo y Rafaela Salgueiro. TRAMOYA VI. Piel sintética, espuma de poliuretano, 70 x 55 cm. Cortesía de FORMATOCOMODO
Through this conversation, the artists also challenge dimensional processes. Their practice becomes an opportunity to explore how volume and scale can expand their technique. As a result, they revisit the traditional boundaries of form and space, inviting viewers to take part in this approach.
Nervio Blando is on view through June 30 at Formatocómodo, Lope de Vega 5, Madrid (Spain).
May interest you
MILER LAGOS: THE PRESS AND THE TRACE OF TIME AT MAX ESTRELLA
ANA TISCORNIA: NEIGHBORS
For those of us who have followed the creative paths of Ana Tiscornia, we are very familiar with the many inventive forms and materials the artist has employed to refer to the architecture of place. The architecture of place may have been a building or a section of it; it may have been a street. Esquina / Corner of 2010, for example, is a complex paper collage of cut-out floor plans, densely layered to represent collapsed structures. This collage features a small red dot signaling the end of a street, a specific place no longer recognizable.
TO TAIMA OR NOT TO TAIMA: AN EMOTIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE VENEZUELAN DIASPORA
RAC FOUNDATION HOSTS THE BARAYA’S CAMELLIAS EXPEDITION
The RAC Foundation presents, at its headquarters in Pontevedra, Expedition Camellias: Herbal of Artificial Plants, a solo show by Alberto Baraya (Bogotá, Colombia, 1968), originating from the Artist-in-Residence program developed by the foundation. The exhibition features a group of twelve works resulting from a research project on the camellia—a flower native to China and Japan that has become an essential element in the landscapes, gardens, and parks of western Galicia.
CHILEAN PHOTOGRAPHY TAKES CENTER STAGE AT PHOTOESPAÑA
Chile will be the guest country at this year’s PHotoESPAÑA. For the first time in its history, the international festival includes a dedicated national section, with four major figures in Chilean photography taking the spotlight. The event will feature major exhibitions of work by Lotty Rosenfeld, Julia Toro, Michael Mauney, and Martín Gusinde. These exhibitions—held across venues in Madrid and Santander—offer audiences a powerful encounter with a body of work deeply shaped by the country’s history and social fabric.
HULDA GUZMÁN AT MASP: A CONTEMPORARY LOOK AT LANDSCAPE
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) presents Hulda Guzmán: Miracle Fruits, the first solo museum exhibition of Dominican artist.
THE PALATIAL EXTRAVAGANCE OF VASCONCELOS
Joana Vasconcelos (Paris, France, 1971) walks that fine aesthetic line between the overwhelming and the excessive. The artist does not hide her intentions—she never has—and if the ornate effect of her works is what she aims for, then the mission is accomplished. When faced with a production that is so clearly personal and deliberate, the setting can only serve to further amplify the challenge her installations pose to our ideas of beauty and artistic harmony.
BOTERO'S PAINTING IN DETAIL AT PALAU MARTORELL
The Palau Martorell in Barcelona is hosting Fernando Botero. Un maestro universal (Fernando Botero. A Universal Master), the most comprehensive exhibition of paintings by Fernando Botero (Medellín, Colombia, 1932 – Monte Carlo, Monaco, 2023) ever held in Spain. This exhibition offers a detailed exploration of the Colombian artist’s career, highlighting his mastery of various painting techniques and the scope of his artistic output.
THE VAST UNIVERSE OF MARUJA MALLO, IN SANTANDER
The Botin Center, in Santander, is hosting the exhibition Maruja Mallo: mascara y compás (Maruja Mallo: Mask and Compass), a show that vindicates, through a broad selection of works from her most relevant periods, the figure of Maruja Mallo (Vivero, Spain, 1902 – Madrid, Spain, 1995). This exhibition delves into the legacy of the artist, a body of work which, like her own persona, has recently been the subject of revisions and visibility efforts to better integrate her trajectory into art historiography.
