EFG LATIN AMERICA ART AWARD PRESENTS THE NOMINATED ARTIST AT SP-ARTE 2026
Cristiano Lenhardt was selected for his series of works born from his encounter with the environmental tragedy of the 2024 floods in southern Brazil.
The EFG Latin America Art Award, in partnership with ArtNexus, announced Cristiano Lenhardt from Itaara, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), represented by Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, (Brazil), as the artist nominated for EFG's annual acquisition award. The work was selected at the SP-ARTE fair with the collaboration of Fernando Oliva, Curator of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - MASP, jointly with Celia Sredni de Birbragher, Director and Editor of ArtNexus.
Cristiano Lenhardt, an artist from Itaara Rio Grande do Sul based in Recife, Pernambuco, pushes the boundaries of language, perception, and visual codes in his works, always guided by a radical reliance on his own intuition, as seen in Lieoe (2025). Constructed from ceramic and embroidery on cotton, the work is part of a series that emerged from the artist's encounter with the environmental tragedy of the floods in Rio Grande do Sul in May 2024. While visiting the traditional fabric store where he used to buy linen and other fabrics for his work, he relives past memories in conversations with the shop owner, who offers him a few meters of cloth that survived the flood yet still bears the marks of the inundation. Using these pale cotton surfaces, drastically dyed by the waters of the Guaíba River, stretched over frames and adorned with ceramic, aluminum, and embroidered elements, Lenhardt creates a collection of objects that, stemming from an experience that is both social, personal, and subjective, serve as ways to cope with trauma.
-
Cristiano Lenhardt. Lieoe, 2025. Ceramics and embroidery on dyed cotton, 61.024 x 51.969 x 2.756 in. Courtesy: Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel
"Once again, I let my intuition guide me. However, I wasn't sure I would get anywhere. But I clung to the work, to my affection for the forms and materials I was working with," said Lenhardt.
EFG Latin America Art Award, now in its sixteenth year, was created to support a Latin American artist whose work is pre-selected through a juried process in Latin American contemporary art fairs throughout each year. The award aims to promote visual arts production and increase awareness of regional fairs among collectors worldwide, with Liaisons' strategic support.
This year, the nominated artists will be selected at the fairs: SP Arte, São Paulo; Pinta Lima, Lima; BAphoto, Buenos Aires; ARTBO, Bogota, and the fifth fair is yet to be announced.
As in prior years, once each of the finalists in the participating Latin American art fairs has been nominated, the winning artist and artwork will be announced at Pinta Miami during Art Basel Week in Miami. EFG Capital will acquire a work of art from the winning artist. The EFG Latin America Art Award collection is on permanent display at EFG Capital's Miami offices.
Related Topics
May interest you
EMERGING PRACTICES AND NEW LANGUAGES: THIS IS HOW PINTA LIMA 2026 IS SHAPED
The fair commits to a program that brings together processes, technology, and identity, with curatorial sections that expand ways of thinking about contemporary art.
ARTE LAGUNA PRIZE: 120 FINALISTS PRESENTED IN VENICE
Artists from multiple disciplines are invited to participate in the international competition. The deadline is June 30, 2026.
DANCING OUR PROBLEMS: LATIN AMERICAN PRESENCE AT MOCA’S ART ON THE PLAZA 2026 AWARDS IN MIAMI
In a context marked by the debate on immigration in the United States, Joan Jiménez Suero (Perú) has been recognized by the Museum of Contemporary Art - North Miami (MOCA) for a proposal that reflects on the identity, memory, and resistance of the Latin diaspora.
HOW TO READ A POROUS WORK AT PINTA LIMA 2026
In conversation with Ilaria Conti, curator of the fair's Radar section, we learn how to adjust our gaze when encountering the Guatemalan work of Angélica Serech, presented by La Galería Rebelde.
CHALLENGING THE WESTERN CANON – IN CONVERSATION WITH MELANIE ROUMIGUIÈRE ON HER PARTICIPATION IN PINTA LIMA
Argentine by origin, the curator and former Director of the Visual Arts Department of the Artists in Berlin Program (DAAD) — a residency that connects creatives from around the world with Germany's cultural scene — has spent years building bridges between Latin American art scenes and the major centers of Western art.
A CONVERSATION AROUND POLITICS, AFFECTION AND LISTENING WITH SOL HENARO
Director of the Museo Universitario del Chopo, Sol Henaro reflects on her role, the tensions within the institution, and the construction of communities from a curatorial perspective.
