Directory · Sculpture · Installation

Vitral (Vista) · 2025 · Shovel handles, t-shirts, cleaning cloth, blanket, dishcloths, fabric · © Alexandre da Cunha, courtesy James Cohan Gallery
Alexandre da Cunha
Sculptor who transforms everyday objects — mops, concrete mixers, shovel handles — into monuments through pointed attention rather than making.
Alexandre da Cunha works between São Paulo and London, transforming found objects into sculpture through what he calls 'pointing' rather than 'making.' A mop becomes tapestry, nail files become geometric abstraction, a concrete mixer drum ascends to public monument. The work arrives lush with visual punning and material wit.
The practice draws on Arte Povera, Tropicália, and Brazilian neo-concrete movements, but the logic is theatrical: activating objects like actors, coaxing out unseen narratives. Concrete — utilitarian, municipal — becomes lyrical in his hands. Shovel handles and cleaning cloths compose wall-mounted works that read like stained glass.
Large-scale commissions anchor the practice. His kinetic frieze for London's Battersea Power Station rotates sunset colors throughout the day. The work is grounded in urban observation, material aesthetics, and the conviction that ordinary objects hold sociocultural potential waiting to be seen.
On the web at

jamescohan.com / da Cunha →
- Added
- 2026-05-09
- Region
- São Paulo, Brazil · London, UK
- Has .art domain
- No
- Socials
- Site
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