Alexandre Canonico (1974) graduated in architecture from Faculdade de Belas Artes de São Paulo and from a postgraduate program at the Royal Academy Schools in London.

Drawing lies at the core of his practice. Sculptures, wall reliefs, and installations play with the relationship between the drawing of a thing and the thing itself. His works are constructed through the articulation of lines, voids, colors, and distinctly abstract forms, with the interplay between them sometimes transforming them into allusive shapes. The interdependence between the different parts that constitute the works and the marks of the gestures involved in their making reinforce their anti-illusionistic character.

Recent exhibitions include Tierra Cifrada / Coded Earth, Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, USA (2025/26); Quebracorpo, Carpintaria, Rio de Janeiro (2025); Labirinto & Vertigem, Kubik Gallery at Gruta, São Paulo (2025); Still, AB Anbar, London (2023); Only Just, OHSH, London (2023); LUMA, London (2023); A casa é sua, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro (2022); Cidade Mecânica, Tropigalpão, Rio de Janeiro (2022); Anderson Borba and Alexandre Canonico, Kupfer, London (2021); and Bloomberg New Contemporaries, South London Gallery (2021). He recently took part in residencies at Propel Residency (Knotenpunkt), London (2023), and NTH Space, Turin (2024).

Toque (2025) is part of a series created through cuts, perforations, and the application of color on white MDF boards. Parts are cut, colored, and repositioned in their original place. Due to the material consumed during cutting, they sit slightly deeper in space, generating a contour that matches the thickness of the line or the space between the parts. This is both a graphic device and a physical consequence of gravity acting upon the “thing.” Thus, the drawing of the “thing” and the “thing” itself complement one another. Perforations of varying depths produce gradients of tone, while others, which pierce the board completely, appear as black dots (drawing and thing).