Tonico Lemos Auad (1968) investigates the symbolic, affective, and cultural meanings of everyday materials and objects, with particular interest in how these elements connect to popular traditions and landscapes of Brazil and the United Kingdom—Auad lives and works in London.

Trained in architecture, he developed a deep interest in the ways individuals interact and negotiate with space. This architectural gaze resonates in his poetic and experimental approach, marked by the juxtaposition of material and symbolic elements and by the constant deconstruction of structures to create new possible orders.

His solo exhibitions include Desconhecido para o mundo, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo (2022); Unknown to the world, Cample Line, Nithsdale (2021); Biblioteca, CRG Gallery, New York (2016); and O que não tem conserto, Pivô, São Paulo (2015). Group shows include Material Worlds: Contemporary Artists and Textiles, Hayward Gallery, London; Sound as Sculpture, The Warehouse, Dallas (2022); Biennale Gherdëina VII, Ortisei, South Tyrol (2020); and the Sharjah Biennial (2017). His work is part of collections such as the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art (New York); San Diego Museum of Art; Tate (London); Pinacoteca de São Paulo; and Instituto Inhotim (Brumadinho).

Bandeirinhas (2022) is part of the artist’s textile-based practice, which has become one of his work’s main axes over the past decade. He employs a variety of techniques and methods—including handloom weaving, knitting, crochet, and embroidery, among others—blending hand- and machine-made stitches to create hybrid surfaces where different traditions and ancestral knowledges intertwine.

Although the recovery of craft practices plays a fundamental role in his research, the subversion of “good craftsmanship” rules is the essence of his work. The fabric’s warp and weft—with their rigid, orthogonal structure—are undone and disorganized through the removal of threads and subsequently reorganized through embroidery to create images or patterns integrated into the original fabric.