Laura LimaWrong Drawing (2038), 2018
In Laura Lima’s sculptural and performative practice, the artwork is often conceived as a living system which is activated over extended periods and shaped by its interaction with people, animals, and environments. Much like artists such as Ernesto Neto, Lima draws from a wide range of sources including art history, science fiction, philosophy, and law. Her work spans intricate drawings, spatial interventions, and collaborative processes involving craftsmen and performers, all of which contribute to an expanded understanding of material and form.
Based in Rio de Janeiro, Lima has cultivated a body of work that consistently resists conventional classification. Her practice engages with the legacy of Brazil’s Neo-Concrete Movement, embracing its emphasis on sensorial experience and embodied engagement, while also pushing beyond into more speculative, post-relational terrain. Her installations often incorporate worn or repurposed objects, constructed environments, and ‘live agents’ highlighting the fluid and dynamic nature of assemblage as central to her artistic language.
A compelling example of this is her ‘Wrong Drawings’ series, created from natural cotton, often embedded with pieces of coal. As time passes, the coal stains the fabric, slowly inscribing the surface through an extended, organic process. Each work is dated years into the future, pointing toward a speculative moment of completion – suggesting that drawing, in Lima’s hands, is not only an act of mark-making but one of duration, becoming, and deferred meaning.
