Afonso Tostes' 'Floresta d’Água' Closes at Sesc Pompeia, Highlighting Wood Sculptures and Lina Bo Bardi's Legacy

Afonso Tostes' exhibition 'Floresta d’Água' concludes this Sunday at Sesc Pompeia in São Paulo. The show features sculptural works in wood, including the piece 'Igbo,' a segmented trunk held in fragile equilibrium. Tostes' practice engages intensely with nature, and the exhibition creates a dialogue between his potent body of work and the generous workshop spaces designed by architect Lina Bo Bardi for the cultural center. The venue, which has hosted thousands of students since its inauguration in the 1980s, now also accommodates sporadic exhibitions investigating the relationship between craft and contemporary art. Immersed in an environment of production, teaching, and creative practice, Tostes' works, developed specifically for the show, shed their status as untouchable, autonomous art objects to integrate into a collective, dynamic scene. The material wood is the protagonist, appearing in its rawest form and supporting the practical and poetic traces found in installations like 'Linha do Tempo,' made with oars, ropes, and other items collected during the artist's research travels across Brazil.