Sandra Lapage creates an immersive universe from coffee capsules at Contempo Gallery
Ten works, five of them new, make up the exhibition, including a large-scale installation measuring approximately 3 meters that can be walked through by the public. The Contempo Gallery presents the first solo exhibition by Sandra Lapage, titled “Cortejo de um cão da lua”, on view from June 20 to July 18 in São Paulo. Curated by Fabrício Reiner, the show brings together a set of works that occupy the gallery as a continuous environment, in which sculpture, installation, and materiality are articulated into an experience of movement through the exhibition space. At the same time, a work over 13 meters long, titled “O dragão e a lua”, is on view at Shopping Leblon in Rio de Janeiro.
Five of the ten works presented at Contempo are new and form a recent core of Sandra Lapage’s production. Among them is a large-scale installation, approximately 3 meters in size, suspended within the exhibition space. The body of work is composed predominantly of aluminum coffee capsules, stripped of their original function, as well as plastics and other recycled materials, in a research practice that investigates the transformation of waste into poetic, spatial, and interactive compositions. At first glance, the material does not recall coffee; only a closer observation reveals its origin.
The works propose different modes of reading and approaching, inviting visitors to walk through, move around, and enter the pieces, establishing relationships between body, architecture, and material.
Regarding the exhibition, Sandra Lapage states: “This installation is an opportunity to respond to the space, where by arranging the pieces in motion and inviting the public to negotiate the body’s relationship with the accumulation of matter, I propose an immersive experience of materiality and of the revelation of the nature of the work’s elements.”
According to curator Fabrício Reiner, the exhibition unfolds through a direct relationship with space and the viewer’s body: “What interests me in Sandra’s work is the way she transforms excess into language: industrial and discarded materials — such as capsules and laminated surfaces — gain presence, brilliance, and strength, revealing something essential about a culture that produces excess as a condition of existence. By crossing sculpture, garment, installation, and performance, her work builds a hybrid language in which ornament and spectacle cease to be mere seduction and also operate as a critical evidence of the present.”
The exhibition reinforces Sandra Lapage’s research into processes of accumulation, disposal, and reconfiguration of materials, in which everyday waste is reorganized into sensory and spatial narrative structures. The title “Cortejo de um cão da lua” suggests a symbolic dimension that runs through the show, evoking ideas of displacement, ritual, and transformation.
The artist’s career includes exhibitions at institutions such as the Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland, United States, as well as international grants and awards, including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the Repaint History Artist Fund. Her practice investigates processes of accumulation, disposal, and reconfiguration of materials, proposing structures in which everyday waste is reorganized into sensory and spatial experiences.
Information
Contempo Gallery
Exhibition: Cortejo de um cão da lua – Sandra Lapage
Opening: June 20
On view: until July 18
Address: Alameda Gabriel Monteiro da Silva, 1644
Opening hours: Monday–Friday: 10 am – 7 pm
Saturday: 10 am – 4 pm
@galeriacontempo
https://galeriacontempo.com.
