Modernist and contemporary Brazilian furniture face off in this LA exhibition

‘Lightness & Tension’, an exhibition hosted at Christie’s in Los Angeles (5-9 September 2025 ), brings together furniture from Brazilian modernism pioneer Joaquim Tenreiro and contemporary Brazilian artist Lucas Simões. Organised by design dealer and curator Ulysses de Santi, the show creates a dialogue between past and present, reflecting on the evolution of craftsmanship and design in Brazil.

Lightness and Tension: Joaquim Tenreiro and Lucas Simões

Joaquim Tenreiro (1906-1992) played a central role in shaping the identity of Brazilian modernism, a midcentury style that remains hugely popular for its combination of bold, clean lines and natural materials, including indigenous Brazilian hardwoods. ‘Tenreiro’s work distilled elegance, proportion and craftsmanship into something timeless,’ says de Santi, who centres his dealing and curating on design of the genre.

Tenreiro’s work on show at ‘Lightness & Tension’ includes seating and tables made between 1935 and 1960. His ‘Loveseat’, from 1955, conjoins two solid rosewood armchairs, their carved seats and backs providing sculptural, rounded counterpoints to the precise rectilinear geometry of the frames. The high-back dining chairs from 1935-40, meanwhile, combine rosewood with woven cane, striking a more delicate presence.

Having made a seismic impact on the trajectory of Brazilian design, Tenreiro spent his later years working primarily in sculpture instead of furniture – perhaps a natural progression of his love for crafting materials into expressive forms.

Lucas Simões, meanwhile, established himself as an artist before more recently turning to furniture – and the works on show as part of ‘Lightness & Tension’ represent his design debut.

In Simões’ furniture, metal and concrete create bold, graphic lines – often curved or rippling – while the occasional presence of velvet-upholstered forms brings unexpected softness and comfort. Some of Simões’ sculptural works are also showcased in the exhibition, making clear the connection between his artistic and design practices, rooted in similar material explorations.

‘What fascinates me most about Tenreiro – and resonates with me personally – is the way he navigated a dual career as both an artist and a designer,’ says Simões. ‘He consistently approached furniture design through a sculptural lens, developing innovative techniques that blurred the boundaries between the two disciplines. This fluid exchange gave his minimalist design a distinctive conceptual depth – one that continues to feel both radical and relevant.’

Although he concedes that Brazilian modernism is ‘part of my visual memory’, and something for which he holds great respect, Simões did not seek to reference the tradition in his first furniture pieces. What drives him, he explains, is ‘contemporary approaches to rethinking materials, experimenting with forms, and probing the relationship between function and sculpture’.

De Santi was drawn to Simões’ work for its architectural sensibility and ‘intuitive sensitivity to material and form that goes beyond function’, the curator explains. While it may not have been conscious, he believes Simões’ work connects to the ethos of Brazilian modernism through its material honesty and clarity of proportion. ‘Even though his palette is very different from Tenreiro’s, the underlying rigour and sense of balance are part of the same lineage,’ he says.

Placing the works from Tenreiro and Simoes in dialogue with one another allows the visitor to see the ‘through-line’, says de Santi, and demonstrate how ideas about form, furniture and material exploration evolve. The title of the show reflects the ‘essential duality’ in both designers’ work, he adds, combining a ‘visual and structural lightness’ with a ‘quiet tension in how elements are balanced’.

Simões also created the scenography for ‘Lightness & Tension’, including a steel grid floor and mounds of sand supporting selected works. ‘The idea was to bring the raw materials I work with in the studio directly into the exhibition space, presented in their primal state,’ he says. ‘By placing these elements alongside the finished works, the scenography creates a dialogue between process and result, fragility and solidity, potential and completion.’

‘Lightness & Tension’ is on show at Christie’s Los Angeles, 5 -9 September 2025