Brazilian Artist Tunga Dies at 64

The renowned Brazilian artist Tunga died at the age of 64 of cancer.

Tunga (Palmares, Brazil 1952 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2016), was one of the leading Brazilian artists of his generation. His principal media, sculpture, installation and performance, are customarily presented as an integrated body of work which establishes an associative interplay of mirroring and self-reference between the individual pieces. Through rigorously constructed structures, the symbolic and the imaginary perform a decisive role conveying new meanings to familiar objects. His oeuvre’s subversive psychological force carries constructivist and surrealist influences, which delineate his original and sensual territory. Tunga’s work can be seen in the permanent collections of major museums and institutions throughout the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. In September 2012 a major permanent pavilion dedicated to Tunga’s work opened at the Instituto de Arte Contemporânea Inhotim in Brumadinho, Brazil. Most recently, Luhring Augustine exhibited important early works by Tunga in a solo presentation at Frieze Masters and Frieze Live in London.