José Leonilson

José Leonilson (Fortaleza CE 1957 - São Paulo SP 1993)

José Leonilson was a painter, illustrator, and sculptor. He moved with his family to São Paulo in 1961. Between 1977 and 1980, he studied art at the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP), where he studied with Julio Plaza and Nelson Leirner. He took watercolor classes with Dudi Maia Rosa at the Aster art school, which he attended from 1978 to 1981. In the latter year, he held his first solo exhibition at the Casa do Brasil gallery in Madrid and traveled to other European cities. In Milan, he met Antonio Dias, who introduced him to the art critic Achille Bonito Oliva, linked to the Italian transavant-garde movement. He returned to Brazil in 1982. Leonilson's work is predominantly autobiographical and focuses on the last ten years of his life. According to critic Lisette Lagnado, each piece created by the artist is constructed as a letter to a private diary. In 1989, he began using sewing and embroidery, which became recurring elements in his work. In 1991, he discovered he was HIV-positive, and this condition had a significant impact on his work. His last work, an installation conceived for the Morumbi Chapel in São Paulo in 1993, has a spiritual meaning and alludes to the fragility of life. For this exhibition and another solo exhibition held that same year, he received a posthumous tribute and the award from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics (APCA) in 1994. In the year of his death, family and friends founded the Leonilson Project, with the goal of organizing his archives and researching, cataloging, and disseminating his works.

Critical Commentary

Leonilson's work includes paintings, drawings, embroidery, and some sculptures and installations. For critic Lisette Lagnado, the artist was driven by the need to record his subjectivity. Thus, his pieces are constructed like letters to an intimate diary. Initially, his work resembles the visuality of Antonio Dias's work, but with more erotic potency. The shapes in the drawings are surrounded by a dark outline, as in North American graffiti. At the same time, he began to develop elements that would be constantly revisited until the end of his life: the open book, the tower, the radar, the atom, the heart, the spiral, the clock, the compass, the hourglass, among others.

In 1989, he exhibited *Travel Notes* at Galeria Luisa Strina, in São Paulo, featuring pieces made with buttons, semi-precious stones, and embroidery, which introduced a new and fundamental process into his work: sewing. The pieces suggest a connection with the embroidery of Arthur Bispo do Rosario (1911-1989), whom Leonilson admired. However, the world of sewing is familiar to him, as the son of a textile merchant and having also watched his mother embroider. For Lagnado, beyond these details, there are certain similarities in his work with the lifestyle of the Shakers, members of a North American religious sect, such as the prominent use of maps or the custom of embroidering bed linens with initials or numbers.

In the construction of a personal and subjective expression, since 1984, Leonilson has created organic forms in his drawings and paintings, which increasingly resemble cartographies of the body. He also becomes aware of the need to construct a unique language with words, a theme of The Fisherman of Words (1986). In the works Your Protective Inner Mountain (1989) and Ocean, Will You Accept Me? (1991) reveals the vision of immeasurable nature, such as the abyss, the volcano, the rocky rapids, and the ocean. The artist's romantic stance is also revealed in the painting The Nonconformist (1988), in which a character is depicted inside a car that he cannot fit into due to its excessive proportions, and in Leo Can't Change the World (1989), in which nonconformity is linked to impotence. His work then begins to undergo a formal stripping, but the content remains the same: he uses words laden with moral value such as "sincerity," "honesty," and "integrity." On the other hand, words serve to express intimate states: "happy," "shy," "lonely," "hypocritical," "out of place," "full and empty," "skeptical," "anxious," or "confused."

In 1991, he discovered he was HIV-positive, and living with the disease completely dominated his work. In The Dangerous (1992), a series of seven drawings, he ironically addresses his own condition. In the first drawing, there is a drop of his contaminated blood. In the others, small figures of hands associated with medical procedures or crucifixes are mixed with various words, such as the names of flowers, acquiring an allegorical dimension related to the Christian symbolism of purity and death. Some works from this period can be seen as self-portraits. For example, in El Puerto (1992), a mirror covered with a scrap of one of the artist's shirts contains, embroidered with blue thread, information about his age, weight, and height. It is a work that addresses grief and the absence of the self. The installation in the Morumbi Chapel, from 1993, his last work, has a spiritual meaning. In the light, white fabrics, he expresses the fragility of life. There are ironic references to authority and hypocrisy in the soft shirts covering the chairs and in the embroidery of "false morality" and "good heart," but also to hope in "Lázaro."

Leonilson's work, by focusing on the artist's body, resembles the works of Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), Eva Hesse (1936-1970), Lygia Clark (1920-1988), and Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980), among others, and resonates with more recent artistic production, such as the works of Efrain Almeida (1964) and Sandra Cinto (1968), who deal with a similarly intimate language.

Reviews

"Leonilson's humor, irony, and poetic universe are very different from the elements used by Brazilian artists of his generation. In the early 1980s, he preferred to adopt a kind of introspective narrative rather than affiliate himself with a movement or group aesthetic thought. It is true that he found resonance throughout that decade in the work of a wide range of artists, mainly from Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. However, even with similarities in the way he deals with visual signs, his elements are extremely personal.

Leonilson has been organizing a kind of secret primer, a beginner's book where each work adds a new element to the artist's own profile. From giant canvases cut into irregular shapes, he moved on to small objects reminiscent of reliquaries and religious pieces. Pearls, lace, velvet, and canvas—the fragments of fabric given by friends—all of this transforms into iconography. unmistakable.

The artist's visual style is also his personal diary. Each work corresponds to a biographical situation, be it a state of mind or a travelogue.

(...)

The delicacy of the materials also forces the viewer to experience unexpected visual associations. But in every detail (...), it is a vision of the world and an artist's attention to the small feelings that, ultimately, are what make the human being great."
Casimiro Xavier de Mendonça
MENDONÇA, Casimiro Xavier de. Secret Primer. In: LEONILSON. Leonilson. São Paulo: Galeria de Arte São Paulo, 1991. p. [3].

"The work of José Leonilson (1957-1993) has reserved its place in contemporary epistolary fiction. Each piece was rigorously constructed like a letter to an intimate diary. A disciple of a failed romantic ideal, Leonilson was driven by the compulsion to record his interiority in order to dedicate it to the objects of desire. This legacy, enunciated by an 'I' whose atonement is incessant, reevaluates subjectivity after conceptual experiences. That is, having exhausted the reflection on the destiny of art, which had metalanguage as its apex, the work now turns to questioning the destiny of the subject.

Born in Fortaleza, into a Catholic family, Leonilson's upbringing includes two elements essential for understanding his work: Northeastern culture (with its cordel literature, crafts, bright colors, and popular beliefs) and religious iconography, anchored in moral values. Secondly, the artist's frequent travels abroad become constitutive of the work, imbuing it with a nomadic character. Unable to recognize himself in the figure of the artist who aims at the history of art, Leonilson called himself 'curious'—a statement whose simplicity rediscovers the activity of his two greatest anti-artist models, Lygia Clark and Arthur Bispo do Rosario. For it is precisely when she seems to renounce artistic practice that she manages to project her activity into the relationship between body and language, and art and the world. Ambiguity marks this polysemic testimony, whose existential modulation stems from the spirit of her time.

Concentrated on the short period of the last ten years of her life, the work is almost exclusively autobiographical and brings together around a thousand works, including drawings, paintings, and cloth objects classified as 'embroidery.' It is a volume with uneven qualities, although endowed with the property of remaining cohesive around recurring images and themes. It is, without a doubt, the work of an author, an author who yields to the pathos of her intersensory nature, but who, in a movement of recuperation, transforms the torment of her anachronism into a triumph of freedom. Therefore, it can only be interpreted without equivocation if understood from a perspective that transcends formal discussions."
Lisette Lagnado
LAGNADO, Lisette. The Fisherman of Words. In: ______. Leonilson: there are so many truths. São Paulo: Galeria de Arte do Sesi, 1995. p. 27-28.

"A sense of vulnerability permeates the final stage of Leonilson's work. AIDS changed the course of his life and marked his artistic production, giving it a final and irreducible terminology. The simplicity and detachment characteristic of his work, particularly his drawings, are tensioned by the contents they make explicit: a death foretold, as is the case with irreversible illnesses, and an intense search for meaning in the journey of life. Constrained by the possibilities of sexual fulfillment, AIDS brought him not to the margins but to the center of the issue. The energy of desire finds its loving fulfillment, now consciously, in sublimation, which forges the interstices of language. His work, to a large extent, has always been engaged with the meaning of being, with his identity, and with the full exercise of life as the only values ​​to be sought. In this final stage of his career, however, his interest focuses on the question of the body, of his own body made metaphor, seeking, through art, some possibility of transcendence. Leonilson becomes the observer of his own process, revealing himself publicly: the body is assumed in its condition of a desiring machine, which contains mind and spirit and is in permanent conflict with the world."
Ivo Mesquita
MESQUITA, Ivo. Seeing body, visible body. In: LEONILSON: use, it's beautiful, I guarantee. São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, 1997. p. 13 and 14.

"When commenting on his own work, Leonilson insists on referring it to the record of his private experience. His discourse aims to remind the viewer that the original meaning of the work should not be sought beyond such a domain. 'The outside world does not exist,' he says. 'What we seek is within us.' The works would then present themselves as pages from a life diary, reorganizing and translating certain experiences pictorially and visually.

(...)

It is as if the author were constructing a language for initiates, not aimed at expressing universal experiences. 'The way to save yourself is to turn inward,' he says. Leonilson described a movement of isolation as a search for authenticity.

Analyzing some of the artist's works, we see the intention of creating forms for the recording of personal experiences. In the series of painted canvases, there is a uniformly colored background, where jumbled figures and loose words only integrate to the extent that the viewer attributes to them the measure of their own experience. Otherwise, they are no more than scribbles on a diary page—interesting only to the writer. Leonilson recognizes his work as being in the world when the viewer tells him they believe it was made for them, maintaining the intended initiatory and private character. The artist's discourse adheres to one of the aspects of the work: the exacerbated personalization of the experiences involved. Leonilson presents a private artistic game, whose references to other artists are based more on a closed appropriation in itself than on an attempt at dialogue. The movement described by the artist is one of escape from the world. Each person interprets and reinterprets whatever they wish, always denying universal experience in favor of initiatory experience.
Felipe Chaimovich
CHAIMOVICH, Felipe. Authenticity in Leonilson's Poetics. In: LEONILSON. Leonilson. São Paulo: Thomas Cohn Gallery, 1998. Unpaginated. [Reprint of the text presented at the Death of Art Today Colloquium, Belo Horizonte, 1993, based on an interview given by the artist to the author in 1991]. p. [6-7].

Testimonials

"People use frames to protect their work. I don't. If something happens to my canvases, it's over. If there's a tear, I sew it up. I understand the canvas as an object, not just as a painting to put on the wall. The painting interacts: if it's hot, it 'wrinkles'; if it's cold, it stretches, comes off the wall a bit, then comes back. Pre-Columbian fabrics were incredibly precious and remained in the form of fragments. In my canvases, I'm concerned about avoiding one part being less important than another. A background, a corner with just a splash of green watercolor, is as important as the whole. But it's all the same; there's not even a main figure. Like this dress I made. At the top, when I had some thread left over, I went back and made a second thread underneath, just as important. There are works I start to do that end up poorly done, poorly done, poorly done, and then I think: 'I can't try to do this again.'" Haute couture. This isn't Balenciaga. This is my work.' Before, I thought the stitching had to be perfect. And I even tried, but I got so caught out! I saw that it's different when a designer makes a garment and when an artist sews. They are two related attitudes, but very different.

(...)

This is the result of a curiosity to discover materials. I feel like a scientist who spends all his time in his laboratory experimenting. Only this is just the physical, but there's something in it that only I know, which is energy.

- Is it the part that's not visible in the work?

- It's not visible; it would be in a virtual world. If you want a description of me, I think I'm curious. And I'm ambiguous, completely. The works are all ambiguous. They don't deliver a truth directly, but they show an open vision. I've never settled for a single side of things. You know those wandering vagabonds in Road? That travel the world? I'm more curious than artist.

(...)

I don't worry about form, I don't worry about color, I don't worry about place. I practically have these aesthetic concerns. When I'm going to make a work, I'm in front of the material and I worry about the parts that come together, for example, two shades of felt, or a ripped shirt with a voile. This is totally fetishistic, sensual."
Leonilson
LEONILSON. The dimension of speech. In: LAGNADO, Lisette. Leonilson: there are so many truths. São Paulo: Galeria de Arte do Sesi, 1995. p. 84-85 and 128-129. [Interview given to the author between October 30 and December 10, 1992].

Collections

Ado Malagoli Rio Grande do Sul Art Museum Collection - MARGS - Porto Alegre, RS
João Sattamini/MAC-Niterói Collection - Niterói, RJ
University of São Paulo Museum of Contemporary Art Collection - MAC/USP - São Paulo, SP
Rio de Janeiro Museum of Modern Art Collection - MAM/RJ - Rio de Janeiro, RJ
São Paulo Museum of Modern Art Collection - MAM/SP - São Paulo, SP
Los Angeles County Museum of Art - LACMA - Los Angeles (United States)
Museum of Engraving - Curitiba, PR
Brasília Museum of Art - MAB - Brasília, DF
Museum of Modern Art - MoMA - New York (United States)
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus - Munich (Germany)
Tate Modern - London (England)

Solo Exhibitions

1981 - Madrid (Spain) - First solo exhibition at Galeria Casa do Brasil
1982 - Bologna (Italy) - Solo exhibition at Galleria Pellegrino
1983 - São Paulo SP - Solo exhibition at Galeria Luisa Strina
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo exhibition at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1983 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo exhibition at Galeria Tina Presser
1984 - Fortaleza CE - Solo exhibition at Arte Galeria
1985 - São Paulo SP - Solo exhibition at Galeria Luisa Strina
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo exhibition at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1985 - Brasília DF - Solo exhibition at Espaço Capital Arte Contemporânea
1987 - Vitória ES - Solo exhibition at Galeria Usina Arte Contemporânea
1987 - Munich (Germany) - Moving Mountains at Kunstforum
1987 - São Paulo SP - O Pescador de Palavras at Galeria Luisa Strina
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Inconformado at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1989 - São Paulo SP - Solo exhibition at Galeria Luisa Strina
1989 - Belo Horizonte MG - Nada Hás a Temer at Gesto Gráfico
1989 - Brasília DF - Os Bombeiros Não São Corruptos at Espaço Capital Arte Contemporânea
1990 - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Solo exhibition at Pulitzer Art Gallery
1991 - São Paulo SP - Solo exhibition at Galeria de Arte São Paulo
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo exhibition at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo exhibition at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1993 - São Paulo SP - Solo exhibition at Galeria de Arte São Paulo
1993 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson: instalação at Capela do Morumbi

Group Exhibitions

1980 - São Paulo SP - 12th Panorama of Brazilian Contemporary Art, at MAM/SP
1980 - São Paulo SP - Young Drawing, at MAC/USP
1980 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson and Luiz Zerbini, at Teatro Lira Paulistana
1981 - Lecce (Italy) - Giovane Arte Internazionale, at Galleria Giuli
1981 - Madrid (Spain) - Leonilson and Luiz Zerbini, at Galeria Casa do Brasil
1983 - Belo Horizonte MG - Brasil Pintura, at Palácio das Artes
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 13 Artists/13 Works, at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6th National Salon of Visual Arts, at MAM/RJ
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Flor da Pele: Painting and Pleasure, at Centro Empresarial Rio
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Paper, at Galeria Thomas Cohn Arte Contemporânea
1983 - São Paulo SP - Art on the Street
1984 - Madrid (Spain) - ARCO/84
1984 - Paris (France) - 13th Paris Biennale
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - How Are You, Generation 80?, at EAV/Parque Lage
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Stand 320: Young Brazilian Painting, at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1984 - São Paulo SP - Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection: Portrait and Self-Portrait of Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - Leda Catunda, Sérgio Romagnolo, Ciro Cozzolino and Leonilson, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1985 - Brasília DF - Brazilianness and Independence, at Teatro Nacional
1985 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Nueva Pintura Brasileña, at Centro de Arte y Comunicación
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Old Habit: Brazilian Drawing, at EAV/Parque Lage
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1986 - Fortaleza CE - 1st International Exhibition of Ephemeral Sculptures, at Fundação Demócrito Rocha
1986 - Fortaleza CE - Imagine: The Planet Greets the Comet, at Arte Galeria
1986 - Munich (Germany) - Leonilson and Albert Hien, at Galerie Walter Storms
1986 - Porto Alegre RS - Paths of Brazilian Drawing, at MARGS
1986 - Porto Alegre RS - Rubem Knijnik Collection: Brazilian Art of the 60s/70s/80s, at MARGS
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Transavantgarde and National Cultures, at MAM/RJ
1986 - São Paulo SP - The New Dimension of the Object, at MAC/USP
1987 - Ivry-sur-Seine (France) - Ouverture Brésilienne, at Centre d'Art Contemporain. Galerie Fernand Léger
1987 - Paris (France) - Modernity: 20th Century Brazilian Art, at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - To the Collector: Homage to Gilberto Chateaubriand, at MAM/RJ
1988 - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Leonilson and Albert Hien, at Pulitzer Art Gallery
1988 - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Seven Artists on Invitation, at Pulitzer Art Gallery
1988 - Hanover (Germany) - Brasil Já, at Sprengel Museum
1988 - Leverkusen (Germany) - Brasil Já, at Museum Morsbroich
1988 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Art Today 88, at Casa da Cultura
1988 - São Paulo SP - 34 Contemporary Brazilian Artists, at Subdistrito Comercial de Arte
1988 - São Paulo SP - Eduardo Brandão Private Collection, at Galeria Casa Triângulo
1988 - São Paulo SP - Modernity: 20th Century Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1988 - Stuttgart (Germany) - Brasil Já, at Galerie Landesgirokasse
1989 - Hanover (Germany) - Brasil Já, at Sprengel Museum
1989 - São Paulo SP - 20th Panorama of Brazilian Contemporary Art, at MAM/SP
1989 - São Paulo SP - Fábio Cardoso, Leonilson, Daniel Senise and Luiz Zerbini, at MASP
1989 - São Paulo SP - Panorama of Brazilian Contemporary Art (20th : 1989 : São Paulo, SP) - Museu de Arte Moderna (Ibirapuera, São Paulo, SP)
1989 - São Paulo SP - Recent Perspectives (1989 : São Paulo, SP) - Centro Cultural São Paulo (SP)
1989 - São Paulo SP - Recent Perspectives, at CCSP - invited
1990 - Brasília DF - Brasília Prize for Visual Arts, at MAB/DF
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Shy One, at EAV/Parque Lage
1990 - São Paulo SP - 4 Artists, at CCSP
1990 - São Paulo SP - Annual Program of Visual Arts Exhibitions, at CCSP
1991 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Brazil: The New Generation, at Museo de Bellas Artes
1991 - Stockholm (Sweden) - Viva Brazil Viva, at Kulturhuset, Konstavdelningen and Liljevalchs Konsthall
1991 - Piracicaba SP - Contemporary Artists at Engenho Central
1991 - São Paulo SP - BR/80. Brazilian Painting in the 80s, at Itaú Cultural
1991 - Vitória ES - Porto 91 Installation, at Porto de Vitória
1992 - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Hien, Leonilson, Ebinger, at Pulitzer Art Gallery
1992 - Atami (Japan) - 10th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1992 - Curitiba PR - 10th Curitiba City Print Exhibition, at Museu da Gravura
1992 - Kyoto (Japan) - 10th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Coca-Cola 50 Years with Art (1992 : Rio de Janeiro, RJ) - Museu de Arte Moderna (Rio de Janeiro, RJ)
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Coca-Cola 50 Years with Art, at MAM/RJ
1992 - São Paulo SP - 1992 Season Opening, at Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud
1992 - São Paulo SP - 1992 Season Opening, at Subdistrito Comercial de Arte
1992 - São Paulo SP - Branco Dominate, at Galeria de Arte São Paulo
1992 - São Paulo SP - Coca-Cola 50 Years with Art, at MAM/SP
1992 - São Paulo SP - 10th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, at Fundação Brasil-Japão
1992 - Tokyo (Japan) - 10th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1993 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Cartographies, at Museo Alejandro Otero
1993 - Curitiba PR - AIDS: Awareness and Art, at MAC/PR
1993 - Curitiba PR - AIDS: Awareness and Art, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea
1993 - Ottawa (Canada) - Cartographies, at National Gallery of Canada
1993 - São Paulo SP - Encounters and Trends, at MAC/USP
1993 - Winnipeg (Canada) - Cartographies, at Winnipeg Art Gallery

Posthumous Exhibitions

1993 - Bogotá (Colombia) - Cartographies, at Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango
1993 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Cartographies, at Winnipeg Art Gallery, Museo de Artes Visuales Alejandro Otero
1993 - Niterói RJ - 2nd On the Way to Niterói: João Sattamini Collection, at MAC/Niterói
1993 - Ottawa (Canada) - Cartographies
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Erotic Art, at MAM/RJ
1993 - São Paulo SP - Representation: Decisive Presences, at Paço das Artes
1993 - Washington D.C. (USA) - Brazil: Images from the 1980s and 1990s, at Art Museum of the Americas
1993 - Winnipeg (Canada) - Cartographies, at Winnipeg Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada
1994 - New York (USA) - Cartographies, at The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazil: Images from the 1980s and 1990s, at MAM/RJ
1994 - São Paulo SP - Behind the Scenes of Creation, at Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade
1994 - São Paulo SP - Brazil Century XX Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1994 - São Paulo SP - Brazil: Images from the 1980s and 1990s, at Casa das Rosas
1994 - São Paulo SP - Other Territories: Crossing Sexuality, at MIS/SP
1994 - São Paulo SP - Landscapes, at Galeria de Arte São Paulo
1994 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson Project, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1995 - Madrid (Spain) - Cartographies, at Fundación La Caixa
1995 - New York (USA) - Selections Brazil, at The Drawing Center
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Perversed Childhood: Fables on Memory and Time, at MAM/RJ
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Zé, at Paço Imperial
1995 - Salvador BA - Perversed Childhood: Fables on Memory and Time, at MAM/BA
1995 - São Paulo SP - The 1980s: Stage of Diversity, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1995 - São Paulo SP - Artists as Collectors, at Valu Oria Galeria de Arte
1995 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson: So Many Truths, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1996 - Dormagen (Germany) - Brazilian Contemporary Art, at Bayer AG - Feierabendhaus
1996 - Leverkusen (Germany) - Brazilian Contemporary Art, at Bayer AG - Foyer Hochhaus W1
1996 - New York (USA) - Projects 53: Oliver Herring and José Leonilson, at MoMA
1996 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Leonilson: So Many Truths, at CCBB
1996 - São Paulo SP - 15 Brazilian Artists, at MAM/SP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Brazilian Art: Recent Donations/96, at MAM/SP
1997 - Americana SP - Leonilson: The Solitary Dissenter, at MAC/Americana
1997 - Belo Horizonte MG - Leonilson: So Many Truths, at Museu de Arte da Pampulha
1997 - Mexico City (Mexico) - Así está la Cosa: Installation and Object Art in Latin America, at Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporánea
1997 - Curitiba PR - Contemporary Printmaking, at Museu Metropolitano de Arte de Curitiba
1997 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 15 Brazilian Artists, at MAM/RJ
1997 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Air: Exhibition of Visual Arts, Toys, Objects, and Models, at Paço Imperial
1997 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Leonilson, at Centro Cultural Light
1997 - Santo André SP - 25th Contemporary Art Salon of Santo André, at Paço Municipal
1997 - São Paulo SP - 1st Contemporary Heritage, at MAC/USP
1997 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson, at MAC/USP
1997 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson: So Many Truths, at Masp
1998 - Belo Horizonte MG - The Support of the Word, at Itaú Cultural
1998 - Campinas SP - Measures of Self, at Itaú Cultural Campinas
1998 - Goiânia GO - The 1980s, at Galeria de Arte Marina Potrich
1998 - Niterói RJ - Mirror of the Biennial, at MAC-Niterói
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Art in the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art Collection: Recent Donations 1996-1998, at CCBB
1998 - São Paulo SP - 24th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1998 - São Paulo SP - Elective Affinities I: The Collector's Eye, at Casa das Rosas
1998 - São Paulo SP - Cohntemporânea, at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1998 - São Paulo SP - Borders, at Itaú Cultural
1998 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson, at Galeria Thomas Cohn
1998 - São Paulo SP - Measures of Self, at MAM/SP
1998 - São Paulo SP - Multiples, at Valu Oria Galeria de Arte
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Modern and the Contemporary in Brazilian Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM/RJ, at Masp
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Support of the Word, at MAM/SP
1999 - São Paulo SP - Everyday Life/Art. Consumption - Drink Mona Lisa, at Itaú Cultural
2000 - Curitiba PR - 12th Curitiba Printmaking Exhibition. Marks of the Body, Folds of the Soul
2000 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 20th Century: Art from Brazil, at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão
2000 - São Paulo SP - The Human Figure in the Itaú Collection, at Itaú Cultural
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazil + 500 Exhibition of the Rediscovery. Contemporary Art, at Fundação Bienal
2000 - São Paulo SP - The Role of Art, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
2001 - New York (USA) - The Thread Unraveled: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at El Museo del Barrio
2001 - Porto Alegre RS - Liba and Rubem Knijnik Collection: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at Margs
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Watercolor, at Centro Cultural Light
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection, at Paço Imperial
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Spirit of Our Time, at MAM/RJ
2001 - São Paulo SP - Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection, at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - The Spirit of Our Time, at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - Light Trajectory in Brazilian Art, at Itaú Cultural
2002 - Brasília DF - Fragments to Your Magnet, at Espaço Cultural Contemporâneo Venâncio
2002 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - The Thread Unraveled: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires
2002 - Fortaleza CE - Ceará Rediscovering Brazil, at Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura
2002 - Niterói RJ - Dialogue, Antagonism, and Replication in the Sattamini Collection, at MAC-Niterói
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Paths of the Contemporary 1952-2002, at Paço Imperial
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Painting of the 1980s, at Sala MAM-Cittá América
2002 - São Paulo SP - 28 (+) Painting, at Espaço Virgílio
2002 - São Paulo SP - Map of the Now: Recent Brazilian Art in the João Sattamini Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Niterói, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2002 - São Paulo SP - Nefelibatas, at MAM/SP
2002 - São Paulo SP - The Plan as Structure of Form, at Espaço MAM - Villa-Lobos
2002 - São Paulo SP - Paralela, at Galpão located at Avenida Matarazzo, 530, São Paulo. Exhibition conceived and organized jointly by galleries Fortes Vilaça, Luisa Strina, Casa Triângulo, and Brito Cimino
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Art in Motion, at Espaço BNDES
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Black and White Project, at Silvia Cintra Galeria de Arte
2003 - São Paulo SP - 2080, at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - 28th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Art Behind Art: Where Artworks Are and How They Travel, at Espaço MAM - Villa-Lobos
2003 - São Paulo SP - Fashion and Leonilson, at Galeria do Hotel Lycra
2003 - São Paulo SP - ArtKnowledge: 70 Years of USP, at MAC/USP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson at the 18th São Paulo Biennial - 1985, at Pinacoteca do Estado
2003 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson: Stand Firm, Be Strong, at Galeria Luisa Strina
2003 - São Paulo SP - MAC USP 40 Years: Contemporary Interfaces, at MAC/USP
2003 - São Paulo SP - My Friends, at Espaço MAM/Villa-Lobos
2003 - São Paulo SP - Ordering and Vertigo, at CCBB
2003 - São Paulo SP - Tomie Ohtake in the Spiritual Fabric of Brazilian Art, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2004 - São Paulo SP - Encounters with Modernism, at Estação Pinacoteca
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Tomie Ohtake in the Spiritual Fabric of Brazilian Art: Commemorative Exhibition for the Artist’s 90th Birthday, at Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
2004 - Madrid (Spain) - ARCO, Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I
2004 - Curitiba PR - Tomie Ohtake in the Spiritual Fabric of Brazilian Art: Commemorative Exhibition for the Artist’s 90th Birthday, at Museu Oscar Niemeyer
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Where Are You, Generation 80?, at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 28th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at Paço Imperial
2005 - Fortaleza CE - Brazilian Art: In the Public and Private Collections of Ceará, at Espaço Cultural Unifor
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Memory Game, at Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro
2005 - São Paulo SP - Pain, Form, Beauty: The Creative Representation of Traumatic Experience, at Estação Pinacoteca
2005 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson: Drawings, at Galeria Luisa Strina
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - N_multiples, at Arte 21 Galeria
2006 - Fortaleza CE - Design: Unfoldings, at Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura
2006 - São Paulo SP - MAM at the Oca, at Oca
2006 - Florianópolis SC - Desert, at Museu Victor Meirelles
2007 - São Paulo SP - Itaú Contemporary: Art in Brazil 1981-2006, at Itaú Cultural
2007 - São Paulo SP - 80/90: Moderns, Postmoderns, etc., at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2007 - São Paulo SP - Logbook: A Journey with Leonilson, at Caixa Cultural
2008 - Porto Alegre RS - Margs Collection - Expressiveness in Brazilian Art, at Museu de Artes Visuais Ruth Schneider
2008 - São Paulo SP - When Lives Become Form: Dialogue with the Future Brazil-Japan, at Museu de Arte Moderna
2008 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson, at Centro Universitário Maria Antonia
2008 - Brasília DF - We Are All One, at Escola Superior do Ministério Público da União
2008 - São Paulo SP - MAM 60, at Oca
2008 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Brazil, at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
2009 - São Paulo SP - Attention: Strategies to Perceive Art, at Museu de Arte Moderna
2009 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Brazil, at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
2009 - São Paulo SP - Memorial Revisited: 20 Years, at Galeria Marta Traba
2009 - São Paulo SP - A World Without Frames, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
2009 - São Paulo SP - The Young Leonilson: Drawings 1974-1982, at Galeria Luisa Strina
2009 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Collective 09, at Mercedes Viegas Escritório de Arte
2010 - São Paulo SP - Excerpts from a Collection, at Galeria Ricardo Camargo
2010 - São Paulo SP - Black on White: From Concrete to Contemporary, at Galeria Berenice Arvani
2010 - São Paulo SP - 6th SP-Arte, at Fundação Bienal
2010 - São Paulo SP - 29th São Paulo International Biennial, at Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo Sobrinho
2011 - Belo Horizonte MG - 29th São Paulo Biennial: Selected Works, at Fundação Clóvis Salgado
2011 - São Paulo SP - Under the Weight of My Loves, at Itaú Cultural
2011 - São Paulo SP - Leonilson, at Capela do Morumbi