Carlos Bunga
Citizen of the World

The exhibition contains a large series of unseen drawings referring to Bunga’s childhood experience of moving between temporary dwellings that were often vulnerable to collapse and sometimes disappeared from history. These works are complimented by a film made a decade earlier showing the artist vigorously erasing drawings of real and imagined buildings to make way for other constructions.

Early drawings of domestic objects are presented within an immersive in situ gallery installation composed of familiar household objects transformed by the architectural cardboard structures rising from them. A large textile house and cocoon sculptures connect the artist’s longstanding interest in the built environment with animal houses in nature. 

Alongside this major exhibition, Bunga will create a new large format painting for the Gallery’s street-facing window box space, involving twigs and leaves foraged from the artist’s home surroundings entwined in house paint. 

Generously supported with a Henry Moore Foundation grant and Art Fund support.   

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An artist colouring book, composed several drawings of birds by Carlos Bunga and a text by Curator, Zoë Lippett, is available as a free publication for visitors to the exhibition.

Biography

Carlos Bunga studied Fine Art at the Escola Superior de Arte e Design in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal 1998-2000. He currently lives and works in Barcelona. Recent solo exhibitions include Performing Nature, Fundación Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, Spain (2024); Reassembling Split Light: An Immersive Installation, Sarasota Art Museum, Ringling College Museum Campus, United States (2023); Against the extravagance of desire, Palacio de Cristal, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (2022); I always tried to imagine my home, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany (2022).  In 2015, he was awarded the #FundacíonARCO Award, ARCO, Madrid, Spain and was a finalist for Artes Mundi 6 Award in Cardiff, UK. The artist is represented in collections worldwide.

Carlos Bunga is represented by Galería Elba Benítez, Madrid, Spain; Galeria Vera Cortês, Lisbon, Portugal; and Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Río de Janeiro and New York.

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Exhibition Preview

Friday 5 July 2024, 6-8pm.

Free. All welcome.

Exhibition tour with Carlos Bunga

Saturday 6 July 2024, 11am-12pm. Free.

Join artist Carlos Bunga and curator, Zoë Lippett for an exclusive tour of Bunga’s new major exhibition on Floor 3. The tour will include moving round the Floor 3 galleries. Stools are available for visitors if required. Booking essential as numbers are limited.

BSL Tour with artist Olivier Jamin

Saturday 14 September, 2pm. Free all, welcome. This tour is accessible for D/deaf and hearing people.

Join Deaf artist, Olivier Jamin for a BSL led tour of our current Floor 3 exhibition. Advance booking essential. To book, email alex.jolly@walsall.gov.uk

Curator tour

Saturday 19 October, 2pm. Free.

Join curator, Zoë Lippett for a tour of Carlos Bunga’s exhibition. The tour will include moving round the Floor 3 galleries. Stools are available for visitors if required. Booking essential as numbers are limited.