Saint Clair Cemin
(born in Cruz Alta, Brazil, 1951) is a postmodern sculptor. He lives and works between Woodbury, CT, and Hydra, Greece.
From the naturalistic to the abstract surreal, Saint Clair Cemin’s broad sculptural vocabulary presents a bold panoply of work that is both striking and immediate. Cannibalizing the history of sculpture itself, as well as its many styles and techniques, Cemin’s inventive forms span the vast expanse of the visual universe. Cemin has been very influential on the younger generation of the ’90s and 2000s, mostly in Brazil, his native country, where he became well-known after his participation in the 1992 IXth Documenta in Kassel, curated by Jan Hoet. He defends a holistic approach to art where all of art’s parameters are to be explored and exploited. This is shown in his use of different artistic languages, which are sometimes presented in anarchic combination, in order to produce what he calls “interference patterns” in the mind of the viewer.
Cemin began drawing at an early age, contributing to illustrations for magazines such as Planeta in the mid 1960s. In 1975, he enrolled at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, where he specialised in etching. Shortly after graduating, he moved to New York City where he worked primarily in printmaking. He began experimenting with sculpture after seeing the 1979 retrospective of Joseph Beuys at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He exhibited his sculpture for the first time at the Red Bar in 1982, and soon after became a key figure in New York’s East Village art scene.
Exhibited widely throughout the United States and abroad, Cemin’s work is also included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France; Emily Fisher Landau Collection, Long Island City, NY; Rooseum, Stockholm, Sweden; Eli Broad Family Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; and Inhotim, Minas Gerais, Brazil, among many others.
Public Collections
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
FNAC (Fonds National d’Art Contemporain), Paris, France
Inhotim, Minas Gerais, Brazil
S.M.A.K., Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris
Eli Broad Family Foundation, Los Angeles, California
Emily Fisher Landau Collection, Long Island City
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Mexico
Hakone Open‑Air Museum, Japan
Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at NOMA, New Orleans
MEIAC – Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo, Badajoz, Spain
Rooseum, Stockholm, Sweden
MARGS – Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey
The Bellevue Hospital, New York
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, Illinois
Reston Town Center, Reston, Virginia
Telenor AS, Bergen, Norway
Bastads Kommun, Sweden
Past Exhibitions
2025
Tosca, David Gill Gallery, London, 12 September – 4 October 2025
Saint Clair Cemin, Tobias Mueller Modern Art Gallery, Zurich, 12 June – 20 September 2025
2024
Ser Híbrido, Galeria Millan, São Paulo, 9 March – 13 April 2024
2020-2021
All About Woman, Galerie Baronian Xippas, Brussels, 19 December 2020- 30 January 2021
2018
Oedipus, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City, 8 March – 30 April 2018
2017-2018
Pontresina Inaugural Group Show, Plutschow Gallery, Zurich, 18 December 2017 – 4 February 2018
Even Banks Have Souls, Plutschow Gallery, Zurich, 1 December 2017 – 24 February 2018
2016
Summer Sculpture Exhibition, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City, 7 July – 19 August 2016
Psyche, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City, 26 May – 19 August 2016
2015
Symbolista, Galeria Bolsa de Arte, Sao Paulo, 6 April – 16 May 2015
2014
Myth and Math, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City, 30 October – 23 December 2014.
2013
Espejo Barroco, Centro Atlantico de Arte Contemporaneo, Canary Islands, 26 October 2012 – 10 February 2013
Saint Clair Cemin on Broadway, Outstanding installation New York City, 6 September 2012 – 30 January 2013
2012
SIX, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City, 6 September – 13 October 2012
Triunfo da Razão Natural, Luciana Brito Galeria, São Paulo, 22 March – 30 April 2012
2010
Pensamentos, Bolsa de Arte, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 14 October – 16 November 2010
Splendeur et Misère, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France, 5 June – 25 July 2010
2009
Da Pureza ao Enigma, Retrospective at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, 22 May– 5 July 2009
2008
Witness, Sikkema Jenkins, Co. New York City, May 8th, 2008
2007
The Beijing Series, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France, September 8th – October 22nd, 2007
Solo show, Galerie Alain Noirhomme, Brussels, Belgium, April 2007
2006
Solo show, Galeria Brito Cimino, São Paulo, Brazil, May 16th 2006
2005
Saluti da Vietri, Galleria Paolo Curti/Annamaria Gambuzzi & Co. Milan, Italy, March 7 – June 7 2005
2004
Dessins et sculptures, Oeuvres de Saint Clair Cemin, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France, October 19th – December 3rd, 2004
Gods of the People, Brent Sikkema, New York City, October 9th – November 13th 2004
2003
Bienal Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, October 4th – December 7th 2003
Solo show, Bolsa de Arte, Porto Alegre, Brazil, October 10th – October 30th 2003
2002
Solo show, Galleria Sperone, Rome, Italy, January 2002
The Mind, Cheim & Read, New York City, February 12th – March 16th 2002
2001
Saint Clair Cemin, Museo De Arte Moderno, Mexico, March 20th – May 26th 2001
2000
Solo show, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, March 2000
Saint Clair Cemin, Casa Iteso-Clavigero, Mexico, November 14th-February 16th, 2000
Saint Clair Cemin Sculpture, Lever House Lobby Gallery, New York City, February 23rd – April 30th, 2000
Solo show, Galeria Camargo Vilaça, Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 6th – 30th, 2000
1999
Solo show, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, February 9th – April 3rd, 1999
Solo show, Galeria Enrique Guererro, Mexico City, Mexico, February 18th – April 24th, 1999
1998
Solo show, Cheim & Read, New York City, June 8th – July 12th, 1998
Saint Clair Cemin: Bronzes, Velge & Noirhomme, Brussels, Belgium, September 23rd – November 15th, 1998
Man Woman Tree Boat House Car Golem, Gallerie Lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden, April 18th – May 24th, 1998
Saint Clair Cemin: Chimera, Baumgartner Galleries, Washington, D.C., October 15th – December 5th, 1998
Perspectives, Saint Clair Cemin, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, December 5th – June 6th,
1998
1997
Solo show, Galeria Camargo Vilaça , São Paulo, Brazil, March 1997
Saint Clair Cemin, Sculptures, Centro Cultural Light, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 10th – May 11th, 1997
1996
Saint Clair Cemin: Four New Sculptures, Robert Miller Gallery, New York City, May 20th – Jun 21st, 1996
1995
Solo show, Galeria Camargo Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil, 1995
Saint Clair Cemin: Sculptures, Gian Ferrari Contemporanea, Milan, Italy, March 9th – April 13th, 1995
1994
Solo show, Robert Miller Gallery, New York City, November 28th – January 6th, 1994.
Escultura de Saint Clair Cemin, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Mexico,, January – May 1994
Sculpture of Saint Clair Cemin, Center for the Fine Arts, Miami,, October 8th – December 31st, 1994
Solo show, Galeria Camargo Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil 1994
Solo show, Gallerie Lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden, March 10th – April 12th, 1994
Solo show, Robert Miller Gallery, New York City, April 19th – May 21st, 1994
Solo show, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France, November 26th – December 31st, 1994
1993
Saint Clair Cemin: About Materials, The Greenberg Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri, February 4th – March 31st. 1993
Saint Clair Cemin, Anders Tornberg Gallery, Lund, Sweden, April 3 – 28th 1993
Solo show, Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 9th – November 7th, 1993
1992
New Sculpture, Robert Miller Gallery, New York City, March 3rd – April 4th, 1992
Solo show, Galleria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, September 16th – October 17th, 1992
The Human Condition, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City, October 29th – December 5th, 1992
Directions, Saint Clair Cemin, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., October 17th 1991 – January 19th, 1992.
Solo show, Baumgartner Galleries, Washington, D.C., 16 November – 13 December,1992
Saint Clair Cemin: Recent Sculpture, Daniel Weinberg Gallery – Santa Monica, CA, November 7th – November 30th, 1992
1991
Saint Clair Cemin, Witte de With, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, June 15th – July 21st, 1991
Solo show, Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris, France,, December 1st – January 19th, 1991
1990
Solo show, Anders Tornberg Gallery, Lund, Sweden. 1990
Solo show, Massimo Audiello Gallery and Sperone-Westwater Gallery, New York,, September 15th – October 13th, 1990
1989
Solo show, Gian Enzo Sperone Gallery, Rome, Italy, February 1989
Solo show, Massimo Audiello Gallery, New York City, April 22nd- May 20th, 1989
1988
Solo show, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, January 30th – February 27th, 1988
Solo show, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois,, October 14th – November 11th, 1988
1987
Solo show, Massimo Audiello Gallery, New York City, October 22nd – November 21st, 1987
1986
Solo show, Daniel Newburg Gallery, New York City, October 9th – November 1st 1986
1985
Solo show, Daniel Newburg Gallery, New York City, October 9th – November 12th, 1985
1984
Solo show, Beulah Land, New York City, 1984
1982
Solo show, Galleria Projecta, São Paulo, Brazil ,1982
Installation at The Red Bar, New York City, 1982
1981
Solo show, Galeria Guinard, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1981
Solo show, Galeria Projecta, São Paulo, Brazil, 1981
1980
Solo show, The White Room, Hasselt, Belgium, 21 September – 20 October 1980
1979
Solo show, Galeria Projecta, São Paulo, Brazil – 1979
Solo show, Galeria Guinard, Porto Alegre, Brazil – 1979