Part of a programme that aimed to support young artists and promote links with Brazil, the exhibition Brenda Novak opened on 22 August 1989 in CAM’s Temporary Exhibitions Gallery, and was the first solo exhibition dedicated to the Brazilian artist (São Paulo, 1961), who currently lives in Barcelona.

The exhibition brought together a group of large-scale abstract paintings, some of which had a sculptural dimension, created using different materials and techniques – decal, handmade paint, mineral charcoal, oil pastel, and cuts and seams on the canvases. Most of the works dated from 1988 and 1989, making them very recent productions by a young artist with strong links to the performing arts, particularly dance.

Curated by the director of the CAM at the time, José Sommer Ribeiro, the exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue in Portuguese, which included an introduction by the curator and an essay by Mark Berkowitz, as well as reproductions of all the works displayed and a biography/CV of the artist.