A CRIME, A CONFESSION AND A TRADE
Ilê Sartuzi
19.09.25 - 25.10.25NıCOLETTı is delighted to present A CRIME, A CONFESSION AND A TRADE, the first solo exhibition by London-based, Brazilian artist Ilê Sartuzi at the gallery. Opening on Friday 19 September 2025, the exhibition is part of the UK/Brazil Cultural Season 2025/2026, organised by the British Council, the Istituto Guimarães Rosa and the Embassy of Brazil in London.
The exhibition features a new series of works that continue his cycle Sleight of Hands, which began by the substitution of a historical coin from the British Museum collection. Iterations of this project were recently presented in Sartuzi’s solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art – USP, São Paulo, BR; and it was the subject of articles in Frieze, Art Review, The Art Newspaper, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Hyperallergic, among others.
Ilê Sartuzi (b.1995) lives and works between London and São Paulo. He holds a BA from the University of São Paulo (USP) (2019) and an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London (2024). He received the PIPA Award (Brazil, 2021), the prize at the Bienal de Artes Mediales (Chile, 2022), and has been nominated twice for the CIFO-Ars Electronica award (USA-Austria, 2022-2023).
In 2025, Sartuzi presented his first solo institutional exhibition, Trick, at the Museum of Contemporary Art – MAC USP, São Paulo, BR.
Solo exhibitions include Contracts, Luisa Strina, São Paulo, BR (forthcoming – 2025); A CRIME, A CONFESSION AND A TRADE, NıCOLETTı, London, UK (forthcoming – 2025); in the coulisse, Night Café Gallery, London, UK (2024); Vaudeville, Pedro Cera, Lisbon, PT (2023); hollow head doll’s foam, SESC Pompéia São Paulo, BR (2022) and A. And A again. at auroras, São Paulo, BR (2021).
He has participated in group exhibitions in international museums and institutions, including Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Ludwigshafen, DE (2025); Austrian Cultural Forum, London, UK (2024); Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (2021, 2023); Videobrasil (2021); Museu Oscar Niemeyer (2022); Bienal SUR (2021); Instituto Moreira Salles (2020); SESC (Pompéia, 2022; Pinheiros, 2022; Ribeirão Preto, 2019; Distrito Federal, 2018); CCSP – Centro Cultural São Paulo (2018); MAC-USP Museu de Arte Contemporânea (2017); Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto (2020; 2017; 2015); Galeria Vermelho (2017; 2018, 2019); all three in collaboration with the research group After the End of Art, which he has been part of from 2015 to 2021.
Sartuzi’s work is in the permanent collections of Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo; Moraes-Barbosa Collection, BR; Instituto PIPA; Videobrasil; and the British Museum.