Arabel Lebrusan (Madrid, 1974) is an artist whose sculptures and site-specific interventions serve as social commentary, often recognised for her use of everyday materials to reveal the beauty and uncanny horrors of our present and past times. Focusing her lens on material culture, she investigates broader issues of power relationships and exploitation.
Lebrusan’s 25-year career in the arts is deeply intertwined with her activist work in the world of jewellery. She initially studied Gemmology and Goldsmithing in Spain, followed by a BA in Sculpture at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, graduating in 1999 after spending her final years at Hogeschool van de Kunsten in Utrecht on an Erasmus exchange program. After her studies, she lived in The Netherlands and worked as an artist and freelance jewellery designer, traveling extensively through the Far East where she combined her design work with art projects and exhibitions. Since then, she has exhibited at galleries and site-specific locations in Rotterdam, Berlin, the Czech Republic, The Philippines, Canary Islands, London, Brighton, Milton Keynes, and more.
In 2005, Lebrusan moved to London to complete an MA at Central Saint Martins, conducting research into ethical jewellery and developing the jewellery arm of her creative practice: Lebrusan Studio. Since then, she has campaigned extensively to make the jewellery world more sustainable (TedxTalk) and has received numerous accolades for her pioneering efforts.
The Covid years ignited her interest in returning to academia to explore the relationship between extractive industries and her own artistic practice. In 2021, she was awarded a Fellowship at the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics at the University of Brighton for her two-year project, Toxic Waves. Following this, she pursued an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 2023. Her latest body of work examines the extraction of natural resources and ecological grief under an umbrella of ecofeminism and social history.
|2020. Extractivism & Ecofeminism
2023. Coal Measures. MA Sculpture at the Royal College of Art
2020-2021. Toxic Fragments. Research Fellowship at the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics at the University of Brighton
|2015. Interventions
2015. Blunt Blades .The Higgins Museum Bedford. With support from Arts Council England.
Intervention in a museum collection.
2015. Freehold .Commissioned by UH Galleries, St. Albans, UK. With support from Arts Council England.
Intervention in a museum collection.
|2012. Social Engagement
2012-2013. “Lace in Place” and “Laced Words“. Bedford Creative Arts. 1St Paul’s square. Bedford. UK. With support from Arts Council England.
|2007. United Kingdom, jewellery and studio practice
2008-2014. “Heaven & Hell. The state of the Jewellery Industry”. London. UK.
From the Manuela series.
2008-2010. “Mantilla” Mi maja. Object as a Muse. Crafts Council touring exhibition.
From the Manuela series. Self portrait.
|2000-2005. Travels. The Philippines. Hong Kong
2004. “El rosario de la abuela” (Grandmother’s rosary). Luna Art Collective Gallery. The Philippines.
2001. “Seatbelt on while seated, life jacket under your seat” Utrechtse Kunstmanifestatie. Janskerkhof. The Netherlands.
|2000. The Netherlands
2000. “Eiren” . Bunker(t)raume. Gesundbrunnen bunker. Berlin. Germany
2000. Frozen Moments I. Albert Heijn supermarket. Utrecht. The Netherlands.
1999-2001. BFA Fine Arts. Hogeschool van de Kunsten. The Netherlands.
|1995. Spain
1995-1998. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Spain. BFA Fine Arts. Painting, Sculpture, Drawing, Photography.
