Friedman Benda will present Fernando and Humberto Campana in an immersive exhibition devoted to the theme of hybridism, their second solo show at the gallery following Concepts in 2013. The works are assemblages of materials and visual themes drawn from the Brothers’ immediate surroundings and will include deeply personal reflections and gestures juxtaposed with classical motifs.
Hybridism, informed by details, moods, and emotions, marks a point of departure for Estudio Campana as its most sculptural body of work to date. Evinced from the Campanas’ daily lives, such as Humberto’s early morning runs throughout São Paulo’s parks as well as the idea of nature weaving through urban fabric and our own imagination. The brothers meld the personal with the formal and assemble ideas, materials, methods of making, shapes and texture.
Humberto Campana explains, “With this exhibition we are playing much more with sculpture than with functionality. We manifest a dialogue between designer, artist, and sculptor. Fernando and I try to jump into the assemblage process unconsciously, allowing us a freedom and immediacy that goes beyond our practice to date.”
This exhibition is an evolutionary culmination of the famed São Paulo studio practice of the past decade. The studio has experienced a multidisciplinary explosion in research of materials, means of production, collaborations with artisans within regions of Brazil and craftsmen across the world. At a time of cultural and political upheaval in Brazil, the studio continues to lead the cutting edge of design and collaboration with local and historical centers of craftsmanship in South America.
