MACACOS & ROBÔS: Fernando Campana, Monica Nador

Gallery Baró is pleased to present Fernando Campana's first solo show. When the young Fernando Campana discovered the radical language of Ron Arad during an exhibition at the botanical garden in Brussels, he was impressed and influenced his creative research. Trying not to continue with clichés, he explored a new dimension, which explains the ability to see.

 

There is also a method in the variety of art expressions he is putting on the table and his ability to collect and connect to the stories he is putting together is systematic. You wouldn't consider the complex approach in his 'Robots' series that has been in his mind since his childhood. He wanted to become an astronaut and this alter ego is his machine that is in constant production. The expression of his creativity starts from here and the dualistic character of the robot is collecting information, sensations and memories. He remembers and forgets, because the memory comes back and becomes a historical story as well as a futuristic sensation. Remembering the future with the dirty market dummies next to the prisons, a poisoned vision of a tragedy related to violence, which could be a mental drama. He has the strength to act at this stage, he expresses with extreme sweetness his dual capacity to be good, but he is also able to understand the worst.

The 'Monkeys' series began to be created a little before the real tragedy of the killing, from his naive relationship with monkeys in childhood. At that time, he brought with him the hope of domesticating them or establishing a human relationship, which led to a learning process of tolerating and respecting irrational behaviour. The monkeys accused of transmitting yellow fever were already there on paper in his private studio, exact and precise; and the beautiful portraits of the humanity of these primates were developed with the intention of communicating the no-nonsense concept of diversity. He has always struggled with maintaining a precise line between those who have declared themselves and the hitmen who are trying to act in some way. This tragedy was used as a metaphor to see in the monkeys a social critique that put its finger on the petty bourgeois urge to punish diversity.

Everything is framed by his drawings that are so perfect to explain, like a diary, his work process routine that is leaving a strong memory behind with the will not to forget. Fernando Campana's authorial pieces will be exhibited in his first solo exhibition, titled as 'Monkeys & Robots', at Baró Jardins Gallery from August 14 to September 10, 2017.