LONDON.- The Campana Brothers return to London for their first solo show at Carpenters Workshop Gallery to present Hybridism, a collection of 13 recent furniture objects and sculptures from 22 March to 17 May 2019.

Featuring materially complex works, Hybridism explores the Campana Brothers’ sculptural experimentation and their foray into the artistic realm of personal expression and societal commentary. Based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Campana Brothers, Humberto and Fernando, view themselves as hybrids. Their studio, Estudio Campana, works in partnership with local communities, NGOs and factories to create pieces that celebrate the bright colours and rich textures of their native country. Adopting an environmental ethos, the brothers utilise existing everyday materials, reinventing them in order to achieve simple solutions that do not compromise on their principles of aesthetic or design.

The intuitively crafted collection combines animal forms, anthropomorphic shapes, and natural textures. Inspired by mythological stories, the Noah series features animals and channels the story of Noah’s Ark and the idea that this is a starting point - the origin of species - also serving as an awakening of the preservation of an animal’s life, expressed through the form of surrealism. The frame of the Noah Bench is cast in aluminum and bronze and its seat is made from thick strips of woven fabric, using a technique they developed with special textiles, which is a result of the research surge into multidisciplinary materials and means of production by the brothers. The Sereia Pirarucu lounge chair, as an allusion of mermaid’s mythology, is also made of multidisciplinary materials and bronze-casting from the discarded skin of a giant Amazonian fish, called the Pirarucu.

Humberto Campana comments: "This exhibition at Carpenters signals the growth of our work. Hybridism is part of our process of conception which involves a mix of materials with different forms, texture, sources and also techniques for creating the object. In the past, we have discretely used this technique, which was always the centre of our thought process. It is a reflection of the dystopic world in which we live and this dystopia moves us. We love to put this on a stage in order to bring new oxygen to our vision. The exhibition will showcase a mix of our contemporary alchemy. The Noah Bench is a good example, it demonstrates the material mix as well as the hybrid understanding of history, leaving the observer with a surrealist aftertaste."

This exhibition is an evolutionary culmination of Estudio Campana. Over the past few decades, the famed studio has committed heavily to research of materials, means of production, specialised techniques and traditional craftsmanship always working closely with artisans to preserve traditions.

Works by the Campana Brothers are part of the permanent collections at the MoMA in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Musée Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, among others.