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Lot Essay
cf. M. Morozzi and M. Estrada, Antibodies - The works of Fernando and Humberto Campana 1989-2009, exhibition catalogue, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, 2009, p. 122 for an example from this series; Campana Brothers: Complete Works (So Far), London, 2010, pp. 114, 269 for an example of this model.
Other examples of this chair have been displayed in the traveling exhibition Antibodies - The Works of Fernando and Humberto Campana 1989-2009 at Trapholt, Kolding, Denmark, March - August 2014, Oaxaca Design Center, Mexico, October 2013 - January 2014, Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico, July - September 2013, Palm Springs Art Museum, Florida, November 2012 - February 2013, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Monterrey, Mexico, March - June 2012, Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma, July - October 2012, Caixa Culture do Banco do Brasil, Sao Paulo, November 2011 - March 2012, Triennale Design Museum, Milan, November 2010 - January 2011, Fundacion Pedro Barrie de la Maza, La Coruna and Vigo, Spain, July - September 2010; NAim/Bureau Europa, Maastricht, March - June 2010, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, May 2009 - February 2010.
Another chair from this edition is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston.
Taking their inspiration from Brazilian street life and the every day elements encountered there, the Campana Brothers weave and collage their modest materials, scraps of wood, tubing, wire, pressed cardboard, among many others, to create vibrant and energetic designs that are distinctly their own. The urban waste products Fernando and Humberto's are drawn to are then, through their fresh and often surprising approach, transformed into opulent - even decadent - objects: the brightly colored string of their 'Vermelha' chair, woven almost in a tangle, the strips of carpet, fabric and foam that make up the rich swirls of their 'Sushi' series, or the compelling and complex pick-up-sticks pattern of the simple metal rods that comprise the present 'Black Iron' chair.
The Campanas' work will, at times, display a penchant for defying gravity, and the metal shafts of the 'Black Iron' chair, juxtaposed at hard angles, appear suspended in air and the piece itself semi-transparent. Rather than floating away however, it seems to be in the process of solidifying: a serene object frozen in time just short of its own completion, or perhaps recalling a rough, unfinished sketch of itself made from a well-sharpened dark pencil. The 'Black Iron' chair also formally relates to their earlier work, the 'Escultura' screen from 1993, created from discarded television antennae fastened together with wire displaying a similar pattern of metal rods intersecting at hard angles.
Other examples of this chair have been displayed in the traveling exhibition Antibodies - The Works of Fernando and Humberto Campana 1989-2009 at Trapholt, Kolding, Denmark, March - August 2014, Oaxaca Design Center, Mexico, October 2013 - January 2014, Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico, July - September 2013, Palm Springs Art Museum, Florida, November 2012 - February 2013, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Monterrey, Mexico, March - June 2012, Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma, July - October 2012, Caixa Culture do Banco do Brasil, Sao Paulo, November 2011 - March 2012, Triennale Design Museum, Milan, November 2010 - January 2011, Fundacion Pedro Barrie de la Maza, La Coruna and Vigo, Spain, July - September 2010; NAim/Bureau Europa, Maastricht, March - June 2010, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, May 2009 - February 2010.
Another chair from this edition is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston.
Taking their inspiration from Brazilian street life and the every day elements encountered there, the Campana Brothers weave and collage their modest materials, scraps of wood, tubing, wire, pressed cardboard, among many others, to create vibrant and energetic designs that are distinctly their own. The urban waste products Fernando and Humberto's are drawn to are then, through their fresh and often surprising approach, transformed into opulent - even decadent - objects: the brightly colored string of their 'Vermelha' chair, woven almost in a tangle, the strips of carpet, fabric and foam that make up the rich swirls of their 'Sushi' series, or the compelling and complex pick-up-sticks pattern of the simple metal rods that comprise the present 'Black Iron' chair.
The Campanas' work will, at times, display a penchant for defying gravity, and the metal shafts of the 'Black Iron' chair, juxtaposed at hard angles, appear suspended in air and the piece itself semi-transparent. Rather than floating away however, it seems to be in the process of solidifying: a serene object frozen in time just short of its own completion, or perhaps recalling a rough, unfinished sketch of itself made from a well-sharpened dark pencil. The 'Black Iron' chair also formally relates to their earlier work, the 'Escultura' screen from 1993, created from discarded television antennae fastened together with wire displaying a similar pattern of metal rods intersecting at hard angles.