Fernando Carpaneda - Sculpture

1. I make portraits of rent boys, punks, junkies, thieves and outcasts... Instead of attaching myself to muses, I focus on male nudes to compose my art pieces, having the human being, the masculine, as my main goal in my work.

2. All my portraits are like a relic, a holy place, a moment caught in time.

3. I use objects that have a connection to the portrayed person to composeing my work, such as cigarette butts, condoms, beer cans, underwear, semen.

4. I make portraits of some Punks that have become personalities and of some personalities that have become punks.

5. Most of the portraits that I create are my boyfriends.

6. The homeless people and drug dealers that I depict are my friends and the majority of my sculptures show the American disfavored people that I've met here.

7. I depict the other side of the first world that many people don't see. I depict the American and European poverty instead of the American or European beauty. I don't do social denounce, I do art.

8. I will not depict only themes that are pretty to make the nationalist people happy or vice-versa. I represent what I live and what stimulates my sense.

9. The best way to create a masculine nude sculpture is by knowing the body of the model in details.

10. I don't see myself obliged to reconstruct or construct anything.

11. Semen has an excellent texture to work as a basis for creation in paper and paintings. I utilized semen from three different models and each of them had different texture, color and flavor.

12. There is a symbolism between semen and clay, both are elements of creation. The man was created from clay, and semen is the beginning of life.

Web: www.fernandocarpaneda.com/

Bio: Fernando Carpaneda is an artist born in Brasília, Brazil. He works with clay sculptures. His main theme is always the human being. He watches people in the streets, bars, concerts, and places where people sell their bodies. Fernando makes portraits of rent boys, punks, junkies, thieves and outcasts. Instead of attaching himself to muses, he focuses on male nudes to compose his art pieces, having the human being, the masculine, as the main goal in his work. All his portraits are like a relic, a holy place, a moment caught in time. He uses objects that have a connection to the portrayed person to composing his work, such as cigarette butts, condoms, beer cans, underwear, semen, empty toothpaste boxes. In other words, things that are part of these people's real world, and his own. He uses such objects and remains as a beginning for his portraits. Clay is used as technique. He uses it the same way it was used in the 17th Century (for painting baroque saint images). He even dresses his sculptures with cloth from his own clothes. He creates and sews all the clothing that is used in the pieces. He also includes human hair to some of the pieces, his own hair (this was very often done in the 17th Century), and a current relic that has its value in time, as to maintain a time, ordinary people who lived it. Fernando writes about his pieces using street language as a background, another urban element often used. His connection to the artwork is important to any creative process. He believes that the artist himself is a piece of art. He has been going to places where the portrayed people use to go for the past 25 years. Remembrances are part of his work. Every little thing is part of him: his lovers, his disappointments, his experiences with drugs, his life in the streets, and so forth. Fernando depends on all of this to create art; he does not exist without these people.

In 2008 Fernando Carpaneda had one of his sculptures published in the book Treasures of Gay Art, a publishing of The Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation. The book shares the jubilation, with the triumphant arrival of The Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation. The new book, as the unparalleled collection of conspicuously gay art debuts in print for the first time. Designed and printed in Italy, the publication was guided by renowned curator Peter Weiermair exclusively for The Foundation. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, watercolors, photographs and prints from Jean Cocteau to Andy Warhol.

2008

- Bridge Art Fair Miami 2008- represented by The Barbara Ann Levy Gallery,Miami,E.U.A

- The Erotic Heritage Museum,Las Vegas,Nevada,NV

- The Cherry Grove Walk-MT-2008- curated by The Barbara Ann Levy Gallery, Fire Island,New York, NY-USA.

- Gazelland Art Issue-Leo Kesting Gallery,New York City, NY-USA.

- Toy Show 2008-MF Gallery,New York City, NY-USA.

- “Todos Somos Um”- Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation,FAAP end ESMPU,Brasília,DF,Brazil.

- PORTRAITS-Theater for the New City,New York City, NY-USA.

- Sixth Annual Halloween Art Show-MF Gallery,New York City, NY-USA.

- ‘The Gay Doll Museum’-20-21 Visual Arts Centre-Scunthorpe North Lincolnshire,UK

- Art into Action-Action into Art-Theater for the New City,New York City, NY-USA.

- Zombies Attack Again-MF Gallery,New York City, NY-USA.

- The Part Art Show-Agni Gallery,New York City, NY-USA.

- Paint It!-MF Gallery,New York City, NY-USA.

- Retrocoletiva-Frei Confaloni Art Gallery, Goiania, GO-Brazil

2007

- Fifth Annual Halloween Art Show- MF Gallery- New York City, NY-USA.

- MF Toys Show 2007- MF Gallery – New York City, NY-USA

- Marcos Caiado Art Gallery – Goiânia –Brazil, GO

- ENUDS – National University Meeting of Sexual Diversity - Anthropological Museum - Federal University of Goiás - Goiânia –Brazil, GO

2006

- Treasures of Gay Art - The Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation, New York - Curator Peter Weiermair

2005

- “Back to the Bowery”- CB’s 313 Gallery- CBGB- Noho, New York City, NY-USA.

- The Leslie Lohman the Gay Art Foundation, New York City, NY, USA.

- The Tom of Finland Foundation, “Erotic Art Fair”, New York City, NY.

- Garvey Park Hotel Art Gallery - Railda Costa, Brasília, Brazil, DF.

2004

- Dulcina University, Brasília, DF, Brazil.

- Art Renegades art collective, Las Vegas, Nevada-USA.

2003

- Chromatose Underground, Las Vegas, Nevada-USA

- Millennium Art Gallery, Camden Town, London,UK

- Frei Confaloni Art Gallery, Goiania, GO-Brazil

2002

- CB's Gallery - CBGB - Noho, New York City, NY-USA

- The Bowery Electric Festival - CBGB, Noho, New York City, NY-USA

- Millennium Art Gallery - Camden Town, London, UK

2001

- Mocada Museum - Brooklyn, New York City, NY-USA

- CB's Gallery - CBGB - Noho, New York City, NY-USA

- National Fine Black Art - Puck Building - Savacou Gallery, New York City, NY-USA

- Art to Move you - Short Hills, New Jersey, NJ-USA

- The Global Vision "Fear of Sex" or "Fear of Aids" - The New Century Artist Gallery - Soho, New York City, NY-USA

2000

- Bienal Artshow 2000 - São João da Boa Vista, São Paulo, SP-Brazil

- "A Lucidez Absoluta ou a Completa Insanidade" - Artshow at 508 Sul Cultural Place - Brasília, DF-Brazil

1999

- "Restos Humanos" - À Capitu Art Gallery, Brasília, DF-Brazil

- Brazil and United States Association” ACBEU Art Gallery, Salvador, BA-Brazil

1998

- Santa Fe Art Gallery - Santa Fe Art show Competition , Goiania, GO-Brazil

1997

- “V Prêmio BEG” Competicion at Museum Of Contemporary Art of Goiania, GO-Brazil

- Rubem Valentim Art Gallery, 508 Sul Cultural Place- Brasília, DF-Brazil

1996

- Art show at 508 Sul Cultural Place - Brasília, DF-Brazil

- “BEG Competition” - Museum Of Contemporary Art of Goiania , GO-Brazil

- “Kaleidoscope” Art Collective at Kavehaz The Gallery - New York City, NY-USA

- Eleven Artists from Brasilia - ABA Gallery - New York City, NY-USA

1986

- Oscar Seraphico Art Gallery - Brasília, DF-Brazil

1982

- Anglo American Cultural Center, Brasilia, Brazil

Curator: Pietro Franesi