The Art of Fernando Carpaneda
by Flavio A.D.
A.D - Your work seems to be
much inspired by the "loser" figure. What fascinates you about this
attitude?
F.C - I
don‚t consider prostitutes, drags, junkies, punks or homeless people as
losers. On the contrary, they are honest with their attitude and have to
courage to show their real face. They do what they like. They, the same way
as me, do not belong to the mediocre kind of people who only want to see our
negative side. We admit publicly our conditions and points of view, and this
displeases many people.
A.D - Many of your sculptures depict rockstars
like Iggy Pop, Dee Dee Ramone etc. Has your artistic background been
influenced by some particular music scene?
F.C - Punk
A.D - In your biography your often refer to the
XVII century, which makes us curious about your artistic formation. Are you
an autodidact or do you come from some Arts school?
F.C - I am autodidact, I always liked to study
and research about art, its history and tendencies. I also have many friends
from the academic scene in Brazil, the US and UK. I do have a natural talent
for the arts, and did not bother to get into academy to learn art techniques
and history, the same way I have no difficulty in learning to write and
speak new languages.
A.D - Has the fact that you lived the same experience and lifestyle of the
people you depict helped you giving your sculptures more "sense of reality"?
F.C - To better understand a certain reality
nothing better than making part of it.
A.D - When did you find out you were gay, and
how did you face it?
F.C - That was never an option, I was born gay. For me this is genetic, just
like having blue or brown eyes. I could be born a hetero but I was born gay,
it‚s as simple as that. And I Iove it. And I am proud of it. I never had
problem dealing with that.
A.D - Is there a queer scene in Brazil (bands,
places, fanzines, distributors etc)?
F.C - Yes, there is a queer scene in Brazil,
especially in the large urban centres like Sao Paulo, Brazil‚s largest city.
There are gay clubs like "A Loca". There‚s also zines like Grindzine. There
are also publications like "G Magazine" and "Mix Brasil". The musical scene
is a bit weak. There is not a specialized segment. There are, on the other
hand, a lot of pop singers that are assumedly gay, both man and woman, and
they enjoy a lot of of success in Brazil.
A.D - Going through the list of your
exhibitions, we realized that since 2001 all of them have been in the
States: have you moved there?
F.C - I don‚t live in any specific country. I
have a house in Brazil and share and apartments both in NY and London with
friends. As I am always traveling I can‚t have a fixed place to settle. And
I also have to spend a lot of my time in the streets with together with the
people I depict.
A.D -
We know you also work with video. Can you please tell us about it?
F.C - I have a bunch of works in video from the
time when I was part of a performance group in Brasilia. We presented on the
streets, on art gallery windows and other places. We filmed and presented
these videos on a couple of events.
A.D - Your works mainly show borderline people,
life on the fringe of society, with all the troubles and possible negative
aspects that it involves. Have you ever wondered if your art, but also art
in general, can be a conductor of positive messages too?
F.C - When you depict the "negative" sides of
life you are acting positively because you make people question their own
lives and ask themselves if their own actions are not taken sensibly in such
a depressing world as ours is.
A.D - Have you ever had censorship problems with
galleries for your sexually explicit sculptures?
F.C - Most Brazilian gallery owners and curators
are homophobic and are declaredly afraid of gay people. The public
institutions, on the other hand, have been much more tolerant, even
supporting some of my events. On the US and UK I never had problems with
that.
A.D - What kind
of people buy your artworks?
F.C - All kinds of people. Government workers
like policeman and politics are normal in a capital city like Brasilia as
well as go-go boys or friends with whom I exchange my work. There is not a
clear public, it is very diverse.
A.D - Is it true that you often use for your
sculptures personal objects belonging to the people you depict or to you?
Why this choice?
F.C -
Yes. I always used personal objects from the people I pictured. Like when
Joey Ramone died I was presenting in the CB‚s Gallery - CBGB‚s and collected
some of the objects his fans left on the sidewalk in front of the club, like
a kind of altar or mausoleum. I used these objects as base for his
sculptures and gave then to Arturo Vega. Another example was during the
Bowery Electric Festival where I collected beer cans used by Jerry Only and
Dez Cadena. Now I am using these objects as a base for sculpture I am making
of the guys. I think it is important to use objects that made part of the
figured person‚s reality. When I used sperm of my boyfriend Matt I was
preserving a moment of love. It was a nude of him made of clay. Mythically
mankind came from clay as man comes from semen. I also made an image of
Yolanda, a drag queen and vocalist of Yolanda and the plastic family using
objects I collected during their presentation at the Homocorps festival at
the CBGB‚s. I am giving
these specific examples also as an answer to your first question about
"losers" I picture.
More info at:
Andy Warhol Stars:
http://www.warholstars.org/news/march052.html
The Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation:
http://www.leslielohman.org/newsletter/No17/recentacquisitions.htm
JOSH WERTHEIMER WEB SITE:
http://www.joshwertheimer.com/main/Back_to_the_Bowery_.html