Fernando do Campo & Alex Sheriff
Bluewolf Scholarship Exhibition
Parsons School of Design
Spring 2016, New York City
New Taxon points towards the possibility of a new order of classifying information. Developed by Fernando do Campo and Alex Sheriff through being awarded the Bluewolf Scholarship Commission Exhibition, this exhibition finds dialogue between their practices and the spaces of the Bluewolf Manhattan offices.
Questions about the way that one perceives information and classifies this into strata of knowledge could be present in most forms of visual representation and art making; but for both do Campo and Sheriff it is a way of re-ordering the relationships we have with non-human entities that drives their thinking. Both their practices move across various painting languages simultaneously in tandem with such concerns. Fernando and Alex believe that we live in a time where existing hierarchies and a human-centric telling of histories requires interrupting. Through painting, video, drawing, installation and writing, both these artists employ new narratives, the fictional perspectives of species other than humans and the history of representing the natural sciences to make anew. We are in an epoch where new conversations are only possibilities once we re-think our human bias. Both these artists undergo this process materially. A commitment to painting is integral to this research. It is through art making that they find the potential to represent a new order of relationships and stories. Pointing towards a New Taxon through which to define not just ourselves but everything else.
Fernando do Campo (b. Mar del Plata, 1987) is an Argentinian and Australian artist, writer and curator. He is currently an MFA candidate at Parsons The New School for Design, New York. He has exhibited in curated group exhibitions internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include; Localized Contagion, Praxis International Art, New York (2015), Figure behind a lake, Australian Consulate, New York City (2015), Come away closer, Northern Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin (2014) and Two clouds passing behind stars, Mclemoi Gallery, Sydney (2013). Fernando has received awards from the Regional Arts Fund, Arts Tasmania, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust and the Australia Council for the Arts as well as undertaking residencies at the Cite International des Arts, Paris (2012) and Schloss Laudon, Austrian Ministry of Culture, Vienna (2013). Fernando is a 2014 General Sir John Monash Cultural Scholar. He is represented by Praxis International Art, New York.
Alex Sheriff (b. Toronto, 1988) is a Canadian artist and filmmaker. He graduated with a BFA from OCAD University before moving to New York where he is currently pursuing an MFA at Parsons The New School for Design. Alex works in painting, drawing and film and is interested in mythology, biology, dinosaurs, among other things. Recent solo exhibitions include: These Peoples, Project Gallery, Toronto (2015), Duvet Cocooned Goon, The Embassy, Toronto (2013). His work has been shown at Tumblr’s IRL event series, New York City (2015), The Toronto Short Film Festival (2015) and the Williamsburg International Film Festival (2015). In October 2016 he will be presenting a solo commission for Toronto’s Nuit Blanche Festival.
