Fernando Casasempere. Geology

For his first exhibition at Ivorypress, Geology, Fernando Casasempere brings together a series of sculptural and pictorial works based on three sources of inspiration: pre-Hispanic heritage, the Chilean landscape and the impact that living in London for twenty-two years has had on the artist’s work.

Familiar with earthy and mineral mediums—including clay, porcelain and ceramics—the artist describes his creative process as ‘an acceleration of natural geological transformations, such as mineral sedimentation.’ Chile, Casasempere’s birthplace, is a geologically unstable landscape where earthquakes are fairly common. This tectonic instability has always been a part of the artist’s imaginary.

This publication comprises the selection of works included in the exhibition at Ivorypress, where the artist materialises his interest in these telluric phenomena by bringing together distinct materials, much like those present in the earth’s layers, creating textures and plasticities that imagine the aesthetic of our planet’s core.

Fernando Casasempere (Santiago de Chile, 1958) studied ceramics and sculpture in Barcelona in the 1980s, returning to Chile in 1986. From that moment onward, his art began to be exhibited internationally and in 1997 he opened his studio in London. His most recent solo exhibitions include Out of Sync at Somerset House, London, UK (2012); Falla Ideológica, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC), Santiago, Chile (2012); and Bricks and Mortar, New Art Centre, Salisbury, UK (2011). Casasempere’s work can be found in collections all across the world including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA; the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, USA; and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile.