Diego de los Campos

Diego de los Campos is a multidisciplinary artist, born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1971. His art practice includes video work, animation, coding, sound art and kinetic installations. The artist has been selected for the PIPA Prize for Brazilian arts and the Rumos Itaú Cultural 2020-2021 Award.

De los Campos graduated from Montevideo’s National School of Fine Arts in 1997 and is currently located in Florianopolis, Brasil, working as an established artist and teacher. His body of work is process centered, usually structured into series, dealing with themes such as the relationship between craft and technology and social issues. Some of his main series include “Desenhos de um Real” (One Real Drawings) (2006–present), “Antirretratos” (Antiportraits) (2014) and Dialética Binária (Binary Dialectic). (2018).

When asked about his practice, the artist states: I understand art as a form of thought that defines how I relate to and position myself in the world. I am interested in reflecting on the proliferation of images and their meanings. I try to recycle images that serve consumer society in order to, in some way, enable an instance that can exercise the right of reply. To this end, I work with video, photography, programming, and drawing, creating pieces that follow certain strategies so that the image does not go unnoticed. Estrangement, curiosity about how it was made, cynical humor, and abundance are some of the forms I use for this purpose, with the intention of encouraging the viewer's critical spirit.”

In 1999 he moved to Florianópolis, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, where he has lived and worked since.

Main works De los Campos works with drawing, animation, video, sound and kinetic sculpture, often combining handmade processes with digital technology and motorised systems. The work of art was also featured in Dark Matter, a dance performance by the group Cena 11.

Desenhos de um Real (One Dollar Drawings) (2006-present) Desenhos de um Real is a series of hundreds of 21x15cm large drawings, featured in exhibits where the viewer is free to select and buy any of the pieces for one Real (0.19 US Dollars). The series is a reflection on industrialization and the labor involved in production. The price is calculated by estimating 20 Reais as the payment for an hour of labor, so each drawing takes around 3 minutes to be produced, playing upon the thought process involved in merchandize production in factories.

Antirretratos (Antiportraits) (2014) Antirretratos is a series of black ink drawings of the human bust, dealing with themes of emotions and how they are portrayed through human physiognomy. The series was presented as an exhibit in spaces such as the Galeria Municipal de Arte Pedro Paulo Vecchietti in Florianopolis, Brasil, the Blumenau Art Museum in Blumenal, Brasil and the Espaço W, Ribeirão Preto in Sao Paulo, Brasil.

Recortes do Inferno (Excerpts from Hell) (2021-present) Recortes do Inferno is a series of sculptural pieces, video and sound art works and performances made by the artist. The series sources excerpts from speeches given by Brazilian far right politicians, presented in full or distorted to different extents, as a criticism of the growing far right extremism in Brazilian politics after the election of Bolsonaro.

Dialética Binária (Binary Dialectics) (2018) Dialética Binária is an exhibit composed of a series of humanoid sculptures made of repurposed cardboard and small Arduino programmed motors. Each sculpture performs specific looping movements, powered by its motor. The work plays upon the condition of the contemporary human, incorporating themes of surveillance, biopolitics, craft and technology. 2011 – Simpatia, Victor Meirelles Museum, Florianópolis 2015 – Antirretratos, O Sítio – Arte e Tecnologia, Florianópolis 2017–2018 – Dialética Binária, Victor Meirelles Museum, Florianópolis

Collections Works by de los Campos are held by the Victor Meirelles Museum and the Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Rio Grande do Sul.