Fernando Casasempere works with clay, ceramic, and industrial matter, redefining the possibilities of these materials for contemporary sculpture. Through a fascination with the imprint left by humans on the earth, Fernando draws on archaeology, geology, landscape and classical and modern architecture to subvert sculptural archetypes, while speaking to urgent global ecological and social concerns through the lens of his native Chile.
Fernando has exhibited extensively in the UK, Chile, North America, Japan and Europe and is renowned for monumental installations including the critically acclaimed Out of Sync at Somerset House, London (2012) – which inspired Paul Cummins’s and Tom Piper’s WWI commemorative centenary installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at Tower of London (2014) – and Back to the Earth at New Art Centre, Salisbury (2005). Further commissions include permanent works near London’s Tottenham Court Road Station (Derwent) and at Henrietta House (CBRE).
Fernando was born in Santiago de Chile in 1958 and trained at Scola Forma and Escuela de Arte y Oficios, Barcelona. He moved to London in 1997, where he currently lives and works.