Studio Lenca

José Campos is better known by his moniker, Studio Lenca. The name describes his practice as a studio—a space of collective making and experimentation—and refers to the Indigenous people of El Salvador’s eastern highlands, just east of where Campos is originally from. Trained as a dancer before working as a public high school teacher in the U.K., the artist expertly blends these sensibilities in his work. Attuned to movement as a way to ground the body and build a living archive—conjuring what José Esteban Muñoz termed “ephemera as evidence”—and drawing from lineages of radical, non-heirarchical pedagogies, the artist’s practice has come to span drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, gatherings, and more. Perhaps best known for his vibrant historiantes, a syncretic figure that anchors his work in Central American choreographies of decolonial resistance and militant joy, Campos’ practice transcends the object, opening up spaces of conviviality that disrupt the sterility of galleries and institutional walls. Over the past few years, Studio Lenca has exhibited at major institutions including MoMA PS1, El Museo del Barrio, the Parrish Art Museum, and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York, as well as the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid and the Museo Nacional de Antropología Dr. David J. Guzmán in El Salvador. Now he is preparing for a major curated presentation inside the Deutsche Bank Lounge for Frieze London in 2026, and reflecting on the weight of this moment and how his practice continues to evolve.