Fausto Fernandez is a mixed media collage artist whose works include a variety of paintings, public art, and community engagement projects, through which he explores the relationship of nature and technology as they intersect with human behavior. Fernandez’s studio creations are colorful, geometric mixed-media collages on canvas that depict flowers, tools, machines, aviation renderings, and image transfers. Materials used include wallpaper, asphalt, spray paint, acrylic paint and laser jet transfers. Instructional materials, such as schematics and blueprints, provide meaning to his work.
Born in El Paso, Texas, and living in Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico, until age 25, Fausto continued his education by crossing the border on a regular basis to study at the University of Texas in El Paso, where he pursued a double major in graphic design and painting. He completed his BFA degrees in 2001 and in 2002 he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he lived and created art for over a decade, In 2012 he relocated to Los Angeles for 2.5 years and is currently living in Anthony New Mexico.
Fernandez’s work has been selected for exhibitions at the Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro, California; McNay Museum of Art in San Antonio; Akron Museum in Ohio; Mesa Contemporary Arts at Arizona’s Mesa Arts Center; Tempe Center for the Arts in Arizona; Smithsonian’s George Gustav Heye Center in New York; and Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada. His collages are in the permanent collections at Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona, Phoenix Art Museum, The Heard Museum, The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at The University of Texas at El Paso, and The City of El Paso Museum and Cultural Affairs Department. Public art works produced by Fausto Fernandez include the production site-specific artwork at the Scottsdale waterfront in Arizona, which was commissioned by the city of Scottsdale Public Art with special participation from the Salt River Project; the 10,000-square- foot terrazzo floor design at the Sky Train Station at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, commissioned by The City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture using aviation-specific art funds; a community arts project in San Pedro, California – partnered with members of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, as well as pile drivers, bridge dockers, and wharf builders – a site installation commissioned by Angels Gate Cultural Center for the Main Gallery; and a permanent installation at the East Rancho Dominguez Park in East Compton California commissioned by The LA County Arts Commission Civic Artist Pre-Qualified List. Fausto Fernandez was the artist in residence at the Border Art Residency in La Union, New Mexico in 2014 and is now scheduled to do a residency at the Martin and Lorraine Kaminsky Residency program in Miami Florida from October to December 2016.